Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Transporting HSB?

I have decided to buy some HSB for one of the ponds, hatchery is 2 hrs away, the hatchery says bagging with O2 will be "iffy", any transporting suggestions?

thanks

I would wait until the water temps and air temps cooled down this Fall. Now, with the higher water temps, it's very tricky to transport fish that like cooler water.

If the hatchery has them in warmer water, they are going to want you to cool down the water to increase it's O2 carrying capacity. Then once you get to your pond, you are going to have to raise the water temp to get close to your pond temp. That's a lot of stress on the fish in a relatively short time. Not to mention netting them, and putting them in the bags.

If you absolutely have to have them now, I would transport them in a larger tank, with a micropore diffuser and pure O2.

great advice, thanks

esshup is right on, on this one. When I got my HSB in was in April waters were nice and cool and I had to drive 100 miles to my pond with them. I had them in a 150 gallon black bubber tank I got from TSP. Here they are in the pic below. Everything went great in the cooler weather. Not sure about now??? HSB seem to stress fairly easy too.

I just had mine delivered last weekend - it was fairly warm but they showed up in a very large (250 gallon or so) container that was O2 fed the entire ride. We still had to acclimatize them from a temp perspective - my water was 83 and the container was 72. It took maybe 45 minutes to get them 'blended' and transferred.

T plus 5 days and no morts have been found yet.

80+ degree near surface water temp is my cut-off for targeting HSB.
If I catch one inadvertently on a pellet fly, I revive in O2 live well.
Transport for HSB "stocking ladder" is late fall, early winter for me - best healthy fast growth fish in the fall.
Springtime HSB are sometimes "held-over" stunted fish.
G/

George,
When you are not targeting HSB, are you targeting LMB? If so, what lures/flies do you use for LMB that HSB do not like?

Thanks,
Dan

Dan, to tell you the unvarnished truth, I have only recently become interested in LMB, largely because of the Camelot Bell genetics. I do love catching LMB on topwater however and love to see them jump.
My favorite LMB "fly" is a deer hair "hook point up" weedless bass bug. You can pull that bug through a barb wire fence!

thanks, George