NE - Now that you tell us that the "female" LMB were stocked at 8" long, I have major doubts that you did not get at least one male in the 20 bass that you purchased. LMB at 8" long are in my opinion VERY difficult to accurately sex. I have high regard for the hatchery man if he was 100% accurate in his selection of those 20 female LMB at just 8" long. Time will tell the rest of this story. If he accurately sexed all your bass at 8" long, I would really like to have his name.
I predict that the LMB will top out at 3-4 lbs in your 1/4 acre pond based on several things. This is especially true if all 20 or even 18 bass live past 3-4 yrs.
1. If they are eating primarily high protein pellets, then this is often the size or weight where traditionally the LMB will seem to hit a growth plateau. If you can get the bass to feed on the NEW large Aquamax bass pellet when the bass get 3-4 lbs, then you might be able to get them beyond the 4 pound mark. More experience of feeding LMB this large pellet will provide more results about growing bass larger than 4 lbs on pellets.
2. Your pond is only 1/4 acre. Ponds typically support around 50 lbs and at the high range 100 lbs of bass per acre. Extrapolating - 20 LMB at 5 lbs is 100 lbs and this equates to 400 lbs of bass per acre. If you can maintain 20, 5 lb+ healthy, plump bass in a 1/4 acre pond, then please educate us as to how it is being done. We want to know. To to achieve this amount of trophy bass biomass in 1/4 acre for any length of time (2-4yrs) you are defying the laws of nature. Try it and keep us informed about your results. It could be possible if done very correctly.
3. When bass hit the 3-4-5 lbs mark they need a progressively different type and size class of food items. See Bob Lusk's book Raising Trophy Bass. I doubt that you can provide this type of quality and quantity of food items for 20 big bass in a 1/4 acre pond. Doing this will test your education, creativity, and resources. Doing it for 1 to 4 trophy bass in 1/4 acre is one thing, but doing it for 20 big trophy bass in 1/4 acre is another thing altogether.
I am not saying that you cannot do it, but I am saying it will be very difficult to achive your ultimate goal and do it consistantly for the long term over the life span of all 16-20 bass.
As I see it, your first major hurdle is to NOT have a bass spawn in 2008. That alone is very good success based on what you have done so far.
Keep us informed of your progress, We are very interested.
Good luck. Over the long term you will need at least a little luck.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 09/13/07 09:26 PM.
