Also, can you tell how many pounds of trout were in the pond? I know water quality means a lot to raising fish, what do you do to keep the water quality conditions optimal?
I stock to harvest 500 lbs. of fish. I weigh every trout removed and do a total weight each harvest. It's more about the inflow of fresh well water and the water exchange rate as in the removal of suspended solids, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates then it is the pond itself. A rule of thumb is 12 lbs, of fish per gallon per minute of flow. So in my case around 45 gpm X 12 equals approximately 500 lbs. max of trout.
The sides of the pond ( 88 X 59 feet ) are steep sided to keep warming down and the 51.6 F. well water keeps the pond water temps maximum on the surface in the mid to upper 60's in a normal summer. The pond is 8 or 9 feet deep maximum and I run a diffuser in the center on the bottom 24/7 except in the summer when I run it only at night.
Ironically the larger fish don't need as good of water quality as smaller trout. Hence why you will see the smaller trout in raceways kept closest to the inflows.
