For those of you with ponds having only HBG, what is your approach to harvest? Like a lot of folks, I assume, I'm chasing that elusive 2 pounder. Right now, my HBG are 2 1/2 years old, all around 10 inches and approx 1 lb. I feed by hand only once a day spring thru fall. I have had some reproduction. I originally stocked 600 in the one acre pond. Is it time to remove some of them this year? If so, what numbers am I looking at? Of course, I'll look at each individual fish for the qualities I want left in the pond, and I plan on harvesting all the F2's, which are probably crossed w/RES. They too look really healthy.

"Only" 10 inches and 1 lb? Heck, I've caught only one or two BG in my life that big, Brook!

All I can say is Congratulations and keep up the good work.

Your 1 acre pond is now likely approaching 700-800+ lbs of total fish biomass since I assume you also have some bass present? Only HBG?? I would thin some of the numbers so you get back to around 500-600 lbs/ac and can better maintain optimum water quality, continue with healthy growing fish, and a more realistic carrying capacity.

Thanks,Anthropic. I could not be happier w/the progress of these fish. They really grew fast and are extremely healthy and aggressive. However, I anticipate growth to slow at this point.

Thanks so much, Bill. I'll harvest at least 150 this year. For predators, I have WE and SMB. I also have a good population of RES, and I recently added 10 lbs of adult YP. For forage, I have a staggering number of FHM, and I added 25 lbs of golden shiners when I put in the YP. The only regret I have so far is the 5 grass carp I put in. While they're very amusing to watch, I'm not convinced they're that beneficial. I'll remove them this year as they have already gotten huge.