Wild SMB are very likely to have bass tapeworm which eventually make the adults sterile. Likelihood is based on tapeworm status in the wild fishery fish come from. All wild fish are much more likely to have parasites (internal & external) than domestic pond raised fish that tend to have less exposure or interaction with other wild fish.
Success or survival rate of supplimentally stocked fish is dependant on size of stockers, forage fish density and food diversity of receiving water, size and density of resident fish esp predators in the community and amount of weed cover, the species stocked and their behavior. Manmade structure usually has little survial benefit for newly stocked fingerling fish when "normal" or predators are common. If most resident predators are pellet trained and imprinted then survival of fingerling stockers is always improved.
Lower stocking densites than agency or "standard" recommended numbers will usually result in initial faster growth of stocked fish. However the first spawns of each different specie could be skewed toward higher unbalanced survival / recruitment due mostly to inadequate predation pressure by the proper sized predator on the YOY population. Adjustments of fish numbers after the first couple of spawns are more likely needed when too low or too many stockers are added.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 06/14/08 08:53 PM.
