Theo's fish are growing at very near maximum rates of growth. I am aware of no one else who has grown lepomis to that size in Ohio. Male BG can grow at about 0.39 lbs per year in Northwest OH once attaining a length of 5 inches. It requires that the BG eats all it wants when it wants. So those examples are likely 8 to 9 years old. Not sure how close Theo's climate is to NW Ohio, but it would take that long to grow BG of comparable size there. So Theo's BOW and the fish that are in it are an example of 8 to 9 years of effort and population management. I can tell you, the BOW didn't do it on its own or just with feed. To grow fish like that you need a similar population management approach that Theo employs year in and year out. Someone, once said said it wasn't fair and asked how he did it. His answer was this:
Feed heavy (about 300 lbs of Aquamax a year). Cull heavy - I take 400+ hybrids out of this 1/2 acre every year. Every BGxRES under 10" comes out (the ones big enough - 7" to 10" is my eating slot - taste really good), except for a few promising looking 6.5" - 7" males. Everything over 10" goes back in.
Predation is provided by SMB and YP. An established population of Gambusia provide snack possibilities for the larger BGxRES. I stock Tilapia every year to convert FA into better utilized biomass and provide gluttony fodder in October when they get sluggish before dying (for the SMB and YP anyway - maybe the big sunfish get some of the little Tilapia).
To grow BG-RES like Theo's requires, in Theo's experience, removing 800 hybrids per acre per year. Unfair? I say that's the difference. Most people throw back fish like the ones Theo takes out. That's why he grows them that size and others don't. 800 hybrids removed per acre each year. Think about it, that's a decent amount of recruitment to his slot each year. BG-RES can replace themselves with SMB/YP as predators. Perhaps they will also be able to do this with LMB once there are enough females of subsequent generations.
