Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose HSB in Northern Ponds

NE Mason, thanks for the pics. I always enjoy them. You've done beautiful work.

Your pics make me want to drag my ponds out into the middle of the road and chunk rocks at them.

That got the best laugh out of me today.

Thanks, DD1.

Yes, I am also attracted to my pond. I've spent lots of time out with it. Long days, late evenings. I've dressed 'er up and provided a loving home. But, and I hesitate to say this delicately, my pond for all her beauty doesn't really put out. It's hard not to get jealous when I read about what you guys are doing ALL THE TIME in places like Nebraska or Texas... I'm beginning to think that beauty is not really very important, and that a more wild and natural pond would make me happier. Or maybe I should have more than one pond, like some of you guys. Or maybe it's just me, and my beautiful pond would 'put out' just fine for someone like Condello or N8ly. I'm embarrassed to talk about it, and my pond just acts like nothing is wrong.

That's why my pond and I are here in counseling.

"There are no greater wretches in the world than many of those whom people take to be beautiful."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-65) Roman philosopher and playwright.

This Seneca guy had to have been a Pondmeister.

I've fed both AquaMax and SilverCup. I'm in Phoenix where we don't have a lot of local stores that carry food. Finally found a feed shop that carries AM 600 and will order other AquaMax for me (just got AquaMax Largemouth this week, sweet!).

I liked Silvercup because it was easy for me to get - thanks to the people over at Jones Fish. Its the only place I could find online to order either of them (ecommerce!). I kinda liked when it just showed up on my doorstep.

My BG seemed to actually hit the SilverCup more aggressively - but I'm not sure if it was time of year or what. Looks like the SC has less protein in this version. Looking at the Sivercup website it looks like they have some that are 44-45% protein.

My fish seemed to do well on the Silvercup - but they also do on the AquaMax600. Is it bad that I want to buy the AquaMax because the Purina guy is so involved with Pond Boss? Probably not.

But I've kinda decided that I'll just alternate once in a while to give the fish variety. I have to believe that some variety - even in 'supplemental feed' - is probably good for the fish.

http://www.jonesfish.com/products/71/Silver-Cup-Gamefish-Feed.htm

The Silver Cup that I was referring to was the 44-45% protein pellets. Dave - I'm not sure what is in it that makes it different than Aquamax. I think Silver Cup specializes in trout feeds. Mostly likely they both use some of the same or similar things except for a few special items. I'm pretty sure that Mark Griffin would know how they two feeds differ. Competitors seem to know pretty much what each is doing differently and how Silver Cup hi-protein feed manages to create less waste material per pound of feed. That becomes fairly important when feeding fish in raceways and indoor aquaculture systems. I doubt that it is a trade secret. I think it amounts to not having as many undigestable additives.

Hybrid Striped Bass are by far my favorite fish! All those pondering about adding them I would definitely encourage to give them a try. I agree with Bruce to stock them heavy if they are small and then harvest as they become of edible size (about 8 months to a year in most cases)

I have stocked them now in about 10 ponds and they are just awesome! I do however disagree when everyone says that they are open water middle of the pond fish and are not susceptible to GBH and such predators. My observation is that they hug super tight to the shoreline pretty much all the time in large schools until they reach about 6-8 inches, then they head offshore. I can go to each pond and once i have located the school of HSB that is usually the same place I always find them. I had several fish put on more than 3 lbs of growth from May 4 2007 to August 1 2008. The average HSB gained 1.5 lbs!

Smallmouth taste the best, but HSB are great to eat too. Dont worry about wasting the red meat, it is no good on any fish (especially ocean fish) definitely worth the effort to remove from the meat.

I have fed most types of fish food to most types of fish and really liked the results I got with Silver Cup. (I am referring to visually watching the fish feed results, not actual growth or waste) Fish seem to really like Silver Cup fish food.
This summer I exlusively used Ziegler Feed 40% protein and had good growth results, but I think the fish liked Silver Cup better. Ziegler was about 30% cheaper than the silver cup and aquamax. Next year I hope to use purina.

also I just recaptured in a seine 400 HSB 4-6 inches that were roaming the same shoreline. Everytime I would toss a handful of food over to them, a 24 inch muskie would bust loose into the school.

I couldnt bare watching them keep getting eaten. I put them back into a cage to put on some more weight before restocking them back into the lake.

I have fed almost every kind of fish food there is and have even experimented at feeding my fish free dog food and can say at this point in my career as a pond boss advocate that you get what you pay for. Right now I am feeding aquamax 600 but have also fed the silvercup salmon food which I think is 45% protein. The silvercup is a little bit more expensive and may be a little bit better but not enough to make a big difference. The biggest difference I saw was when I quit feeding free dog food and cheap catfish food and switched to the aquamax. The fish all of a sudden were really fat and began to really increase in size quickly! The fish will eat dog food and they will eat cheap catfish food but their growth rate is slower and they are not as fat. I have ordered the new sweeny bass feeder and have just ordered some bass food to put in it. I will let you know how that goes as far as growth rate.