Originally posted by Dave Davidson1:
George, be very careful or THEY will be coming for for you. This kind of sedition can get you into serious trouble from Native Texans. Next thing you know, you'll be paying somebody to change your oil and buying water in cute little decorator bottles from the grocery store instead of straining the perfectly good stuff from the faucet through your teeth. Is nothing sacred?
I like both species and think that HSB is easily the answer to small(?) ponds and LMB over spawning. However, due to hatchery constraints and price, availability of larger fish to restock might limit their general acceptance. To the best of my knowledge, Todd is the only provider for the larger fish and I'm not sure how many "average" farm pond owners will want to pay a higher price.
BTW, how do smaller HSB "travel"? Do they do OK in a hatchery truck? Can they hold up to 3 days on the road? I'm thinking about the trucks that leave Arkansas and spend their days stopping at feed stores. If they can't, this and $$ may be a limiting factor.
Now Dave, having the opportunity and good fortune for us to become acquainted, you know better than to try to out-red-neck a good ole East Texas boy.
Those of us that know you best realize that you can red-neck some of us � and flip a switch to a comfort zone for a presentation to the board of directors of a Fortune 500 company.
Yeah, I caught my first LMB on a cane pole when I was too young to even remember my age.
Like most fishermen, I was a died-in-the-wool LMB fanatic until I discovered striped bass, and when my son built us a pond, I wanted HSB.
Jeff is a hard-core LMB guy, and has pampered the wishes of his dear old dad, but after getting his tackle busted a few times with HSB, he�s coming around.
Your question of cost and availability is addressed by Lusk in the current issue of PB magazine. He believes that with the growing popularity of HSB in private ponds, competition will solve the problem of cost and availability of adult HSB.
As far as Arkansas fish trucks hauling HSB, I don�t think that�s going to happen.
Most of their adult fish are stunted, having been held in crowded raceways, whereas Bruce and Todd�s HSB have been grown out in optimum conditions.
