Lots of good stuff to consider.
Need to mark my calendar for duties in 2009-2012.
Retarded question perhaps, but...what's my best chance of finding out the current size of my existing fish considering how few there are and how low the visibility is? Just throw out a hook and wish for the best? Some kind of traps? As it stands now, I haven't sunk all my bottom stucture yet, so I don't even know where they might be hanging out. I've gotta get the boat out in the next week or so to get everything where I want it.
Theo...I figured GSH (or something) might be necessary after a bit. My main problem though is that there really aren't any fish farms near me, and the few sources that are available generally wouldn't have them in stock. There are "fish days" a couple times a year within a reasonable drive, but they don't have much for selection and they are a bit expensive. After calling around a bit, I've found that most of the fish farms within driving distance (2-2.5 hours) in Michigan have no selection at all...just BG, HBG, LMB. I was reasonably satisfied with the place I plan to buy from, but their season is limited for the harder-to-find stuff, and it's a 2.5 hour drive each way. I got my initial RES from Jones FF out of Cincinnati, but I ended up getting almost nothing that I ordered, and it took a couple months to get a messed-up delivery out to me (and another 3 weeks to fedex a box full of dead tadpoles that should have been on the truck in the first place). Needless to say, I don't plan on doing that again. Really, the only thing that I can get locally (ie 35+ min drive each-way) are fatheads. I am sure there has got to be someplace within driving range, but I haven't found it yet. Unfortunately, the state list (kindly linked by Bender) is not very accurate in terms of selection.
