Nice pictures of happy anglers. The LMB looks rather shinny. Make sure they have more food or fewer bass if you want them to keep growing into 4-6 pounders+.
Yeah, I had 800 LMB stocked in late June after stocking over 12,000 BG, RES, and CNBG last November. Thought it was too much, I'd have preferred 400 to 500, but the fish guy insisted that a lot of the little LMB would get eaten.
I should have gone with my instincts. Guess I'll have to do something I really hate to do: Harvest some of the stocked LMB before they spawn. A shame, as they have great genetics.
Part of the problem is that my pond is low in fertility due to acidic conditions despite ag liming 4 tons per acre. (Even that was double what was recommended!) Also not much cover, despite some felled trees, as no pond weeds are growing at all. I do feed the BG to try to make up for it to some extent.
And I remember only 105 lb of FHM put in along with the BG, clearly not enough to feed the small bass when they were stocked 7 months later. Again, I was told no more FHM were needed when the LMB were stocked, which I now think was a serious mistake.
Doesn't please me that I paid for a bunch of excess LMB that I'll now have to work catching and pay a shock boat guy to help me get rid of.
Moral of the story: If your pond guy, stocker guy, or whoever wants to do something that you really question, TALK ABOUT IT FIRST. If you aren't convinced, stand your ground. It's YOUR pond, after all.
Don't just accept their word because "They are the experts." They don't know your situation as well as you do, and for sure don't have the time to do so.
I want to be clear that this is not a complaint about the ethics or competence of anybody. After all, the folks who stocked my LMB would have made more money if they had stocked more FHM as well. I'm sure they did their very best. Just wish I'd stuck to my guns as I knew more about my BOW than anybody else. Ultimately, any blame falls squarely on me.
PS If someone would like some of my excess LSL bass, please let me know here or by PM. They really are great fish, I just have too many for my infertile BOW.
