If you're worried about your fish, try mothballs, cayenne pepper or ammonia soaked rags around the perimeter of your pond. Raccoons love water, and it's pretty natural for them to "go fishing".

As far as getting rid of them, it helps if your yard is fenced in, and you can determine where they're coming in. You could try one of the above measures there. If your yard is open, they'll come in about anyplace they want. You could also try not filling your bird feeders for awhile. If they stop finding food, they'll likely look elsewhere. They'll keep coming otherwise.

One idea I suggested to someone that worked for them was, having them set a radio wired to a motion detecting switch out, and set it in the area they got into. When the switch detected their movement, it switched the radio on and scared them away. In their case they didn't have neighbors close by, so they could turn it up pretty loud. I don't know if it would be as effective if you had neighbors to consider.

I welcome raccoons to my yard. They used to raid the birdfeeder in the evenings until we slipped a length of hollow vinyl fence post over the wooden birdfeeder post. There's no way now they can climb it although I would have loved to see them try. They still come around to eat seed dropped on the ground and each night I throw out leftovers for them and the possums. I often find opened mussel shells down by the creek and assume the raccoons have had a tasty midnight snack. I've never had any problems with them and I enjoy watching them.

keep them coming around, but do not go out if they are there! take pictures, encourage others to see them and appreciate that we CAN share our yards with the "natives".

Take down the feeders. They mostly attract trash birds (e.g., pigeons, house sparrows), squirrels, raccoons, and rats. The many, many posts just like yours should make that clear. The way to attract wildlife is to plant native plants, avoid using pesticides, and provide a water source. Then your property will be full of native wildlife, but they will not be concentrated in a single spot, vulnerable to disease and predators. You never hear anyone with native plantings complaining about all the cardinals, robins, and song sparrows in their yard. My small suburban yard is bursting with rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, woodchucks, birds, butterflies, and insects of all possible kinds, and I never, ever put out supplemental food. The plants do it all. We know there are bats, raccoons, and skunks around at night, too (we see bats at dusk and dawn, skunks make their presence known, and whenever our dog leaves a bone outside, it winds up in the birdbath, courtesy of a raccoon). Sometimes when we're very lucky, a hawk takes up residence for a while and takes care of the excess rabbit population.

Raccoons are great, but not in the daytime. Around here raccoons are the major vector for rabies. We are told that if we see a raccoon in the daytime, STAY AWAY AND CALL ANIMAL CONTROL. The species is nocturnal, and when they're out in the daytime, that counts as unusual behavior and they may be rabid.

I'm going to have to disagree about the feeders. I have never seen pigeons at my feeders, or starlings, or house sparrows. We see cardinals, bluejays, woodpeckers of all kinds, titmice, goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees. We get great enjoyment out of all of these birds.

Also, in a lot of my reading I have learned that raccoons will come out during the day if they are feeding young and find a food source. They do not have to be rabid.

Hopefully, I can find a way to live peacefully with all of the critters who come around my house.

Ditto to Debbeeann's comments. We get a wide variety of birds at our feeder, both the ones she mentioned and others periodically I assume are migrating through. We've got bats, chimney sweeps, hawks and herons also. I enjoy them all.

Raccoons are not exclusively nocturnal, they have become more so due to human pressures. Still, any raccoon that APPROACHES you during daylight hours rather than being wary and moving away is definitely one to be avoided.

Debbeeann and jillmcm both have good points. Raccoons will come out in the day if they know they can find food, especially when they're young. At the same time, it's important to not be too friendly to them. They can move pretty quick, and have serious claws and teeth to go along with the fact that they can carry rabies.

If you decide to just let them do their thing, make sure there is no place they can gain access to your roof or chimney, or even your windows. If you find any raccoon feces, (You probably will) it's best to use a pooper scooper of some sort to get rid of it, as it can be full of parasites. Clean your removal tool off with bleach.

We've had more than our fair share of raccoon visitors, and I love the little fellas. At the same time, you have to be responsible about it, not only for your own sake but your neighbors'. Make sure any food that you may leave out for them is away from your house, and preferably anything you don't want dug up. They'll eat about anything, but cat or dog food are the most economical. Also make sure there's no place they could nest. Under a deck, shed, etc.

Once they've found a spot they can get food, they'll keep coming back. We've got one that's come around for awhile. She came back this year with a litter of 5 babies. One of her babies from a previous litter came back all grown up, and later brought her own litter of 3.

I'm generally up until the wee hours, and I've seen 4 separate families of raccoons back in our yard this spring/summer. I've watched them, taken pictures of them, and gone out to break up the occasional turf war. One night we had 15 back there, 3 adults and 12 babies. They can be fun to watch and have around, but it's best to be educated about what is good to do or not do.

Whether you want them around or not, there are steps you can take to make sure they don't overstep their bounds here:
For Raccoon Invasions/Prevention of invasions

This site has one person's experience with raccoons and their habits and temperments.(From his former pet raccoon's perspective)
"Remo the Raccoon"