It was the first anniversary of stocking my pond Saturday, so we celebrated by fishing it for the very first time. A cold front and an obvious insect hatch meant slow action, but we did catch a few. Most first stocking HBG averaged 6.5-7 inches and their girth was very impressive. What I am assuming were this spring's stocks averaged 5.5 w/good girth as well. I caught nothing under 5. I'm very satisfied w/that. Not surprisingly, I caught no RES but have seen some that are much larger than any HBG. I began hand feeding mid morning and evening w/Am500 at the end of May. Since September, they only get fed every other evening. I have no predators yet but an unholy amount of FHM. I was rather surprised by the HBG's spawning habits. I didn't expect much, but they occupied their beds the entire summer. While I saw RES paired up, I never saw any HBG pairs. I did have several yoy though from something. Over the past year, I have only found 2 dead fish (both RES)in otherwise excellent condition. I assume predation as they were pretty far up the bank and one had its tail chewed off.
