Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Tiger Bass fingerling growth

In a two acre pond with plenty of small baitfish and two feeders going off three times a day.



February 25th 2024: 1,000 Copper nose BG, 250 RES, and 2,000 FHM



June 28th 2024: 100 Tiger Bass (1"-2") and 1,000 FHM



Just give me a guess based from your experience on how large my tiger bass are at 8 weeks old.




We have not seen any signs of the bass.



We are just very excited to get to see the bass

Thank you!

Excited to say that we just caught our first couple bass

The bass have been stocked for almost 11 weeks (from 1-2 inch fingerlings)

Both bass were 7 inches long!

Using a light at night to illuminate small fish shows small near motionless fish for observation and often the illuminated fish becomes a target for better night sighted predator fish like bigger LMB.

How big were the Tiger Bass when you stocked them in February of this year (2024)?

Hopefully a late hatch, rather than their smallest "leftovers".

In either case, you doing some sampling now might REALLY be valuable to see how your bass are doing in the "early rapid growth" stage.

Try a seine net. Growth rates are highly variable in a population. Yours could be anywhere between 4 inches and 10 inches. You should be able to see them patrolling the banks hunting for food early and late in the day.

Hey,

Don't know if anything like the chart below would be helpful or not. The chart below is growth of 2" fingerlings over a 168 day grow-out. Originally, I was just interested in appropriate stocking rates of GAM and LMB fingerlings so that the LMB didn't overeat the GAM. Was seeking the goldilocks initial GAM weight to grow a fixed number of LMB at maximum rates of growth. For the assumption of maximum growth I used maximum observed consumption when fed to repletion on GAMs which was reported in an energetics paper. Maintenance and conversion was taken also from the same paper. Assumed in this particular simulation was an average temp of 75F. They had a limited number of samples and so the observations of max consumption are probably more in line with average maximum consumption as opposed the maximum consumption absolutely. So lengths may only be expectations for the average LMB when fed to repletion. Anyways, thought I would throw it out there to see what you guys thought in terms of usefulness as a tracker for 1st year of growth. I am able to simulate proportionate consumption. For example, 150% of their maximum observations or 50% of their maximum observations. At this point, this is what it is. Growth at RW 140 at their observed maximum rates of consumption. These growth rates (BTW) do support growth of 2 lbs at the first year anniversary post hatch. Anyways, would be glad to make adjustments or plot three curves (slow, average, maximum) but I am going to need some help with defining those 3 classes.

jpsdad,

As kids, we would see bass along the shoreline at night with a flashlight.

Usually, they were oriented on some piece of structure. If there was just a small root ball in the water, you could see two 5-6" bass and a BG just hanging out suspended.

Frequently, we might see some forage fish, but that was in heavier/thicker cover.

Since I was usually out during summer, there were frequently water bugs going over the bass and BG in their location. I don't know if the bass and BG were in their "bedroom" for the night, or if they were just waiting for a minnow to eat a bug, and they were then ready to get the minnow?

You might want to put a bug light out on your dock to observe your bass population? I have also seen bass with a flashlight that were hanging out at night near the bug light at the dock. Even though those bass were too big to eat the bugs.

I have never seen a big bass with a flashlight. However, I have seen gigantic carp.

"You might want to put a bug light out on your dock to observe your bass population?"

Uhhh......LOL!!!

jpsdad,

I was just bouncing around in the thread responding to the latest posts, like a large Golden Retriever.

When we would be out at night with flashlights, it was usually when trying to quietly move to a new spot to fish for catfish. As a kid, I was a little surprised when you would hit some bass with the flashlight ... and they wouldn't react at all. I never saw them eat or strike at forage, so perhaps they were in their bedroom?

I would think you (or Bradley) could survey the smaller bass and other fish at night, only if you knew that path well. Otherwise, I would be worried about stepping in a muskrat hole, tripping and landing in poison ivy, etc.

Outstanding growth Bradley. Congratulations on the progress thus far.

Thank you Eric for the response to my question.