Cecil:

Your insight from the taxidermist's point of view is very much out of the manstream for this site. Your posts move a man to think.

Here at my home in the Texas Hill Country, I have a spare acre that I am currently not using. I also have two wells to provide the water necessary to carry me through droughts. Perhaps I should build a pond and raise trophy bluegill.

With our long growing season, and my controlled setting, I think I could raise 11-inch bluegill that weigh 1 pound, or slightly more. If I sold my crop at, say $40 a head, how many 1-pounders would I need to produce each year to break even?

I suspect your answer will dissuade me and keep me out of the fish farming business.

FYI, if I could raise threadfin shad and have 3-5 inch adults ready in May and June, I would sell out. Every knowledgeable pondmeister in a 200-mile radius would be whining for more.

Mark McDonald
Editor, Pond Boss