Originally posted by Meadowlark:
L.W.J.,
There is a lot of disagreement on threadfins for small waters. I can give you my personal experience and the recommendations of one of the most respected fish pros in Texas. I tried to stock threadfins twice in a 4 acre pond in East Texas. Each time, the predators wiped them out. Each time, 10,000 threadfins were placed in the pond in spring and by the next spring they were completely gone. I asked Bob Waldrop, Tyler Fish Farms, if I should try again. He is the guy who was selected to stock George Bush's ponds in Crawford. He also makes money by stocking threadfins. He told me flat out that he will not stock threadfins in any LMB pond less than 5 acres. His stated beliefs, from years of experience, is that it isn't low temperatures which get to the threadfins in most Texas ponds, it�s the lack of extensive deep water in which to hide. In a small pond in winter, the threadfins bunch up in the deepest water and if that is a relatively small area, then they are completely vulnerable to LMB predation.
ML, I hope Waldrop will attend the PB conference next week.
I would like to hear his opinion on forage for small ponds.
He once told me that he doesn�t like to fool with small ponds, but does so as a �service�, but that was several years ago.
He provided some of our original stockers and was very helpful, but was unable to locate HSB, since that was my primary objective.
