Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations First catch..is this normal growth?

My son and I caught the first fish that we stocked in the pond on April 1st. We put in 3 1/2"-4" fingerling Northern LMB. The two we caught were just under 8" long. Is this normal growth for 4 months?

Hey, don't compare to Bruce Condello, Meadowlark or the other heavy hitters, just normal, healthy growth.

Brand new pond with lots of small things to eat, LMB fingerlings not horribly overstocked, I'd sy 4" to 8" in four months is pretty typical. That's almost exactly what mine did two years ago.

That sounds like healthy growth to me. I stocked 3" bass in June 2004. They were 7-8" by October. They spawned the following spring.

That sounds pretty good to me. Ponds that are newly stocked with a particular species often exhibit a "niche vacuum" effect. There's lots of available forage...invertebrate, vertebrate both that freshly stocked LMB will hammer on for awhile. It seems like subsequent year classes never do quite as well unless managed through harvest. You'd be amazed how many state records are caught that originated from first stockings, accidental stockings or fish that had escaped from other water bodies. I think you're doing fine.