OK, here's my plan. The first part is pretty straight forward. I'm planning on getting about 600 fingerling BG and 3,000 Rosey Red Minnows. My hope is that the Rosey Reds will keep the bass busy and allow for higher survival rates to spawning age for the BG's. Thoughts on that plan? Any guess as to what kind of survival rates I might see with the BG's?
The second part is a little different. We have another pond which was also built around 2 years ago. It initially filled well, but then seemed to spring a leak and has never filled much more than 1/3 of the way. My guess is that it is between 4 and 6 feet at the deepest and the total water surface area is a bit less than 1/2 acre (it was planned to be 1 1/2 acres). We've never stocked it and have just been waiting to see if it might fill up more. It seems to have a pretty good flow of water in, so my guess is that O2 levels are OK. What I'm thinking is that I will add about 200 BG's and another 1,000 Rosey Reds to that pond. The goal is to grow the BG's to a suitable length and then transfer them to the established pond. Plus, I'll have a little minnow farm on the side -- if the Rosey Reds are good reproducers I'll be able to dip in there anytime I need bait or want to give the bass an extra snack.
A couple questions on this part. Do you think it will work? If so, how long might it take for the BG's to go from 2" fingerlings to the 5" or so I'll need to feel safe about putting them in the established pond? Any advice on steps I can take to increase my chances for success?
I think it could be kind of fun to run my own little fishery operation like this. Plus, it could help me avoid the prices of stocking adult fish. Thoughts?
