THE FISH-GUY COMETH Almost a perfect delivery....almost. We have opted to begin with 300 RES fingerlings, 300 YP fingerlings, and 75# of FH. We're the 2nd stop of 4 on this route. They hike in, meet us at the launch, survey the driveway set-up and determine that they would rather bring the goods to the pond in buckets on the back of the D-ski PU truck. All righty...I'll work with it. We all walk back out to the county road and prepare for the haul. Now mind you...this is all new to me, so I don't really know what to expect or really what to do other than take the fish to the pond. So, I asked the stupid, obvious questions...like...."so, ya got my whole order in that there tank?" He replies "yep, Perch, Redears, Blue Gills, and your Fatheads are over in that tank". Blue Gills? ...there better not be any Blue Gills. He pauses, thinks quick and apolgizes that he doesn't remember the specific species for each of his four stops today and tells his partner to get my ticket. He reads it and apologizes again, stating that I do indeed only get YP, RES, & FH. Then we talk a little more and I advise him why I do not want one stinkin' BG. We get the YP and RES into the buckets and move 'em to the PU truck. - - Just before I pull away to deliver the new pets, we start talking again as he explains that their FH pond got contaminated with a few BG. He explains that most all his FH customers have BG ponds and don't really care. He can sense that I do. He puts in the dip net, sorts thru 'em and sure enough, he flips a BG onto the ground. I told him that he is going to either sort every fish or take 'em back...NO BG! He fully understands my posture and puts up no argument. I ask him about the purity of the YP and RES. He assures me that there will be no problem there, admitting that the only issues are in the FH pond. We deliver the YP and RES from the boat launch. - - When I get back, Fish-guy continues to be cooperative and apologetic. He says that there is no way he is going to be able to do a 100% sort thru 75# of FH here. He says that, had he known the FH purity concern, they could have done the sorting last night. He is now very concerned for my satisfaction and offers to just take them back and catch me on the next run in my area. I return the concern for his potential loss, but admit that eliminating introduction of BG trumps. He says "no problem at all", adjusts the bill, and knocks off the delivery charge. He assures me that he in no way wants to be responsible for lousing up my pond. I admit that I would have never known. He smiles and says that he could have easily just dumped 'em in, but that's not how he operates. His reputation is at stake. - - So, 300 1" - 2" RES and 300 4" - 5" YP. I understand that the RES are way too small to be eating anything but the Phyto-stuff, but what about the YP? At what point are they gonna be lookin' for minnows? I did note during the bucket dump sequence that I had a bunch of little tadpoles and under-water bugs swimming around. Is this the kind of stuff that the YP will be eating?
