I have an opportunity to add some florida strain fingerling bass to my 15 year old 35 acre lake (originally stocked with florida bass)...definitely see a long term benefit from the ability to add some genetic diversity...the fish to be added are 2.5-3" in size...my questions are:

1. What percentage will be eaten right away by the existing fish population?...and ultimately what percentage could have the chance to survive to a large enough size to benefit the lake? (if I were to add 1,000 fish, would you expect only 100 or so to make it to 2 lbs?...is that assumption way off?)

2. I cull every bass under 2 lbs...and have for the last several years...how would the addition of new bass (that I wouldn't want to cull) change this strategy?...was leaning towards taking a break for a two year period and then starting it back up...is this a good plan?...what else is there to think about?

A lake of your size is much tougher to manage, that is for sure. A lot of your questions, the answers to them is "it depends". The adding of genetic diversity certainly cannot hurt! However, if you add 1000 2.5" to 3" LMB fingerlings, how many of them will survive? Much of it depends on the quality of your forage base in your lake, the population structure of your bass and other predatory fish, what habitat is available to fingerling bass in your lake.

That fact that you are culling is good , it should help keep your bass population in check. You may want to pick up the culling the bit if you plan on adding more bass. If you have access to a smaller pond, you want to consider growing out those smaller bass until they reach the 8" to 10" mark and then release them into your larger lake.

Best of luck!

Also the small bass have to have a food supply also or they may not live long enough to even get eaten by a bigger bass, much less reproduce and contribute.

Look at the links below for ideas and answers. A lot of the answer depends on your current situation including the existing fish population. Standard answer is less than 10 % will live to one year in an existing pond with adult LMB population. But it depends.



http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...=true#Post22246



http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...=true#Post26019


See these for blocking net method. Works for BG and LMB.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=5690&Number=52295#Post52295

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=5690&Number=52299#Post52299

thanks ewest...great info...

Do you have any opinion on growth rates?...I know it is hard to say without a complete analysis of the lake, but what would the growth rate for bass be assuming the lake was fertile, and there was a good forage base?

In a lake that has been around for a few years with an already established fish population, 8" by the end of the first growing season isn't unreasonable but again its extremely variable.

This is hard to see but all 3 of these LMB are 1 year old. Its all a matter of survival and food. A good average in the south when stocked into an existing LMB population is 10 inches at one year if there is enough food. Feed trained and fed LMB will grow more and survive a lot better behind a net.

verdad the potential is quite huge but rarely seen. I agree with other post but wanted to add we have gotten them over 14 inches and well over 2 lbs in about 14 months of age.