Originally Posted By: jpsdad
I was nodding my head at everything ... until you closed with this.

Originally Posted By: ewest

. . . but with a small (low %)amount of supplemental feeding to insure enough nutrition.


This would seem to imply that fish can't get enough nutrition without supplemental feeding.. . a notion I would certainly disagree with and that is completely unsupported by science. For one thing one can certainly imagine scenarios where the amount of supplemental feeding you might recommend is insufficient to ensure enough nutrition. Under such a scenario, we can all agree that it isn't the feed's fault. There's just too many fish.

If this is true when artificial feeds are insufficient then it is equally true when natural foods are insufficient.

It has been long known that the ultimate size of fish is independent of fertility. A pond which supports 150 lbs/acre standing weights can produce fish of equal size to a pond that supports 500 lbs/acre standing weight. I know you know this Eric but based on some things I've seen written here, some certainly don't.

One should feed to have more fish ... not bigger fish. If one wants bigger fish the results of feeding will only meet that goal in the short term.



Not disagreeing just adding clarity. The biggest problem encountered by most ponds (not all)is lack of adequate nutrition. The reasons vary from to many fish , out of balance populations ,poor harvest management, natural disasters (weather related mostly), poor productivity (not fertile), water quality issues and others. That is a generality for our readers and not an assertion of any particular managed pond.

Yes there are waters that need nothing and can support over a thousand lbs of fish per acre. There are also a lot that can only support 50 lbs per acre with out help. The biggest problem is skinny fish and the easiest way to efficiently fix that is more food and harvest. Total population mgt is not about if you can grow a few big fish as that is common in non-managed low nutrient ponds as well. In most BG/LMB ponds supp. feeding of BG is very efficient and mostly results in better conditioned populations when used in connection with proper harvest.

Last edited by ewest; 11/12/18 01:41 PM.