Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Brief report PB Conference Day One

My wife & I enjoyed the PB Conference very much, though had to leave early Saturday due to family stuff. Frustrating, but still productive!

A few takeaways from day one from my very limited perspective...

Good to see Tracy again, who kindly volunteered to help me trap the critter (nutria? beaver? muskrat? otter?) that's moved in to my pond. Would much like Tracy to visit, maybe even take a boat tour & fish out smaller LMB.

Bob Lusk showed his chops once again as the guru of gurus. His story about observing how Fla LMB reacted to goldfish (yawn, we'll get them eventually) versus how Northern LMB (over in seconds!) really helped me understand the behavioral differences. I have high quality Fla LMB which bite pretty readily, but that's not surprising given the biggest is probably only 2 lb yet. We'll see!

He also discussed his very interesting experiments with forage and bass stocking. Contrary to conventional thinking (fewer bass stocked per acre equals more food per bass equals bigger chance for a trophy), Bob pointed out that relatively few LMB really have what it takes to get 10 pounds plus. Thus, stocking 200 per acre rather than 50 would give four times the chance for a giant, all other things being equal.

Remember, males will never get to trophy size. Of the 50 percent which are female, perhaps only 25 to 30 percent have the genetics & adaptive capacity to reach lunker size (maybe 7 lb N LMB, 10 lb Fla or F1). Bob also discussed female only stocking, which he thinks may end up going toward female dominant (but not only) stocking.

Sadly, Dr Condello could not attend, but Bob Lusk talked about some of Dr C's unorthodox strategies. Twelve pound bass in the Midwest? Yeah, if you feed them enough! Really brought home the huge importance of forage. Bass are limited more by access to food than anything else.

I'd be remiss if I fail to mention PB reader Todd Watts presentation on underwater structure. What he's done in Ohio is vastly superior to my mediocre efforts. Now that I finally have some pond weed to protect the little guys, I intend to make some substantial habitat improvements next year. About time!

There's a lot more to say, even from someone who only made day one, but don't want to go on too long. La Toretta was an excellent venue, beautiful & very spacious suites plus good food!

PS If anybody wants to post about some of the great presentations I missed, that would be much appreciated.