Originally posted by cdixon:
Please correct me if I am wrong, I understand them to be more of an open water fish. Will they go into the shallows and forage like a LMB will?
Also, as the deepest spot is only 8', and I do not know what the drawdown is for drought and Texas summers I have a concern about how they will deal with the warm water.
Cdixon, I am not qualified to advise, but I will be happy to share my HSB experience.
First your concern about HSB being open water fish and not going into the shallows like LMB:
You are correct that HSB are essentially an open wate species, but as my mentor always says “it all depends”.
When critters are hungry, they follow the food.
I frequently catch them as shallow as a foot deep when they are feeding, to the deepest areas of our pond.They like to hang out in deep water when suspended.
Secondly, in our main 2-acre pond we now have 4 consecutive year classes of HSB, ranging from 10 –12 inch to 20+ inch HSB.
They have prospered through three record-breaking heat and drought conditions, with water levels in the 4-5 ft range.
This pond is aerated and fish fed with automatic feeders.
Our second pond is � acre “grow-out” HSB/BG pond, three years old and has never filled.
We continue to catch and transfer to main pond 2#, 2 year old HSB that to date has controlled the BG population.
50, 8-10 inch HSB were stocked Nov 2006 to “grow-out” for transfer to main pond, but none transferred to date. We are leaving them in the pond at the present time to attempt control of the ongoing prolific BG spawn.
The 2# HSB in the 1/4 acre pond have survived two years N.E. Texas record breaking heat wave and low water summers with no aeration, proving to be a hardy species.
Hope this helps in making your decision.
Good luck,
George Glazener
