I'm with Snipe. If you want to grow record size fish ... go for it. If your state combines them with public water for records, you are not cheating. You will find that it isn't easy and it takes a lot of commitment to do it. Cheating is when you take unfair advantage but you'll have to work a lot harder and invest a lot more money than a typical record holder who happened to fortunate enough to be at the right place and right time. Not taking any thing away from record holders who achieved a record in public water but few ever do it by "trying to". You have be lucky ... yes mostly lucky ... to do it. How hard is it really ... to land a fish I mean? I could land thousands of records if only I were fortunate to get strikes from them.
Joey, If I had a devil on my left shoulder and an angel on my right ... you'd be one on the left. Seriously
. But its a bit over the top to lump intensive management as cheating and IMHO it could be harder to grow record fish by feeding them (even if it may be easier to grow trophies in the short run). My way of looking at feed is that its a tool that is very effective at growing fish while adding nutrients to nutrient deficient water. It doesn't take very long for feeding to take water to far down the nutrient loading path ... but I think it has a role to play. I am not afraid to eat fish that have been fed feeds formulated here in the US. In many respects they can be safer to eat than fish that have grown up in the wild particularly in terms of mercury and other toxins. It's greyer than black and white.
