We're planning on stocking every third year. That's what Dr. Slipke at SE Pond reccomended. Our morts are really low, and we don't plan to harvest any.
Cheyenne, I don’t understand the logic of a three year stocking program. As you likely know, there is a finite lifespan for HSB in southern waters even if it has not been firmly established as yet. Obviously you have outstanding water quality to produce the quality HSB you regularly catch.
IMO you will “hit a wall” with their recommended stocking schedule, resulting in a three year gap in size. I am a firm believer of an annual stocking ladder to maintain max size fish on a continuing basis.
Do they recommend fingerling HSB stocking or do you have larger size HSB available to avoid predation?
We have access to HSB stocking as large as 12". With the number of predators that are in our pond I believe that the logic in a three year stocking plan is to avoid overstocking. It is quite possible that I misunderstood Dr. Slipke. I'll check with him before I talk to the fish farm. The main goal is a LMB fishery. HSB are just the icing on the cake. We only stocked 25 HSB per acre to start with. That combined with Crappie, BC, CC, and LMB makes for a lot of predators. This wasn't all by design. This was an existing pond with a large number of fish already in it.
