Fascinating discussion. That's what I love about the PB Forum!

A few observations from my BOW this year (As Eric said, ponds are dynamic):

I saw lots of LMB and CNBG come to feeders, far fewer TP. At a guess, TP were only around 5 to 10 percent of feeding fish. But the previous year I almost never saw any TP, nor did they show up electrofishing. Overstocking made a real difference, for good or ill.

Stocked N LMB seemed to help a lot with my hordes of stunted Fla LMB. Down the hatch! Also noticed big increase in RW of larger Fla LMB.

I fed a bit less & fertilized a bit more than last year.

Habitat improved a LOT, though I can't take much credit. Big increase in plants, especially Am Pondweed, Chara, and Pickerelweed. AP and Chara held large numbers of YOY fish (too tiny for me to identify or net) when electroshocked. Didn't see this at all a year ago, probably made a significant difference!

Did not have a slow motion fish kill due to fungus this year. Last year fungus whacked my larger CNBG hard. Probably temps cooled more gradually this year, though who knows for sure.


Last edited by anthropic; 11/08/18 08:50 PM.

7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160