10 in coppernose nov 4

Comment

Comment by Walt Foreman on November 6, 2012 at 9:47am

Thanks, all!  Tony, I believe this fish may actually be only nineteen months old.  I had 100 3-4" coppernose in a cage in this pond three years ago, and was feeding them with a cheapo bucket feeder positioned by the cage, but only a few of them were eating the pellets, and then a snapping turtle ripped open the cage that December.  I saw a handful of them the following summer around the feeder, but only a handful, and we never caught any; there was one that I was seeing at the feeder summer of 2011, that would have gone at least a pound and a half then, and I definitely haven't caught that fish this year because he would have been over two pounds by now.  

This is the pond that had the depletion event (probably poachers) back in March.  In May, I transplanted forty coppernose from a half-acre pond on this same property that I'm growing them out in.  Those fish had been stocked in that pond as fingerlings in May 2011; when I transferred them this May, they averaged about 6".  I wasn't seeing any coppernose at the feeder at all this year, before I transferred the forty fish from the other pond; after I made the transfer I would regularly see several of them feeding when the feeder went off.  

When Federico was here in July, a little over two months after I transferred those fish, we caught ten coppernose that had little bitty eyes like the one above - on 9" fish that would have averaged around three-quarters of a pound.  

So, if I'm right, they're growing at a really fast rate in this pond, due to the very low density brought about by poacher/fish kill/otter back in March.

Comment by Jim Gronaw on November 6, 2012 at 6:44am

Exceptional fish anywhere in the country!

Comment by federico del toro on November 6, 2012 at 5:54am

Wow Walt! I can't wait to get back up there again

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 6, 2012 at 5:11am

What a chunk!!!   BBG members: check out the eye on this fish.... see how small it is...she's probably not very old, and can look forward to growing even larger.

Nicely Done Walt.

Comment by Greg McWilliams on November 6, 2012 at 4:49am

BEAUTIFUL FISH,WALT!!!!!!! LOVE THE BARRING ON THIS ONE!!!!