SMB are coming along nicely. The first picture fish was just a hair over 12". Did not measure the second one but it was similar. Maybe a bit smaller. The second and third pictures are of the same fish but one taken when I caught it and the next taken a few minutes later after being in a white bucket. Notice the bland look in second picture and the pattern in the third.
Both of these fish got transferred to my main 3 acre pond. I really debated what to do but I purposely overstocked SMB in this RES pond specifically to move some fish to my main pond when big enough to escape predation. Thing of it is, I'm not sure how many of the original stockers survived. I think a flock of cormorants did a number on them. BUT..... one thing I do know it that I have a tremendous amount of recruitment as I am still catching lots of 3.5"-4" SMB by hook and line as well as quite a number of 5-6". So I really have no fear of removing "too many" and my final thought before transferring these two 12" fish was that many of the 4" SMB would just be food for these larger fish if left in. So I now have SMB in my main pond.
Talk about fighters! The first 12" SMB did a tail stand/Michael Jackson moon walk on top of the water and the second fish cleared the water by nearly two feet twice before I landed it. Lucky it didn't shake the hook as I am using barbless jigs. I really was not wanting to "fight" either one much and get them landed quickly because the water is still pretty hot (but has cooled significantly with recent rains). So I was not wanting to stress them but they had other ideas. SMB are feisty fish!
