Originally Posted By: anthropic
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.


2 points to remember about that scenario. You have to have enough forage fish in there for all 200 fish to grow to a size that you can determine sex, and hopefully grow to that size by the next Spring. So, that equates to the 200 fish eating a wee bit over 2,000# of forage fish. For that density of fish, you HAVE TO have a well designed aeration system to offset the O2 load.

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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).