Thanks Ken, I appreciate the kind words. I am most certainly not an authority regarding these fish, and most of what I think I know comes mainly from own observations, rather than clinical data. I will give it some thought, dig through my photos, and see what I can come up with regarding my interpretations of males vs. females where HBG are concerned.
I can answer a couple questions tonight however.
Our HBG live together with a few male BG, and a handful of mixed sex RES. And of course, a LOT of smaller LMB.
Up until now, I have purchased fingerlings from hatcheries. Curiously enough, I just posted earlier this evening over at BBG about my plans to try and obtain younger fish next spring... I think if I am to push these fish to two pounds with any sense of regularity, I'm going to have to get an earlier start, which means they need to be in my hands as soon as it's feasible. I feel I'm missing out on the all important early growth period by starting with older, (3-4") hatchery fish.
I'll get back to you on differentiating the sexes once I put it together.
