Yolk and Tony are right on, we share similar fisheries and have adopted each other's successful management techniques to help manage sunfish populations.

Your YOY HBG will be hammered all fall and winter - there will likely be a small percentage left in the Spring, where they'll be hammered yet again.

I still don't understand why you are so concerned with the HBG in the pond...they are serving as forage for your apex predators, and those HBG that manage to make it will grow fast, large, and provide very aggressive angling opportunities. Have you seen Tony and Bruce trophy HBG? They have both helped enlighten me over the years on the positive return on HBG in a fishery.

If you stock BG and LMB you can pretty much kiss your dream of a cool water species fishery of SMB/YP goodbye and you'll have a fishery like every other one in Missouri. Why go to that extent and give up your dream? Maybe I'm missing something here? I think you're on the right track - HBG are a great companion Lepomis species for your fishery goals of YP, HSB and SMB.


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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