Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Study- new stocker survival in existing pond

Update - need to find the additional article and include it here.

Results : From the PB mag article.

Blocking Nets ;
A Hatchery Pond Inside a Pond

Step two called for more intermediate coppernose bluegill along with six to eight inch advanced genetics, feed-trained largemouth bass to be placed behind the net. Why, you ask, did you put the bass in there with the bluegill? A good question. In these lakes small bass are a prime food source for the larger bass. Being aware of this I researched and found two articles of note concerning the need to habituate small bass to avoid excessive initial predation. The articles are entitled A Laboratory Evaluation of Poststocking Predatory Losses for Cultured Largemouth Bass by J. WARREN SCHLECHTE, ROBERT K. BETSILL, AND DAVID L. BUCKMEIER from The American Fisheries Society Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 134:141–148, 2005 and Initial Predation of Stocked Fingerling Largemouth Bass in a Texas Reservoir and Implications for Improving Stocking Efficiency by DAVID L. BUCKMEIER, ROBERT K. BETSILL, AND J. WARREN SCHLECHTE from the American Fisheries Society North American Journal of Fisheries Management 25:652–659, 2005. These studies, one from the lab and one in the field, found that predation greatly affected post stocking survival of fingerling largemouth bass. They revealed estimated losses of stocked fish to predation in the initial period after stocking at high rate ranges from 27.5% to 75 %. Fingerling largemouth bass survival significantly increased when the fish were allowed to habituate in a predator free enclosure for a short period of time. The study showed this short-term protection enhanced survival because it resulted in improved new fish’s awareness of existing predators and sharpened their instinctive avoidance skills.