Originally posted by Bob Lusk:
Yours is a great candidate for tiger trout, too. They are aggressive, fast growing, fairly easy to catch. You can diversify with browns and maybe brookies, too, but they aren't as easy to raise and catch. Rainbows and tiger trout are trained to eat fish food, making them a great fish in small ponds. There are a couple of sources of tigers in NY that I know of..
No offense meant whatsoever but I respectfully feel the tiger trout is over rated. I know someone said they fare better in marginal water temps, but I find that very hard to believe especially considering they are partly brook trout which is actually a char and prefers cooler temps. I've also seen some strains of browns that don't do well in marginally warm water.
I have seen tigers in very poor condition even in better than marginal water temps in a Massachusetts lake.
Furthermore finding feed trained trout of any species is not difficult at all. If they are propogated they are feed trained as soon as they swim up for feed. Some trout have been domesticated for at least 100 years so feed training them is a cinch.
And typically from my experience brook trout are easy to catch just as tiger trout are. However rainbows are next most difficult to catch with brown trout the most challenging.
50 gpm is a good flow but a 1 acre pond is good size for that flow. Your water temps may have to be watched in summer unless you have good shading or you are at high altitude.
At only 50 gpms into a 1 acre pond I would be inclined to believe your pond would form a thermocline in summer. If that is the case you may have a period of time where they won't come up for feed.
