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TJ -Those are Awesome!Do you keep fishing pressure low on these ponds?

Very light pressure except occasional fly casting to keep my trout fishing skills honed - I am in full management mode from ice out to ice up. This helps the solid angling experience and reduces mortality issues with repeated handling of fish throughout the year. I'm so busy with management throughout the year I couldn't fish if I wanted to. I will sample a dozen fish in the lepomis pond in the Spring and again in the Fall and compare trends, otherwise it's just feeding and water quality management.

Do you see any recruitment on the HBC? Would be cool to add those or maybe some WE to my mix, maybe 15-20. You feed BG chunks to the HBC?

Yes, I have confirmed HBCP recruitment. Fish appear inferior, slow growing, doesn't seem to be posing any management issues at this time. Yes, my HBCP benefit from my ultra secret dock feeding program learned from DRs Dave and Bruce!

You had helped me with initial stocking numbers on the forum , my pond is over a year old now and doing great. I had asked Bob in his Wednesday calls to give me some ideas on carrying capacity and harvest info... 0.6 Acre pond, good fishing pressure and mostly by kids. I figure 5-10% of initial yearly population attrition due to hook set etc per year, especially the HSB and YP...

Bob said 250lb was good estimate for carrying capacity , said I could add some fish, and do some harvesting but didn't really elaborate.

Stocked through the year
100 YP 6-8"
50 HSB , now 12-15"
75 RES
150 HBG , now 6-8"
85 HBG, stocked at 6-8"
30 SMB, 6"-15"
15lb FHM

Feed mix of Optimal BG/Bass/ and some larger pellets they had similar to Aquamax.

I would have split those HSB numbers over the course of 4-5 years, and that's probably double what I would ever recommend for a .6 acre fishery, just FYI. Good news is you can manage their population very easily through harvest. If I missed that part of your stocking plan, I apologize. Depending on goals I'd recommend 15-25 HSB/acre ladder stocked over several years. If they aren't growing well or you notice major YP predation you can safely harvest HSB under 100 WR and would benefit the fishery overall...again, just FYI.

I'm seeing solid results from the Optimal...most notably from the improved water quality. Seems less food is wasted due to increased palatability and I'm told the formulation leads to less fish waste with fewer additives, etc. If you want to push your carrying capacity consider installing an aeration system soon...it's made a major difference in managing water quality issues for me. Optimal has earned my business - they know me by name and have fallen over themselves to correct whatever issues might have occurred.



Should I harvest any YP or HSB? I think this happens naturally with all the kids fishing, but maybe could take some more out this Spring , and then add some smaller YP and HSB to replace?

If you catch underperforming fish you can choose to adjust your management strategy with more frequent feeding/improved pellets if applicable, or harvest, or a combination of both. If you harvest be sure to keep records so you have a general idea of the fishery population remaining...supplementally stock as necessary. For HSB I ladder stock annually to keep multiple year classes present. If you are witnessing YP recruitment you will likely not have to do this.