jpsdad, smaller biomass of breeders and larger biomass of yoy bg. I have been working on that since the beginning. Producing lots of bg, that is! I will never forget the time when Todd Overton came to the pond and made recommendations for me to build some brush piles along the shoreline for the cnbg fry to improve their survival where I would produce more 2 to 3" bg. I lacked vegetation so the brush piles gave the bg fry a place to hide. We also stocked an additional 25 lbs of FHM's to reduce the pressure on the bg fry. Later on, after doing the brush piles, I had a boom in 3" cnbg. Hundreds and hundreds of them. The brush piles really worked. I had lots cover around the pond water but not so much against the shoreline until I followed Todd's Recommendations.
The information I have seen lead me to believe I needed to keep the larger sized >7" cnbg for breeders. More >7", and they produced the most fry. Just the opposite from what I have read here in this thread. If I am understanding it? I am not fussing here, just thinking out loud. I maybe confused as I am not the sharpest pencil in the box when it comes to growing trophy lmb.
And Al, I have given much thought about reducing the feeding of the smaller cnbg and have reduced the amount of feed I once fed. Wanting to reduce growth rates on my bg along with reducing nutrients into the pond. You could have shared the comments on feeding less around the spawning areas a few yrs ago and saved me some bucks I spent on feed.
Just messen with ya! And thanks for your input, it reinforced my feeding thoughts and opened my eyes on mouth gape for providing the right sized forage to my lmb.
jpsdad, thanks for bringing this all up! Good info, keeps me thinking on how to get my lmb larger faster.
