I've been thinking about a way to avoid having hook shy fish in stocked ponds. I don't have any business doing this because I've never stocked fish or managed a pond, but ignorance never stopped me before.
To start with I'm assuming that fish get hook shy because they've been caught before and it sucked for them, so they become more cautious about food on a string. There may be other reasons, but that's what I'm focusing on at the moment.
I'm thinking in terms of stocking a new pond. If it works in new ponds, maybe it would work in an established pond too.
1. When it's time to stock the top predator fish add a relatively small number of tagged fish. This number should take into consideration losses from predation, etc.
2. Practice catch and release strictly with the tagged fish. The goal is for these fish to die of old age.
3. Never release the offspring of the original fish, regardless of size. If you get hooked once, you're out of the game.
That's basically it. You get a handful of wise, old, hook shy breeding stock, and their offspring never get a chance to learn angler avoidance.
Has anyone tried this?
