Originally Posted By: RC51
Setter how many did you stock? Do you feed them? If so do you ever see them hitting the surface for food? You can tell when they hit it sounds like someone just did a canon ball off the dock... lol

They are there I bet. Remember HSB like open water more so. I have not seen any of my big ones sense Easter... I am sure at 2 plus years old yours have got to be close to 18 plus inches as my younger ones I've had for 1.5 years and they are all 17 plus. My first batch I put in 22 of them. My second batch you see in the pic I put in 25 and my pond is no bigger than yours.

I catch some of these guys on 1/8th ounce spinner baits, Go around your pond in more open water in about that 7 to 10 feet of water depth with a bobber about 2 feet up and a big ole shiner.... just hang on..lol I hear the Jaws music already... hehe

RC

RC, I stocked them on 10/10/15. Put in 15 in the 4-6" range, and 10 in the 6-8" range. I didnt see how those lengths were arrived at.. They all appeared healthy. Haven't seen any since. I still have lots of FHM that were stocked late in 2014. Plus lots of other recruitment from GSH, HBG, RES, and "possibly" YP. I guess the HSB are stuffing themselves. I've tried everything, at every depth. None landed. I have had a few hard hits that got off right away. Those could have been HSB.. The GSH are hitting small jigs, I catch them frequently. I'll throw one out under a bobber, and try again.

9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023