Our fishing club is contemplating stocking rainbow trout this winter in a couple of ponds. Our goal is to allow catch and release for Nov and Dec and then harvest them after the first of the year. We are discussing 200 pounds per acre with fish in the 10 to 14 inch range. We would put a feeder on the ponds we stock to increase their size over the winter. The ponds we are considering are 10 to 12 feet deep.
One pond is 2 acres with a recent bloom of FA. Was wondering if that would be an issue with trout. Pond is primarily BG, HBG and GSF with a few bass. Pond depth is 10 to 12 feet.
The other pond is 0.5 acre and about 8 -12 feet deep. It is an older pond with LMB, BG and CC.
Looking for suggestions or lessons learned from others who have done winter stocking of trout.
I just spoke to my local hatchery, and they said browns eat pellets. I am restocking browns and feeding pellets this fall myself. They can tolerate higher temperatures, so I'm told, and they are aggressive and hit lures in my pond aggressively. Definitely look into them.
The previous trophy LMB (records) were from California . Those waters were supplementally stocked with RT in advanced size from state hatcheries. LMB would feast on RT when released and later again when the RT were trapped (concentrated) in the cool water thermocline.
When Purina invented its LMB pellets they ground up RT and analyzed the contents for replication into the pellets.
Thinking about your weight gain of 45 to 55 lbs over a six week time frame. How often will you feed the trout? What do you think the conversation rate will be? I feed Optimal to BG and have found it averages 1.4 : 1 (unless the catfish move in).
Just wanted to update this thread. On Bob’s Facebook live program last, I asked him about feeding rates for trout. He recommended feeding three times per day, what they will consumer in about one minute. Amount of feed should be about 3% of body weight.
Assuming 100 trout at 1/2 pound each, you would have 50 lbs of fish. Feed rate would be 1.5 pounds per day. Conversion rate would be 1 to 1.5. RT will gain weight fast so watch feed rates and when trout clean it up faster than 30 secs then bump the feed amount. Bob suggested Purina Aquamax Sportfish 600.
I will try to keep records of how the RT grow this winter.
To help understand the dynamics of the feeding rate, I created this spreadsheet so show growth assuming 3% feed rate. Starting with 100 total, 1/2 pound trout, I could get them to 1 pound in a little over 30 days with about 80 pounds of feed. Now this is all theoretical based upon a 1.5 conversion rate. There are two spreadsheet options. One option assumes you keep adding to the total daily feed requirement. The second option assumes you increase feed on a weekly basis. It will be necessary for me to use the second option due to not living full time at the property. My Texas Hunter Feeders will be doing all the work.
I will try to monitor this progress over the next two months and report back.
Any suggestions or lessons learned on are always appreciated.
I buy direct, 20 bags at a time. They're only about 3 hours from me so sometimes I go pick it up and sometimes I just have them ship it to the closest LTL terminal, usually Estes and go pick it up. Including shipping, the per lb price is a tad cheaper for me than the AquaMax. Including shipping, my last invoice was 0.91/lb. When I pick up, I pay about 0.68/lb.
Caught three RBT yesterday. Two had already put on several inches and maybe 1/2 lb since stocking three weeks ago. I'm feeding Aquamax MVP but don't see lots of activity. However, it is obvious the trout are eating well. I hope YOY bass are also on their menu, cormorants have been scarce this year.
That's great!! We typically stock trout in the 1# range for our customers, this year they averaged 1 3/4#. I put 50# in my personal pond and have been feeding them in the open water that the winter diffuser makes. They are getting chunky. The goal is to see if I can get at least one over 7# by the 3rd week in May. They all have to be fished out by the middle of June or they have a high probability of dying due to the warm water. Longest I've had them was July 10th.
These days, that one dollar bill should be a fifty.
Yeah that's the truth. I just put it in the picture to give some idea of scale - I didn't have the fish measuring board with me. I received the 2023 fish prices from my suppliers. 15%-35% increase depending on species and size over last years prices. Add in what transportation costs are now and it I can see why other retailers are going up in price and minimum order size if you don't want to pay a delivery fee. I am seeing delivery fees running $3.50-$4.00 per loaded mile. I can see why.
esshup, Pond Boss is on version 7.7.5 and TFF is on 7.7.3 of the same software. The problem may be in the update to 7.7.5 as it boasts a “new” photo uploader. See the other photo thread for more details.
Update on our trout stocking over the last few years. Our POA has enjoyed the put and take of trout in a few of our smaller lakes. Our big lake at 236 acres has had great success on raising larger RBT. Recent catches include 181/2”, 3 lbs, 12 oz. Our largest which we believe is a two year old stocking was 18 3/4” and 4 lbs 5 oz. Looking at RW charts, over 135%. Optimal Trout food this year is really putting on the mass! Goal is 6 lb trout by spring.
