Jason D's LMB will have some 4.5+ by summers end. The growth of his SMB and LMB both are the best I've seen in this part of the country but he was very smart about his approach to loading the forage barrel for bear.
He caught one Sunday I think was about 1/2lb bigger than what he posted the pic of...dude is flat growing some brutes.
Thanks for the kind words, I believe the biggest variable in this (as previously mentioned) is that I resurrected a body of water that was 30 years old. The nutrient load from the old, bad creek fish that were once established is playing a big role in fish growth. On the negative side of this, there is a lot of unwanted algae and weed growth, making it impossible to fish at times.
Next, Go with your gut feeling, Not everything you hear or read is right for your situation. Ask question, get a second or third opinion.
As you know, according to the general consensus, my stocking plan wasn't going to work.
At this point I believe it's more of a stroke of luck and circumstances that the fish growth has been what it is.
Lastly, Off subject. When are all of these minnows going to be gone LOL. I believe this years YOY are going to have a buffet waiting for them.
There is no lack of forage for sure. Crunching with the climate model ... 3.5" LMB stocked 9/15/23 ... I get an average of 2.35 lbs average on 3/22/25. Not too awful far from the mark. Since the model is for ad libitum feeding, definitely fair to say that they are not wanting for forage to eat
. There is no reason why the 2.52 LMB recently caught couldn't be 4.5 lbs September 15. That's 20% above average for females in Jason's climate and she fits that level of model outperformance. As long as she eats all she wants when she wants, I think it will happen.
The average fish caught since Jan. 1, 2025 has been 1.92# @ 14.55", 8 fish sampled. In addition to this, not in my sampling, there were 3 fish culled that averaged 1.48# and 13.5", even though those still have a good RW, they were much smaller overall. Probably Males. Some want an all female pond so I don't think that pulling out a few Males is hurting anything. Of the 39 fish sampled since the 1 year mark, 12 of them have been over 2.00# , 3 of those being over 2.25# . I know there are a few giants swimming around. One in particular that was caught back in October was 2.22#
I believe I have mentioned this in the past. I do not believe the RW chart is very accurate for this part of the country. The weights are way low for any fish under 12"
