This years' HBG

Comment

Comment by Zach Pierce on June 22, 2012 at 11:44am

I am sure I am still getting some recruitment as I just have way too many fish in my pond. But you do not catch the small ones like you used to so I guess that is pretty good. I know I have a ton of work ahead of me and should just start over (probably would if we lived there), but for now my girls like the action and love to eat the catfish so we will just have to see how it goes for at least one more year.

I just wish I had more options on feed and could get the stores here to order some. I use GFC for now but would like to at least get some AM 500. Would be willing to try Silver Cup or Cargill as well but I do not think they can even get it.

Comment by Tony Livingston on June 22, 2012 at 9:50am

You are correct in that I have turned back some very large gravid females. However, there is a difference between preventing reproduction, vs. preventing recruitment. Reproduction is of course the new fish that are born during the spawn. Recruitment refers to those new fish that are born and survive, becoming a new year class of fish.

Aside from an all male BG pond, I can't do much to prevent reproduction.... nature's goal is the perpetuation of the species after all. I can however, do a lot to prevent, or at least severely limit recruitment.

My HBG pond is completely devoid of vegetation... none at all. There's also no cover present, no brushpiles, no rip-rap, no plants, nothing. What I do have in that pond, is a very high density of small LMB, say from 6-12". When you combine all those factors together, plus take into account the HBG's willingness to feed on yoy fish, you get very little recruitment. So effective in fact, that this pond is in it's third year of production and I have never seen a smaller fish that I didn't place in the pond myself. For about two weeks after the spawn, I will notice fry in the shallows. By the fourth or fifth week, they're all gone, and the Bass I catch have nice rounded bellies.... no recruitment.

Comment by Zach Pierce on June 22, 2012 at 9:27am

I was not sure of that since you have caught some large gravid females which I thought you turn back, but I may have misunderstood.

 

That would be one reason to get these large fish you do.

Comment by Tony Livingston on June 22, 2012 at 7:30am

They were stocked at 3-4". As an experiment I did not use my usual source, rather this year's fish came right off the traveling fish truck. We'll see how they stack up in a couple years.

I never allow any recruitment from my HBG.... that's what gets most folks in trouble with these fish.

Comment by Zach Pierce on June 22, 2012 at 5:55am

So did you stock them at 3-4 inches or were these spawn from your other fish?

Comment by Jim Gronaw on June 21, 2012 at 7:30pm

Sounds like excellent growth rate to me!