Originally Posted By: bobad
Stunning, simply stunning fish Bruce.

I don't want to get too far off topic, but how many years have you been selectively breeding your BG? How much potential do you think is in your BG genetics? How much more size do you think you can tweak out of that fish and her sisters, and in future generations?

Have you considered introducing huge wild-caught freaks into your gene pool?


My theory is that I'm not adding a ton to the top-end yet (improvements in nutrition may change that). The best thing I've got going for me now is sheer numbers. My selectively bred fish have a much higher liklihood of being super growers than the fish from 5-7 generations ago. I'm in my tenth year of this program.

I have a couple of other "donor ponds" that are nearby my pond that contribute to the gene pool on an annual basis. I was afraid that if I kept just breeding the biggest CSBG together that I'd start getting fish with decreased genetic fitness. The fish above is very young for it's size. It's actually a surprise of sorts because three of my four big ones this winter came from a reproduction pond that I never got around to draining and seining from two years ago. ;\) There could be more!


Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.