I had previously made a post about what I thought were pretty good RW of my LMB and SMB earlier this summer, Avg 11” and 1.03#. In the last 45 days I have noticed the RW was coming down quite a bit but the fish are still growing, now avg is 12.5” and 1.25#, they went from being pretty round (like a BG) to being a little longer and leaner. Not sure if it’s the samples I’m catching or some other factors playing a part in this. I even caught a SMB that was right at 100% this week, definitely was not the norm. My HSB are almost 2# now but the RW is never over 105% CC have made it close to 17” and as high as 2.56# CNBG upwards of 7.5”, no weight recorded, I have also read of people who have 2# LMB after a year, IMO it’s either mineshaft conditions or some fish stories. Maybe it’s growing season difference ? I’m not to a year yet, but I don’t see any Bass approaching 2# in the next 2 months
It's all about having enough food in the pond for the bass (either live fish or the bass are pellet trained) AND the fish have to be the size that they need to keep growing quickly. A 1.25#, 13" LMB needs to eat a much larger fish than a 6"-9" LMB needs. To keep the bass growing fast, you need fish (bluegills) that are now 3.5" - 4.25" (each bass will need to eat approximately 250 to 400 fish that size to gain 1 pound of weight). You are seeing them get leaner because they don't have enough of the correct sized fish in the pond to eat. They are swimming more and more to find the correct size fish.
Do you have cover in the pond for the LMB to use as ambush points to catch their meals or are they like marathon runners, constantly swimming around, looking for a meal?
A customer was catching 15", 2# bass in late September in their 1 acre pond from fingerlings (2"-3") 50 LMB stocked in late April. 25# FHM,& 25# GSH were stocked in late June the previous year; Bluegill were stocked in early April the following year (1,250 1"-2.5", 1.250 2.5"-3.5") along with 750 2.5:-3.5" RES, roughly 3 weeks prior to stocking the LMB. They also had a TH feeder feeding Optimal BG JR to the fish in the pond. Against my advice the lady stocked two 14" LMB that were caught in the local lake in late May. I told her that she needed to catch them out, she didn't fish for them until late Sept and called me after she caught 4 LMB that were 14"-15" saying that she only put two in there, why did she catch more than two that were that big? I told her to fish some more and not remove any more LMB but report back what she caught and she caught 10-15 more bass that same size.
So, with a longer growing season like Arkansas, or Georgia, it is possible to get a 3# bass in 7-8 months from fingerling size.
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