Greg Grimes and his associate, Matt, electroshocked my 3 ponds yesterday and it was an informative experience. First of all, let me say Greg is very personable, patient, professional, knowledgeable and overall fun to be around. He inspired confidence in me which is something I was looking for.
Quick background on the main pond: in November of 2009, we drained, dredged, rotenoned (twice for good measure), limed and stocked forage into a 50+ year old, 8-9 acre pond. We created peninsulas, an island, ridges and Ray-Scott-style pickle bucket hardwood clusters in 5' of water. The forage base was selected largely by the great ideas and contributions of the Pond Boss community - 10K+ CNBG/RES, 10K+ FHM, 4K GS. In June of 2010 we stocked 275 "Tiger Bass" at 2" apiece. I tried to get threadfins in 2010 and again in 2011 but nobody could produce them for me. I'm getting a load delivered on Tuesday, though.
Fast forward: Yesterday Greg confirmed what I already knew, my original load of CNBG/RES also included a very large percentage of HBG, a species I DID NOT want. Also, along the rip rap on my levee we even found several 3-5" pure GSF. I had never had GSF in my ponds prior to draining/rotenone. I can't tell you how devastating it is after methodically following a prescription for success, spending 6-figures renovating a lake and patiently waiting for good results only to find out you have a huge chink in your armor due to factors outside your control. Lesson learned - TRUST should not be ascribed lightly to people in the fish hatchery business. To be clear, Greg Grimes had NOTHING to do with my fish order, and regular poster here Rex (Rainman) had nothing to do with it either.
I had expected to find some bass pushing 3-4 pounds but nearly all my stocker bass were cookie cutter 1.5 - 2 pounders 13.5" - 14" in length @ 90% optimal weight. How could this be? Two main factors - one, the HBG are mowing down the bluegill spawn before the fish achieve meaningful size for the bass. Another cause is I need more "dense cover" to protect small fish until they can put some weight on. I have had 4 Texas Hunter feeders slinging nothing but generous amounts of AquaMax since day one.
We also discovered the lake is already starting to tilt bass-heavy. We removed quite a few fish, primarily the most underweight bass (85%-90% optimal weight) and any smaller ones resulting from successful spawns since stocking.
Greg will be providing me with a detailed report of his findings soon. I am happy to have someone I trust help me develop a plan to correct course and get back on track to produce trophy bass.
