There was an attempt to tank grow a world record size largemouth, I believe back in the 70's. Apparently it was given up as just heavily feed a fish will grow a large fish, but not necessarily a record fish.
There are other things in play than just feed in producing a record fish, let alone a one in a million world record fish. One of the issues one runs into is a fast growing fsh has a shorter lifespan. One analogy used is a burning candle to show that fast growing fish will just burn out quicker.
I believe along with a good food supply a record fish is a genetic anamoly. I believe not only is it a fast growing fish but it posseses a gene to give it a longer than normal lifespan not penalized by the faster growth.
Case in point: I caught a yellow perch out of my pond that eclipsed our state record by 5 oz. and was over 16 inches in length. According to a friend that keeps track of yellow perch records in various states, a yellow perch over 16 inches is extremely rare. Very few but this one since 2005 exceeded much over 15 inches in my pond. 15 inches seems to be a barrier they rarely exceed even with ample feed.
I am doing something different now that may produce larger perch than I have been doing previously, but time will tell. That is the YOY hatched in a pond are brought inside in the fall to continue to grow over the winter and then faster growing females are planted into the all female pond in the spring. I am also going to establish a fathead minnow population (no bass present to decimate them) to provide additional nutrition other than pellets especially in the winter under the ice.
I presently have 11 inch perch in a basement tank that are just coming up on 1 years old. In the wild a 1 year old perch averages 3 to 4 inches.
That said, this may only produce large fish faster, but no record size fish due to the faster growth and possible shorter life spans.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 04/16/14 06:58 AM.
