However we should not forget nor overlook Gafftopsail’s original goal: “My goal is to have a fishery that provides fast fishing action for my kids and their friends and family, and get bass in the 4-5 pound range, eventually.”
If the goal is for primarily LMB in the 4 to 5 lb range then if more than 25/ac are stocked, four main things will happen assuming ample forage foods are available. 1. More bass should be stocked as with 60 to 70/ac. 2. More original stocker bass will be present to create more top end bass present. 3. Anglers will have faster action of catching bass. 4. More bass will eat more BG and this will reduce BG numbers allowing more BG to grow larger for more exciting fast angler panfish action.
The current philosophy or management recommendation of stocking 25 LMB per acre is rationale for producing relatively quickly very large bass toward the 8-10 pound range. If the goal is for the larger top end bass to be 4 to 5 lbs then this can be accomplished when using a higher number of stocker bass. Since 4lb bass is part of the fishery goal, some of the original male bass should eventually reach the 3.75 to 4 lb category and contribute to the 'group' of bigger stocker bass in the pond. If pellet trained stocker bass are used, then the number of LMB stocked could even be more as in 75 to 90 per acre.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/01/21 12:11 PM.
