Still a rookie at this too, but I'll give you a bit of my plan and hopefully my understanding at the same time.
I have two excel based spreadsheets in use for the pond. The first is one I created using web-based search results on RW for the various species we either have in the pond or will have at some point. My first Excel file has data for Species stocked into the pond, Qty of each stocking in either lbs (FHM & GSH), or units of each in the case of BG, RES, YP, LMB. There was a tab created on this file to list length and weight of each species we catch that shows the RW of the fish we catch in the case of our BG, RES, YP, and LMB. Another tab on the file is our tracker for water conditions (visible conditions), PH, Temp, Alkalinity, Time and Date collected. There are no fancy graphs in this file because I'm not an excel master. My hopes for this file are to track our progress of the pond over time. I wasn't concerned so much about the geographic data for RW as much as having something there to compare to. Each pond or lake is different, but this sheet does give a baseline of info that over time will be valuable to me.
I did request the file from newly inducted Hall of Famer Bob Lusk. It makes my simple excel file look like I chiseled it with hammer, stone tablet but it's also locked. You can track only what it will allow you to track. Some species and pond data inputs are not available on it. Not to take away from it...the excel file Bob sent is nothing short of AMAZING.
So, my plan is to input as frequently as I can on both sheets. If fish are added, water conditions checked....we note it on excel file 1. If we fertilize, add chems, add plants or habitat again it's noted on excel file 1. If we sample fish we note it on both files, unless it's yellow perch in which case we note it on excel file 1. Culling fish happens on excel file 1 as I don't think the Pond Boss one allows you so show where you cull fish, but for me....I think this is important to track as this is the maintenance of the pond. I've seen several comments here on the forums when people are having problems and the recommendations are based on data the pond manager has. Most times the data provided when asking for help doesn't have definitive data to back it up. The better the data...the better the advice.
I agree on the RW over time is what we want to see the trend on. If data is input over time we should be able to see the RW improve or wain. If it improves over time we pat ourselves on the back and continue with the maintenance of the pond. If it wains over time we change our plan to match what the fish are telling us the need us to do. Gaps in recruitment should also be evidenced as well. I've fished the pond over the course of a month and only caught 1 3-5" bluegill would be an indicator to me that there is a problem coming or a minimum that I need to investigate why I'm not seeing them. I'm seeing a ton of new fry in the shallows, look at all those fancy BG beds or lack there of....
I'd hazard a guess the only way to really tell the age of the fish would be pit tagging them when stocked or guessing when looking at the newly recruited caught during some sort of sampling. I've heard the word "jumper" being used relating to the best of the best new recruits growing at much faster rates than the bulk of the recruits in the pond. It may be possible for these "jumpers" to surpass the previous years slower growers. When we stocked our YP recently the fish supplier mentioned they liked to keep the some or all of the jumpers to better their genetics.
