Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Bass Growth

In a previous post I showed you the bass and catfish that I stocked on May 29. Here is a picture of the bass and they were all the same size.


Less than two months later I was fooling around catching some bluegill and lo and behold I catch the fattest little bass I've ever seen. This picture doesn't do it justice. It looked like it was about to explode with eggs, but obviously they're not spawning. They must be eating well!!

More to come.

That's a fat little LMB; growing fast.

how long was he if you were guessing?

It's amazing what LMB can do when newly stocked into a pond full of FHM!

Now imagine if that one was 19"-21" long! Nice growth on them.

Yea, LMB grow like crazy. In May, my YOY LMB were smaller than your stockers. Now they're the size of yours, though not as fat as your little porker. We catch an occasional one on shrimp or minnows while fishing for BG.

did you happen to measure the length on that Hog? I'd be interested in what it was.

I have some stocked on June 1 that I believe are around 4.5-5" long.

Great picture BTW!

I would guesstimate the length at around 7 inches, maybe 8. I truly did not know that they could grow that fast. Man, this is fun!!

You figure that average tube jig like that is either 1.5" or 2", but probably 1.5". Add in the head and compare it to the bass. I think you're right, cmfulmer, 7"+...

Thats a nice looking little bass. I stocked 20 fairly skinny 5-7" LMB this spring and about fifteen of them are nice and fat, the five or so that wont eat pellets are definitely falling behind. The biggest 3 or 4 have nice fat bellies and are 10" now.

Its amazing to watch these gluttons gorge themselves

A LMB with an eating disorder is not funny. Someday that bass will be on the A&E channel getting an intervention and then we'll all feel like big fat heels for laughing at it.

Thanks for posting this. I stocked my bass a week before you, and I have been wondering what they might look like now. Yours may be on the extreme (large) range, but it gives me some idea of what mine might be now. My pond has had a BG and tilapia explosion. We have hundreds of 1-4" fish around the feeder and in the grass all the way around the pond, so the bass should have been gorging since they were put in. Your picture makes me want to target the bass next time we get out to the ranch to see how they are doing. I sure didn't expect the kind of growth that you've gotten this quickly.

Great looking future HAWG!

"I sure didn't expect the kind of growth that you've gotten this quickly."

DDD, me neither, I have 4 different ponds ranging from .1 acre to 1 acre that I am growing bass in. It appears that they are all running around 5" long in all the ponds just by seeing them around the shore. All are Florida bass except one with F1's which appear slightly larger. All ponds were stocked the same some producing more forage than others but cmfulmer's bass is HUGE! His might even have been one of those cannabilistic fingerlings that you see at 2" that look like they swallowed a marble. Either way, its awesome.

CMFULMER, is that an F1, northern, or florida?
What was your setup in your pond as far as how/what you stocked it with and time-frames? You seem to have started from scratch?

That is quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen.

wow! I am getting some F1s and fathead minnows plus some cnbgs this Saturday and can't wait to see how they do!

Chadwickz,
I believe that's a northern. I stocked only F1s and northerns. Look back at my pictures when I stocked. The picture in this thread when I'm holding one is a northern, I believe. The lateral line is fairly constant all the way. Then compare that with the picture, in the previous post, where I'm holding two fingerlings. These are F1s and the lateral line is broken up and erratic. I believe this is what the gentleman at Malone's told me when I picked them up. I'm no biologist.