Dear Newcomer:

Welcome to Pond Boss. Sounds as though you have an interesting opportunity/challenge ahead. Seven acres is plenty of water to show your knowledge n prowess as a pond manager . . . or for Mother Nature to teach you a few lessons in reality.

You mentioned the hybrid striper as a marquee gamefish for your pond. Fisheries biologists on the Pond Boss Field Advisory Staff heartily endorse the hybrid striper, for several reasons:

* With rare exception, the hybrid striper is sterile. When a fish can not spawn that means you have absolute count and control on its numbers. This virtually eliminates the usual population imbalance that often occurs when a predator can increase its numbers.

* Hybrid stripers take high-protein pellets. This reduces pressure on the forage base.

* Hybrids are readily available from fish farmers, at competitive prices.

* When hooked, hybrids pull like a pure-bred striper, but with the speed and gymnastic flair of a smallmouth.

At Pond Boss, we never forsake the native species, but if it sounds as though we're big fans of the hybrid, we are!

Mark McDonald
Editor, Pond