Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations RES explosive growth?

This picture is of my daughter holding her catch and the current pond record RES (we have recorded 3 since we started our catch log last month). This fish is two years old 10.5" and 1 lb. 2 oz. There are many more like this one. Is this normal for an RES to grow this big this fast? RW is 1.41!

Quote from Auburn (addressing her fans)

"it was realy cool i could barly get the fishing pol up on the dock. i was soprisd . i could catch a big fish like that. i am a bettr fishr than my dad."

She is much better looking than you, Blaine.

Better fisher, better looking, more famous. If only I could be six again.

What are ya gonna do when you catch her dipping out minnows and runnin' up to the woods to deposit them in a puddle?

Great pic, greater story!
How big were they when they went in?

I love it.

Average 2" fingerlings when stocked Sept. of 2006. The pond had about one year to establish a snail population before the RES got big enough to pretty much wipe them out. There is a certain percentage of the RES population that are reminiscent of the football. The rest seem to be on par with the BG growth.

I'm really impressed.

I promise that I mean no offense...but is that a cellphone picture? I can't make it out very well.

I'd love to see a couple of really high detail pictures of those piggies! Nice job!

You need to come clean and tell the truth Blaine. It got that big by eating those bass I sold you.

Blaine, I am impressed.

Cecil, You might be right but there seem to be plenty of those Cecil strain LMB. This picture was taken five minutes after the RES picture. 15.25" and 1 lb. 14 oz. Yes, Auburn single handedly hit the triple crown pond record in 10 minutes.RES, LMB, then the record BG at 9" 12 oz. Nothin beats a confident little girl with full canister of nightcrawlers. Remember, this pond was initially stocked with bream fingerlings Sept. 2006. LMB 9-11" Sept. 2007.



Bruce, It is a cell phone camera. We have a nice camera but it was out of reach at the time. I will target some of those "piggies" and get some better shots for your viewing pleasure.

Ewest, Interesting thread. Same term and growing season but I have an inch and a quarter on them. I am unsure of their origin but may be able to back track them if it is of interest. By the way... All three species can be observed munching pellets in my pond twice every day. Heck, even the 2" LMB are starting to get in on the action.

It seems like the pellets would make a significant difference. How much are you feeding?

Aqua Pro model 75. 1 second (low speed) in the morning. 2 second (low speed) evening. Three months this summer was a single feeding each day ( I think fairly conservative on the feeding). It must have been the snails. They are the only food source that was RES exclusive. Just one year establishment but don't see many of them anymore. I thought that RES would have growth rates similar to BG but I guess that is far from the truth. These RES absolutely dwarf the BG in comparison.

My goodness, that Redear is a Porker!

My guess is your snail supply (thus far, at least) has been on par with what it musty have been like for the world record RES' growth in Santee-Cooper back in the 90's.

Blaine,

What a precious little cutie!

Great report, Blaine. Great looking fish and lil fisher.
Keep 'em fishin'. Nice fall colors already in reflection.

I was told that RES wouldn't feed train, I guess I was told incorrectly. Once the snails are gone they would have to eat what the rest of the fish eat or they would stunt or die wouldn't they?? Awesome fish and fishing buddy there Blaine, congrats.

It is apparent that Blaine's wife must be a knock-out.
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(kidding buddy! You're not that gruesome to look at!)

Great stuff Blaine. Looks like you have a great pond to fish. And your daughter holds all three pond records. Is this Pond Meistering at it's finest or what.

Thanks guys, I am certainly proud of her and my RES. I would like to know how common this kind of RES growth is. Any expert opinion? Any opinion at all?

I am working on better photos. I tried to catch some of those monsters this morning with no luck. The BG and LMB ate the rest of my worms. Worms seem to be my best chance at catching them. Although I have caught a couple on a small silver/blue rattle trap over the summer.

Yes Sunil, My wife is a knock-out!

Blaine the thread I linked is a very similar situation and has the opinions you seek. Take a look and if you have questions we can address them.

I still want to hear about the feeding them pellets, I heard it is very difficult to train them to take pellets, told I can't buy pellet trained RES, what gives? I have considered having them in my pond but I want to be able to feed them for good growth, and I think they will remove all the snails in a year or two so they would require supplemental feeding. I don't want a large population of puny RES, not with all the attitude they give anyway...

Joe:

For posts on RES Feedtraining, see:

Feed Trained RES?

RES Dilemma

I will update with the fact that while the 6 feedtrained RES I released last year were observed feeding all Summer long, this year I have not seen them OR the 20 additional RES I placed in my other pond (which, FWIW, is a new pond with a bunch of snails for them to eat).

Joe,

I didn't do anything to target the RES for feed training. I just feed at the same times everyday and they come. Like I said, all species show up to eat pellets in my pond (BG, LMB, and RES). My initial LMB stockers were pellet trained but I have observed the LMB YOY pecking at the pellets as well. They must have learned from the others. One factor is that I do not have any CC who tend to muscle other species out.

Thanks for the info guys, I think I am going to try to locate some brood stock come spring. I know of a local lake that has them so they would be toughened up to this northern weather, I may have to build another smaller pond next to the main one just to put these in and observe as well as feed train them before moving them to the main body. I had planned on doing this for a forage pond also, wouldn't hurt to have 2-3 of them around for projects eh??