John,
That's great.
Tell you what. I can help you with photos. PM me if you would like to have my email address and I could post the photos in your new thread. I post photos using IMGUR.COM. I could walk you through that or point you to a thread by FishingRod that covers it. Whatever I can do to help you with that I will oblige.
That's just amazing growth. I have through the years collected a library of papers on grass carp and grass carp energetics. I have not spent a great deal of time in review and study of them however. Just collected them with the intent on opening that chapter of my studies if I ever felt I needed to later. Having really come full circle with LMB energetics, growth, and RW, I am needing other areas of research to focus on. So to say the least, I am excited to study your pond and vicariously experience your progress and challenges along the way.
It will be your thread. I'll not post energetics and estimates in it. For the community it would be great to keep us updated with progress on control and grass carp metrics in terms of growth and condition. What I would personally hope for would be length and weight measurements both in Fall and in Spring. These would be extremely helpful to me along the lines of understanding growth, condition, standing weights, in your pond. Would be great if you could post this kind of information and also the culling metrics as you thin them. So indeed, I would be getting something but in exchange I want you know that I would share what I learn with you. Possible benefits to you would be obtaining timely advice that the current standing weight is about to overdo the vegetation eating and recs of a ladder system that would be most optimal for your ponds production of coontail. So for the cost of friendship, taking metrics, and sharing your acquired knowledge ... I would return that generosity with friendship and knowledge sharing too. So this part is up to you. Reach out by PM if this is something you would be interested in pursuing.
One of things many people miss about GC is that they do offer angling opportunity that add to the flavor of a BOW. They can add diversity and in as much as that is true they can, even from an angling perspective, enrich the experience. They need a productive BOW and yours meets that criteria. So I do hope GC will not only help you achieve control of coontail, but that they will also add a layers of additional fun and entertainment. GC happen to comprise the greatest weight of food fish production in the world. More GC are consumed by humans than any other farmed fish. If you are of mind to try one when you cull it, I would very much appreciate your take on flavor and fitness for consumption. Anyways, thank you for considering to do this.
On a final note. Considering Omaha's comments about Walleye, I wonder if you may gain a better experience with Saugeye. Reach out to Snipe to see if that might be an option for you and whether he could supply them.
