Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Bumper Crop !!!!

BG and CNBG everywhere - as far as the eye can see. Beds here - beds there - beds everywhere up to 7 ft. deep. Even on the sand beach area. More than I have seen before. I think this is a result of several years of stocking and growing out CNBG behind blocking nets to 5in and feeding to increase fecundity through size and condition. It looks like a bumper crop of forage.


Note the traits on these fish - copper nose bar , light fin/tail edges , wider bars.

Whoa!

Second spawn this year, Eric?

Amazing how on picture #3 that not only can you see the copper bar, but you can also see that bright edge on some of the fins. Those are some really great photos.

Theo it looks like a rolling lepomis spawn this year with peaks and simi-valleys both on BG and RES. Something has been spawning continuously since the full moon in March. We still have some RES spawning 2 1/2 mth after they started. We have beds where they never were before. All of this increase is due to adding CNBG and RES as noted above.

Bruce those copper bars and fin edges stand out much more in the water than out. I see them long before I see the RES earflaps. You would think that makes them more subject to predation from birds , but who knows what birds see.

ewest, what great pictures! For people that don't know what spawning beds look like, your fourth pictures is fabulous. When people say that a picture is worth a thousand words, yours are worth a million. Thanks.

Ewest-
Awesome pictures! Both the fish and the water color are beautiful. Assuming you have a bumper crop of yoy BG, CNBG, and RES, will it change your management plans at all? You sure are doing things right!

David we need the forage and have been on this course for a while, a little at a time. Year class mgt is a part of being a Pond Boss. Being able to see what is happeneing and then adjusting is one part of the equation. Time will tell if lots of the yoy survive - things can go wrong still.

Nice pictures...

I recently cleaned out some muck from a 30x30 area for a future beach and it had BG nest all over it in just a few days.. Counted 26 nest built in just one week after I refilled my pond.

They seem to add one or two everyday.. pretty amazing little fish...

getting good quality pics of fish beneath the water is very difficult, nice job eric. amazing spawning grounds there.

hopefully not, but this may be a unique event in yer pond as the population dynamics and predator prey relationships will be strongly affected by the offspring of such a prolific spawn.

Ewest if you were building a spawning area for the bg and cnbg would you add sand or small gravel?

James I would find a spot where there is hard clay bottom ( no silt washing in) in water from 1 to 4 ft deep. Then make a bunch of pie plate sized depressions (see pic). To each depression I would add a small amount of mixed size gravel (not pea gravel but dime to half dollar size).

thanks! I have an area already picked out.