I buy most of my fish from a dealer in Nebraska. He told me that in terms of dollars, he sells more subadult and adult fish than fingerlings. He also said that this percentage is continuing in favor of larger fish. The sizes of these larger fish are 6-8” bluegill, 8-10” yellow perch, 10-12” crappie, 10-15” LMB and 5-12” wipers. He sometimes gets larger fish and they sell immediately. Please note that he sells lots of larger panfish.
He uses a number of perspectives to sell these larger fish. The biggest, of course, is that after spending all of this time and money on a lake, it is crazy to not spend money on the fish. It is the same as building a big new house and sodding the lawn rather than seeding it. You might find this reasonable in stocking a new lake. After all, a person can get immediate fishing this way. Most of us don’t want to wait a couple of years to start fishing in our new lakes.
He isn’t just selling larger fish for initial stockings. These sizes of fish can very easily be stocked into existing lakes. He uses these perspectives. You wouldn’t expect to buy a car and not expect to spend money on continued maintenance. Having a lake is no different. There are continuing costs of aerators, feeders and stocking fish to maintain the predator/prey balance.
Another comparison he makes is to the average fisherman. What does it cost for each fish caught. Consider the cost of the boat, tackle, gas, motels, licenses etc. and then divide this cost by the number of fish caught. As you can imagine, the cost per fish is quite high. It makes sense then to spend money on fish for our lakes.
If people in your area don’t want to spend money for larger fish on continuing bases, it is probably because they have been sold on the idea that they don’t have to. It is then a matter of selling them on the idea that spending money on our lakes on a continuing basis is part of having a lake.
