Last year in November I stocked 25 lbs of Fhm's along with 250 2 to 3" res and 50 4" Hsb. Prior to this stocking I added 50 7" cnbg earlier that spring. I also ran a sein survey with a 40' sein, two runs prior to any stocking of these fish. Sein survey showed some inch and a half bg along with some 4" gsh. This is an older pond and is about 3/4 of an acre with a maximum depth of say 7' at full pool. Its an older pond and based on the home's age I would say the pond is 20yrs old plus or minus. Old enough to have trees growing in the ponds dam. I suspect this pond had a fish kill at one time or another based on the few fish found during the sein run along with the sized fish that were caught in the sein. Ok, a few weeks back I went to ck on the fish (using my fly rod) and caught two hsb weighing in at 8 oz at about 8" long. So they doubled in size but still not as big as I thought they might be after having them in the pond for almost 10 months. The relative weight charts showed the hsb to be 2oz over 100 %. One more thing is I caught two 4" green sunfish during this fishing trip. Did not know they were in the pond when we stocked the fish. These hsb have been hand fed some but not sure how much or how often , but I'm told they are feed regularly. I am not so sure because money can be tight sometimes. So here is my question? I was thinking of adding some more Fhm's, maybe another 25 lbs, hoping to help get the hsb growth through the winter months. What u think? Should I just let things ride for awhile?

In Texas the HSB should get some growth during winter especially if the water is frequently over 50F. In theory let's assume that 40HSB survived the stocking of 50 fish. Adding 25 lbs of FHM if eaten solely by the HSB means 400 ounces of live food. Divide 400oz by 10(10:1) indicates 40 body weight ounces could be gained by the 40HSB at about 1 ounce gain per each 8" HSB. Also consider that the 40 HSB during winter water temperatures would not eat all 400 oz of FHM. You decide if adding the 25lbs of FHM would be beneficial. Remember the 8" HSB are able to eat small BG during the winter to maintain or gain body weight.

My HSB seem to have gotten much more aggressive as water cools this fall. Smashing lures, exploding on the surface chasing prey.

Is this typical?

Thanks Bill, sounds like things might be better off buying a few bags of fish food instead of some more Fhm's. You think my daughter might like a couple bags of Aquamax for her upcoming birthday

Frank, I have found the hsb really like it when water temps are in the low to mid 60's.

If your daughter is like me I get as much satisfaction from feeding the fish as catching them. So yes, she might. But it might take her a while of feeding before she comes to appreciate it.

Where I have no feeders it falls to my daughter to feed the fish in my absence. I think she kind of likes it.

In cooler water be careful to not over feed the fish to the point the food floats to shore. Excess uneaten food will later cause algae problems. Ask her to try and feed at same time whenever she feeds the fish. In winter feeding it is better to feed too little than too much. The HSB will find some live foods during TX winter periods.

Feeding is all but over here Bill with this early winter weather. The last two years I was able to go to the first of December or even a few days after.

But from here on out this year it will only be a small amount on the warmest sunny days.

snrub, I think she does enjoy feeding the fish. I'm just not sure she is feeding everyday because of the expense of it all. So, I was wondering about stocking additional fhms. But after the comments from all you guys then maybe I should just let it ride and check on the hsb in the spring. After checking the length and wt, they were a little over the weight chart for their length. Not much over, but a little.


We do seem to be having an earlier winter here with the record cold weather last week.