Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations What makes exceptional trophy lakes different?

Spicelanebass, I think everyone will take from the thread what they will and you are welcome to take this from it. To be sure, what you gather from it is true ... but it is probably something you already knew.

Everyone, will take something or nothing from it and that's OK too. Some will wonder things like, considering LMB covert better in cooler water, should I feed forage in the cool months to help them grow or prevent weight loss? (I have personally observed 9.5" LMB grow 3 fold in weight from mid-Sept to April). Another might question how deep his pond will be constructed and whether he would prevent his ponds potential for cool water refuge with aeration and/or fertilization. Another might say, "If I can know how much forage my fish need for maintenance and reasonable growth at different temps ... then I can know just how much forage to supplement at any given time and even know when I should expect it to run out. Everyone is different and I don't expect anyone to take anything particularly from it so all is good.

RBT are important to Dixon Lake. They contain on a wet weight basis ~45% more energy than BG. Very good food. I am not sure of the frequency of stocking but will monitor it through this season. Per their website, they stock 4000 lbs of trout at each stocking with the first stocking this year in late November. These are heavily fished for and humans take their share. At least some of the trout stocked are fish that are too big for a LMB of any size to be inclined to eat. Also this lake grows absolute monster CC. 47 lbs I think is the lake record. Trout probably play a role there as well. I am sure there are a lot of trout morts that are consumed by LMB and CC alike. At 4000 lbs per stocking the stocking rate is a little under 60 lbs per acre. What percentage of that weight is small enough to eat and what percentage is left by anglers ... I do not know. But I do know there is a limit to how much an LMB will eat on any given day. An LMB >10 lbs doesn't eat a lot above its maintenance needs (which is why they grow slow eg <25% annually) and so now with water in the 59 degree range they need about 1% of their energy content for maintenance each day. Of RBT, they need .69% of their body weight for maintenance. So consider a 10 lb LMB eating a 10" stocker trout. That RBT contains 5 times what a 10 lb LMB needs for maintenance that day. The Gross FCR at 59F is 8.4 and it would gain .43% from that consumption. Doesn't seem like a big number ... but ... it is 379% annualized growth. Yes, that is correct. We know Dixon lake 10 lb LMB don't grow to 47.8 lbs in a year and so consumption at 1 trout a day is not even remotely possible. It doesn't take many trout to make a difference for Dixon Lake Trophy LMB. One every 3 or 4 days is enough to grow them remarkably. There may even be enough RBT mortality from natural causes to supply that consumption through the cool months where they could just pick them off bottom not even having to chase them down.

Even so, what about summer? How long do the trout last? RBT are important but I suspect despite the low fertility of Dixon Lake there is sufficient BG spawning to maintain or at least slow down warm weather decline. Cool deep refuge also helps to slow decline.

The lake has some very remarkable fish in it. For any interested in checking out some of the fish caught there ... here is a website with photos.

This is the lake record CC.