Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fishin' 2008

I didn't weigh or measure this one, but I'm guessing about 20-21 inches and about 5 pounds. This fish was in great shape and much fatter than the 24 incher I caught a couple weeks ago.

I'm starting to think this pond has some real trophy potential.

George I wish you would explain to me what you meant when you said you had too many 3-5lb. hylbrids and would begin to harvest immediatly. Do you have too many fish per acre? How many is too many? Please explain your statement and what your goals are by harvesting these fish?

James, I am stocking an annual HSB “ladder” and tomorrow I will add 25, 2007 class HSB to ¼ acre HSB/CNBG pond and 25 to main pond.
We will attempt to catch and transfer remaining 2006 class to main pond after transferring some 30-40 last year to main pond. I don’t have my records with me but recall we caught and transferred 15 three pounders in one day - what a blast…!
These are three-pound class fish – don’t know how many survivors remain.

I don’t have the foggiest idea of how many HSB per acre in main pond or know how to estimate.
All I know is that on most occasions we are currently catching three or so 4-5# class HSB per outing.

Our goal is for a P&T fishery, but there has been all put and no take.
To date we have only kept one HSB for the table – it’s “take time”...

Here's a 7lb HSB I caught on a swimbait the other day.

Solid fish! Pellet fed?

Great fish cheyenne19…!
Jog our memory – size of lake – aeration – feed?
When were HSB stocked – size of stockers?
Love the pics - tell us more about your pond and goals.
Good job….

Nice fish, cheyenne19!

I love the slime dripping off the tail. Healthy fish!

Any idea of the age of that fish?

awesome fish! I bet it put up a fight!

My brother Justin. Caught this beast with his hands. She was still alive, but getting ready to die.

His friend took the pic with a camera phone, but didnt do a very good job. They said it was over 5 feet long.

Nice job C19.

Here George " My pond is 37 acres and has an assortment of fish.
Here it is from above"



http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=113431&fpart=1 Here is the thread - both feeding (some) and pump circulation.

WOW....!!!!!

George I am surprised you did not pick up on the point -- oh I forgot to say it is shallow. Shallow southern pond/lake , high temps , shad forage with LMB and HSB , feeding and circulation - I thought HSB did not like those conditions - wrong - just like the NC studies the HSB are doing well.

Thanks Ewest, you beat me to it. It's very shallow, max depth of 6ft. I'd venture that that HSB was mainly pellet fed, but he could've starting working on the G Shad. We put in some T Shad about 2 weeks ago. We'll flow over 130 million gallons of water a year through the pond. (We use the water to irrigate our rice) We also drain off of the bottom of the pond, so I imagine water quality is pretty good. Also the HSB can always find some cool water if they desire.

Y'all will just have to forgive my oversight on trophy HSB in shallow southern hot water ponds - of course I knew it was just a matter of time...

Been too busy today stocking "ladder" HSB and tilapia to check the forum - other than lookin' at pictures

Would you believe 12-14 inch HSB that had not even been spawned ths time last year?
How 'bout 30#'s of 3-5 inch threadfin shad that you could sqeeze the milt from?
Overton says perfect water - should get a spawn by morning...

Report tomorrow when I return home - with pictures.

cheyenne19, don't look so happy that you caught that fish!!!

George,
to answer your question about age, my first HSB were stocked in march of '06 as 3"-5" stockers. They came from Bruce's source, Keo Fish farms. I'm only 30 miles from Lonoke, AR.

Sunil,
I looked back, and I don't seem to happy. Maybe it was the long drive home from ewest's part of the world that made me frown.

I understand.

By the way, I think you have, quite possibly, surpassed Condello in Fish-Photo-Presentation-Technique (or FPPT). There's another shot of you with a catfish if I recall.

Single hand technique; full arm extension, but yet at an upward angle to align the fish's head with yours. Note the proximity, in percieved elevation, of the fish's eyr to yours.

Thank you. I've been trying to learn the best FPPT. I try to make it seem as if I have to peer around the the fish in order to be seen.

cheyenne19 - You've got the concept nailed.

C19, that’s fabulous growth – 3”-5” HSB stocked in March ’06 were 2005 “class” fish.
Our 2005 class HSB were 8-10 inchers stocked in November same year, and the fish are currently 4-5#s, but some larger may be lurking.
Overton recently caught a 6+ pounder from the same class but he has TFS in his HSB pond.

We also feed AQMX pellets and this week stocked TFS.
Our growth rate was achieved in spite of a couple of record breaking drought years with no flushing what-so-ever, so you have given me encouragement as to achieving larger HSB now that we have improved water quality and added TFS to our AQMX feeding program.

Thanks very much for your report

George,
I've been worried since I found this site that we wouldn't be able to grow trophy HSB. With the heat and other limiting factors I really lost hope. Maybe this shows that we will both be able to grow large HSB. I very much to grow one over 10lbs.
Cason

I was targeting BG last night (moderately successful, btw) but this nice (for my bass-crowded pond) 17", 2lbs 13oz prespawn LMB got stuck on a #8 Aberdeen while eating a little earthworm.


There must be something about catching bass if one can be the highlight of a good evening of BG fishing.

Theo, that is a nice bass!

I caught this 18" 4.5lb LMB this morning. My other LMB were not in this healthy.