Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations What do I have here?

Put out the minnow trap last night and had a bunch of these in it. What are they?




The spiney nose was interesting:

Fathead male in full spawning mode?

I think you are dead on money. These two had been in a cooler for a bit and had lost most of the dark color bands when I took the pics. The cage appeared to have about 15 makes in it and only 3 females!

I stocked RE, CNBG, and FHM in this lake 3yrs ago when be had it dug out and rebuilt. Never have gotten around to putting bass in. I think the forage is ready. I'll be getting some bass from Overton Ina couple of weeks when he has them rdy.

Keep the bass numbers low and you could really grow some hogs in a few years...

This pond is a little under an acre. I think I'm going to stock 3"-4" Camelot Bell LMB from Overton when he has them ready. Just to see what I can get them to do in this lake. Would 50 be about the right number to stock originally?

25-35 max total LMB in a 1/2 ac BOW if you want them to grow fast/large. You want to have a lot of feed in there per LMB. More would reduce the amount of feed available for each LMB. I would fin clip each one to be able to ID the Camelots vs. any other LMB in there. I would work on keeping any other LMB out of there to let the CB's grow to their full potential.

Great advise here.

Thanks for advice Should be no other bass in the pond. It went completely dry several yrs ago. We had it dug out and the dam reworked a bit. After it filled back up we stocked the forage. No other pond drains into this one and we've not put any bass into it.

Agree with above plan but many folks are not as fortunate to have a new pond with no predators.

Our plan for a mature 2 acre pond with Florida LMB was to remove as many as possible to increase odds for one on one CB LMB spawn.

We stocked 8 of these large 6 month old CB in 2012 as previously reported.

Update:


We removed 18 LMB following stocking CB in 2012
IIRC, we caught and released 5 fin clipped CB, confirming the ”catchability” trait.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a380/texoma/SuperPondGrandSlam12-07-12019.jpg



We removed approximately 50 LMB this year prior to spawn to increase possibility of odds for one on one CB spawn.

We’ll be looking for markings on YOY that may indicate CB spawn.
Exciting program - thanks for your post.
George Glazener

Thanks George!

Even if there are no other LMB in there, I'd still fin clip the stockers. That way 5-6 years down the road you can tell the stockers from the "hatched in the pond" fish.

That makes sense!

Question, these stockers are probably going to average 3". Any suggestions on the best way to accomplish this and to put the least amount of stress on them after an hour & a half trip from Overtons.

I'd talk to Todd ahead of time and see what he says. Maybe he can give them a couple drops of clove oil to calm them down first. Scissors do a good job when they are that size. One pelvic fin would do, make a note and just do all the left or right fins.

Scott, the Camelot Bell LMB strain can be ID by inspection by Todd or Mike Frazier and I believe I can as well. I would not stress 3 inch fish by over handling.
Whenever you get a chance take a look and decide for yourself.

Todd was not going to fin clip my large 10-14 inch CB LMB but did so since I was unsure of being able to ID at the time.
George











http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=377877#Post377877

Honestly, I'm reluctant to try and fin clip 25 3" bass.

Did notfin clip the bass, but stocked (25) 2"-3" this past Saturday. All made the trip home from Overton's just fine. Added another (100) 2"-3" CNBG and 10lbs of Tilapia also. Really excited to see what these fish will do I the next few years.