This is a smallie I caught in June '07. He's about 17 or 18" long and maybe 2.5-3lbs. Bait: Golden Shiner
Here's a HSB I caught this past weekend. He's about 16-17" and maybe 2+lbs. Bait: Golden Shiner
I've had the smallies for a while, and I would guess that this HSB was stocked a few months ago (at about 15-16 inches). Last fall, I put in a few HSB that were a little bit smaller, but I never saw HSB again until after the most recent stocking this past spring. Honestly since the day these HSB were stocked (around late April/early May '06), I have not seen them or caught one until this past weekend.
My pond has tons of juvenile fish and golden shiners schooled up in open water. I caught (5) HSB this past weekend, and my buddy caught two. All of them were structure-related catches, and they were mostly isolated bites; ie/ if I had one on, my buddy would throw a shiner in the vicinity, and no second fish. I did catch all the fish in a total of three areas (one fish in one area, two fish in a second area, and two fish in a third area), but over a course of three days fishing.
Also, I know I have had successful SMB recruitment. I saw several isolated SMB that were 3", maybe 4". I'm certain these were from a SMB spawn in spring '05. About three years back, I had stocked some smaller SMB, but the smallest was 3" back then. I don't think they could be from this year's spawn.
Last spring '06 and Spring '05, I could see the smallies spawning on beds. In spring '05, I saw two big smallies on a bed along with one big LMB; they were all just hanging on this bed, and various bluegill kept diving into the bed (eating frye I think). I thought I was in Utah.
