After doing a bit of reading, I was concerned that the #'s of redear in my pond may not have been enough (and I've had hell finding one since june, which isn't all that unusual but still) so I put 150 more a few weeks ago. I also put in 5 more pounds of golden shiners, as only 2 lbs of those got stocked originally.
Observations of my fish since my last post:
The sores on the fish look like they resolved themselves, I saw some fish that looked like they were healing/healed in January.
My bass haven't grown as much as I'd hoped, but I've got between about 10" and 1/2 lb, and 6".
My bluegill are FAT...and there are LOTS from 2"-10" and they are all fat.
I kept my Texas Hunter feeder set at 1 sec. most of the winter, and the feed was eaten on most days. We're now in spring and I'm at 2 sec. in the morning and 4 in the afternoon already. Water temps are in the 60's already after some warm days with near 60* lows.
It is amazing to me how a couple warm days sent my fish into a frenzy on the feed. There are days they ate up the feed in minutes (and I'd handfeed a little more). Also the fish would go nuts on warm days before fronts. Just like you experience bass fishing in a lake...hmmm....
I'm now feeding a mix of aquamax 600 and the smaller pelleted feed I had. The fish definitely like the aquamax better (may just be size thing considering larger bass now and larger bluegill).
There's a definite hierarchy to feedings. My larger bass get first dibs, then the larger bluegill, and the shiners and small bluegill mop up around the fringes. My one concern about the pond is that I never see the catfish feed. Like never. And I haven't caught one either. Considering replies here and more reading, I'd wanted to take out 50-75 while they were babies, but I've been unable to catch one. I've fished drop shotted night crawlers on bream hooks until I'm blue in the face (also looking to guage my redear growth on that rig).
I had at least 3 different water turkeys on my pond over the winter, but they ran off easily and never saw more than 2, and I never saw them foraging. They learned to run for the hills at the sound of a vehicle or the gator pretty quick. Hopefully they ate some of the cats and none of my brood bass.
Thanks again for the replies and feedback.
Last edited by taylor5877; 02/22/14 09:05 AM.
