Trout grow amazingly fast on good food, I've stocked 2# trout in October and they were 7# in mid June.
Man, 2# stockers are huge! My biggest stockers are 3/4 to 1# in December.
I'm guessing they don't survive past mid-June for you, just as they die off about a month earlier for me. Do you try to catch & eat as many as possible the last couple of months? What lures work best?
Quick math shows your fish grew about .6 to .7 # per month. My best went from .8 to 3.3 in December - mid May, maybe .5 # per month. You probably feed them better than I do. I stock about 180# RBT total, most smaller fish to hopefully feed my LMB during winter & early spring.
Anthropic, my lake is only about 13’ deep at high water and fed by runoff so we start seeing floaters around the first of June if we don’t get them all out... which we never do. I stocked 200 in Nov, feed 3x/day. We have a big rodeo for the PHW folks in a couple of weeks to help get them out. The fly fishermen use wooly buggers and white rooster tails work best here for spin casting.
I like to use small spoons, spinners, and jigs with plastics for my stocked trout. Worms also work very well, as do roe bags. I fish worms either on the bottom when it is very cold or warm or under a sensitive float when the fish are feeding near the surface.
Anthropic, my lake is only about 13’ deep at high water and fed by runoff so we start seeing floaters around the first of June if we don’t get them all out... which we never do. I stocked 200 in Nov, feed 3x/day. We have a big rodeo for the PHW folks in a couple of weeks to help get them out. The fly fishermen use wooly buggers and white rooster tails work best here for spin casting.
How much do you feed per day? I have approximately 60-100 brown trout in a 1 acre pond, 14ft deep. I am unsure of how much to feed. My fish stay in year round, oldest were stocked four years ago. I have a feeling I am not feeding enough and could have much larger fish. Thanks in advance.
I was feeding Optimal Bass food at the rate of approximately 3/4#-1# per day with approximately the same amount of trout in the pond. I was feeding once per day at noon, automatic feeder (Texas Hunter) where the aerator kept the ice open during the winter.
Thanks for the information. I just measured out how many jars of food 3/4 lb is, and I will be feeding that daily. I been disappointed with absolutely zero feeding response in the past few days. It happened suddenly after we had a cold front and the water temperatures dropped about 5 celcius. I guess temperature changes really effect the fish in the pond in terms of their activity.
Thanks for the information. I just measured out how many jars of food 3/4 lb is, and I will be feeding that daily. I been disappointed with absolutely zero feeding response in the past few days. It happened suddenly after we had a cold front and the water temperatures dropped about 5 celcius. I guess temperature changes really effect the fish in the pond in terms of their activity.
I've found the same thing. However, rainbow trout will often increase feeding response when temps fall, while LMB and CNBG lose interest.
Every pond is different. My fish will slow down eating pellets a LOT when the water temp drops, but a customer will have fish splashing to get to the food until there is ice on the pond. Same species of fish, just different ponds.
Interesting that it differs pond to pond. I believe we are still below optimal water temperatures for browns right now, but things are warming up. Hopefully, feeding will start to pick up as well.
It has been a long time since I updated this post on our trout stocking. We are into our third year of stocking trout in four lakes. Our POA fishermen enjoy the action as weather cools off in November.
Three ponds are catch and keep if you desire. First pond is five acres and we stock 100 trout in November. This pond has a floating gazebo so everyone enjoys fishing from the dock. Second pond is a smaller 3/4 acre pond that we stock initial with a 100 fish in November and then restock in late December with 50 more trout. This pond can be accessed from around the entire shoreline so our fly fishermen love it.
Third pond is about 2 acres and we stock 100 trout in November and another 100 in December. We install the ice eater each winter to keep the water open. We also feed on this lake everyday. Our trout have typically grown from 12 inches to 16-18 inches by March and from 14 ounces to almost 2 pounds. The feeding makes catching them more difficult so they tend to grow fast.
Our third BOW is a 236 acre lake that has over 100 feet of depth. Last year (Nov. 2021), we stocked with 300 trout and had several feeders going. We made this lake catch and release only since we believed the deeper water would allow a sustained population to grow. Anglers were catching 3+ pound RBT in July from 25 feet water depths. This year we stocked 400 trout and have been feeding them from only two feeders. I never would have thought of ladder stocking RBT. We are catching several trout in the 2 pound range which we believe might be from this past Novembers stocking. Waiting to see if someone catches a 5+ pound rainbow in the next year.
Would recommend stocking RBT in your ponds to allow angling year round!
That's great!! We typically stock trout in the 1# range for our customers, this year they averaged 1 3/4#. I put 50# in my personal pond and have been feeding them in the open water that the winter diffuser makes. They are getting chunky. The goal is to see if I can get at least one over 7# by the 3rd week in May. They all have to be fished out by the middle of June or they have a high probability of dying due to the warm water. Longest I've had them was July 10th.
Good information about Fall Winter trout stocking that is very beneficial for cool & cold weather anglers. MO Fisherman - please try to get some pictures this spring of some of your anglers with trout harvest. Thanks.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/08/2310:35 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
I follow MOFisherman with apologizing for not posting all this earlier. I used the same stocking/feeding plan in 21-22 that I did in 20-21. The difference was the RBT were more in the 10" range last year and I didn't get them in until the first week in December of 2021. Regardless, around the first of June, I started seeing a few floaters (because water temps had started getting to high for them). It had recently rained so I hopped in my little jonnie boat and headed to the end of the lake where I usually get a little runoff. Found a good many congregated there and netted out around 35 or so. All were in the 3- 3 1/2lb range,
pictures won't upload!!! I did see some uploading pictures and finding success yesterday while others could not.
Anyone can see these?
I wonder if it is because they are uploaded in .jpg format instead of .jpeg? (shouldn't matter but sometimes bulletinboard software is cranky?) I wonder if original poster uploaded in .png format if that would help? The file size is very tiny so maybe the actual data in the picture is missing and these are only placeholders?
I had one of our anglers send me this photo showing white parasites in a recently caught trout. This raised a few questions for me since I have not seen these in any other fish caught such as BC, BG, SMB, LMB, etc
Are these parasites harmful to people?
Should we not eat these trout?
Could they be spread to other fish?
Thanks for any suggestions or ideas.
PS will post a few pictures when trout are harvested.
I had one of our anglers send me this photo showing white parasites in a recently caught trout. This raised a few questions for me since I have not seen these in any other fish caught such as BC, BG, SMB, LMB, etc
Are these parasites harmful to people?
Should we not eat these trout?
Could they be spread to other fish?
Thanks for any suggestions or ideas.
PS will post a few pictures when trout are harvested.
You have to upload the image to an image hosting site such as imgur, THEN copy/paste the BBC Code link of the picture here for it to show up.