Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fall RBT for LMB Stocking

Thanks JPS. I'm always impressed with the calculations and amazed at the forage base required to grow LMB. I will say very little of the growth these guys are showing is on me. My job was to get the pond dug, put in some habitat, rain dance to get it filled, add in some fish and now monitor to ensure they have what they need. So far, the fish seem to be responding well. I think this goes to the old saying you can lead the horse to water but you can't make him drink.

My current plan is to start with a fish trap or two first week of Sept. Perhaps a little fishing as well to see if I can find a few more LMB so the sample size is greater than one. What I'm hoping to see with the traps:
1) Number of spawns we had this year on the BG or relative abundance of a particular size. We did catch a few and from what I can see the fish that are close to the feeder are near the same RW growth rate as the LMB and the ones that are further away are closer to 100% on RW. Of the six we caught, they ranged from 130mm to 175mm.
2) I haven't seen many of the GSH that we stocked or recruitment from them. Very possible it happened on the GSH and my rookie eyes just aren't able to tell the difference between GSH and FHM before the GSH head out to the open water. The minnows, generically, that we see along the shoreline range from 1/4 - 2". Starting to see a little mix of 2"+ more disk shaped intermixed with these guys. Unknown if these guys are sunfish or the tilapia.
3) Maybe we will see some representation from the YP as well. I didn't see any ribbons this year but the water was still very stained until their spawning temps/window had passed.

Is there something else I should be looking for here?

Picked the start of Sept as the temps should be starting to cool and to make sure we had time to try to get on a schedule for some sort of supplemental forage. Basically, our trapping should tell us we're missing something we want and then either fill that hole if missing or bonus forage with GSH?

Will definitely keep my eye out for the males. I'm not skilled in the use of catheters which will mean we run with what we have until next spring if we can catch some nest building or some egg laden females visually.

Will plan to hold off on RBT until we get a little more size on the LMB.

Much appreciated on the help and response!