I think the growth plan for some female LMB(8/ac) sounds like a very good way to go some really big and maybe trophy sized LMB. The plan sounds like a practical and decent way to grow primarily big bass because of the recent PBoss Jul-Aug article by Dr Wes Neal titled "Why Is It So Hard To Recover A Bass-Crowded Pond. He explains why ponds with crowded LMB that had been density corrected always tend to fairly quickly return to a bass crowded state (2 research studies cited) . Using just female bass eliminates two big problems for growing really big LMB. 1. LMB based ponds have a strong tendency to ANNUALLY have too many small bass recruited into the population. This leads to major food shortages to keep target bass growing. 2. All females reduces your time spent properly harvesting unwanted bass. Then your time can then be focused on making sure there are plenty of the correct sizes and amounts of prey foods to keep the limited number of all female bass growing at the best possible rate each year.
Now the big biggest problem of this whole plan is, where does one reliably obtain all female bass?? At this point in time, it is a very difficult and elusive goal to find the all female bass, especially ones of known age.
Bill, the absence of attention by hatchery sources does make the acquisition of certified positively identified female LMB in adult sizes (12") a non starter. I don't think any of them are interested in doing that. I also don't think most pond owners are interested in paying the value of such a source either. For my particular situation, I could definitely benefit from and be willing to pay 100 bucks for such fish. A big number but otherwise I would have to do all that myself in different water than my fishing hole. I don't think I can do it cheaper than that.
Ways I could justify the expense would be that I would spend less time removing unwanted fish, and reduced expense on feed and supplemental forage. Another justification for the expense would be skewing the management for success of goals. I am not sure just how much that is worth but I do know it is very easy to spend much more than that on other things and not achieve the desired goals. How much is success of the goals worth?
With regard to the age of the LMB. I would be satisfied with 12" LMB that are 2 years of age. This is normal growth of LMB in many impoundments that produce trophy LMB. What will limit success for my plan is less about how big they are at two years of age and more about how much forage they have to eat when they achieve 20" in length. It's the back end that stunts fish, not the front end.
The reason we become focused on this early growth is because typical plans are unsustainable and "growth of the biggest fish" will hit a wall where growth stops altogether. If we don't get the growth early (eg a 21" LMB that exceeds 9 lbs) we may not grow any fish to 9 lbs ever. One of my goals is to produce
sustainable results over time.
A work around to the lack of supply issues of female LMB, I have considered is this. Purchase 12" LMB at 15 - 20 $ per pound in the fall and use the straw (catheter tube method) to determine sex; see more about these methods in a below post by jpsdad. I could eliminate 94% males this way. Then stock them into the forage pond with existing forage. Feeding of previously frozen forage sufficient to reach a minimum goal over winter gain could be done also if the forage pond had no existing forage. In the spring, I could positively identify females and use vulnerability to angling as part of the selection process.
Finally, it is also possible to use the plan as subset of selected LMB that are allowed to survive.
If all other >12" LMB are removed then the plan and its forage requirements are valid not only for this segment of the population but also for the pond's total population of >12" LMB. Not withstanding the forage needs of LMB <12" in length,
provided the population of > 12" LMB is known ... forage can be supplemented at sizes that will support selectively the population of >12" LMB.
