Today I was feeding the FH and I noticed some of the fingerling RES hanging a few inches below the surface. They appear to be almost double the weight they were when I stocked them a little over a month ago. I saw at least 3 individual fish and they were a minimum of 2 inches long and possibly as much as 2.5 inches.

I was curious about why they were so close to the surface. Maybe it was because that's were a lot of the FH fry are. I watched the first RES for a few minutes hoping to see it preying on fry, but all I observed was an adult FH chase it away.

I moved further along the bank and saw 2 more RES at the same depth. They were about 8 feet out, but the sun was shining bright overhead so I could see them pretty well. I also wear polarized sunglasses every time I go to the pond. I noticed that one of them seemed to have something in it's mouth and it was working it's gill covers pretty hard. Then, whatever was in it's mouth swam out quickly and made it about 8 inches before being recaptured. I hoped it was a FH, but I couldn't say for certain. There are tons of small tadpoles in the pond now and it could have been one of them.

I kept watching and in a few minutes the prey escaped again, but that time I was able to see it more clearly and I believe it was a yoy FH. It was too far away to see detail, but the sun hit the fish's side and the flash of light was what you expect to see from the scales of a fish. I estimate that it was .75 inches long. This time when it escaped, the minnow went deep and I didn't see the RES recapture it.

One or two minutes later I saw the fish come back to the surface with what I assume was the tail of the same minnow sticking out of it's mouth. This time I was only about 5 feet from the RES and I'm relatively certain it was the same fish, a little further along in the process of eating the same FH. I couldn't see the details of the tail, but the RES had something in it's mouth and it was still working it's gills more than usual. I think the first two times I saw this fish it had the FH in it's mouth tail-first. The third time I believe it was in head-first.

Does it seem reasonable that the fingerlings could double in mass in one month? The pond is loaded with FH yoy, some of them still only a few days old I would guess.