Sunil & Bill- Thank you for all the information.
Since my main pond (1 acre) is set up with YP and WE only and it was just started this spring, I might be able to supply you with some anecdotal information over the next 5 years. What information would benefit you to most? My current thought is to sample the pond with hook and line starting this fall. (this is science honey, will be the argument I give the Mrs. after countless hours of fishing this fall) I was going to document length and weight of a certain sample size, maybe 5 to 10 of each species. The only difficulty I see will be catching those WE with basically an unlimited food supply. How big can a WE be and still be trapable? Any other managment techniques that you would use? My goal is to produce as many YP with a 10" min length/acre/season do you think the slow WE growth rate would be to my advantage or disatvantage to attain this goal?
This fall I will be stocking WE into my grow out pond (1/4 acre) which will be full of FH minnows, and BG. I will be monitoring the growth rate of the WE between each pond. The difference being the presence of BG. I will also monitor catchability on both ponds.
Up here in the north, I would love to create a balanced pond using a cold water fish combination such as WE and YP similar to the LMB and BG combination in the south. I am open to any suggestions or ideas that would make this have a chance of working.
What did you think of my initial stocking rates?
Last edited by mnfish; 06/15/09 04:31 PM.
