got the rest of the SMB i wanted one month ago. Ended up getting these at Finn Farm because they were available and not waiting on the other place again with another possible empty promise. The fish were fat and healthy and surprised by the 8-10" size. The owner told me they came form South Dakota. Got 12 SMB for 20 total in pond and another 8 HSB while i was there to make 20-22 of them total. I also picked up 5 lbs of SFS from a guy 5 minutes from FINN Farm so made the 1.5 hour trip even better. Kids and lab are really enjoying the pond. nice to see it all paying off now. Time to sit back and enjoy it since most of the initial hard work is done. I caught a SMB on a jig the other day and it appeared to be growing nicely. Did not have a tape measure or scale handy. Seeing plenty of small softshell crayfish around also so they are breeding successfully . Rarely see any adults but they must be around somewhere. The YP and HBG feed aggressively every night and are growing nicely. The GS and FHM are spawning like crazy and there are huge black masses of minnows in the beach area and groups of larger shiners cruising the open waters. I counted over 40 bullfrogs jump in the water the other day walking around the pond. Can't wait to see the smallies big enough to start eating them. The one thing that surprised me though is how much the shiners bite you when swimming. its more of a tickle. The kids and i caught a bunch in a small net the other day while they were biting me.
Thanks Bill Cody for the hookup on the SFS. He was a great guy to visit with for a bit also. I took some close up pics of them in case people want to see them. I know i have read threads on here of people wanting pics. And also a pic of the SFS eggs on cd stack.
Last edited by xraytrapper; 07/10/1809:33 PM.
.75 acre pond dug in September 2016. YP, HBG, HSB, SMB, and RES.