Fellow Pond Bosses:
Sharing Rainbow Trout success in 2006! Stocked my 1/3 acre pond in West Branch, MI in early April with 200 10-11" rainbow trout. Deepest section 9 ft., avg. depths of 5-6 ft. Artesian well of 15 gpm at 48 degrees.
Struggled with rising temps through May and June. Had a new 2" well dug and started pumping more cold water. Combined cold water input at about 28 gpm of artesian and pumped well. Temps rose as high as 73 at one point. Must have been some cold pockets or they just hung out near the well input. Teetering on the edge for sure! Added temp controller on aerator to turn on when it dropped below 62 degrees. That really helped to cool things down at night and cooler mornings. Survived the 95 degree days in July! Auto feeder with Silver cup trout pellets 5.5mm.
And voila', we have 19" 3lb. 6oz rainbows (just caught a few on 10/28! This pic is from later July, 2 lb. 14oz, 18"! Pond Boss really helped out in the learning curve. THANKS [img]http://www.protopage.com/ebaughfamilycampground[/img] POND BOSS!
