Here are my stats (and question)... I welcome comments what I'm doing, or what you would do different. I have someone who is supposed to come take out (thin out) 10 lbs of 16" bass and 20 lbs of 12" bass. If I'm doing this right, I'm striving for a supply of 20" or larger bass in my 5th year (maybe even this year, my 4th year, as we're already seeing near 20" bass). I do very much continue to feed from a feeder and by free-throw at different spots and the fish know it. Honestly, after the 5th year and we reach the goal of the ultimate LMB, what next...
And I was told to not use the Cutrine and let there be more growth along the edges so the fish have hiding places, what are y'all thoughts there?
Also, I haven't had any luck finding a place near by that carries the Aqua Max Fish Food and to have it shipped is unbelieable. Anyone in Indiana have a place nearby that I could drive to to get some...I sure would like to try the stuff.
dot
Pond Built: 2006 onc acre, 20' deep
First Stock: 09/09/06
200 ea 3"-5" HBG
50 ea 4"-6" CC
40 ea 2-3" LMB
2000 FHMinnows
Second Stock: 12/10/06
250 ea 1"-2" GG
1000 ea Gambusia Minnows
Third Stock: 04/11/07
600 3"-5" HBG
80 ea 8"-9" LMB
4000 ea FHMinnows
4 ea 7" Albino Catfish
Fourth Stock: 05/08/10
300 ea 2"-3" HBG
2000 ea FHMinnows
50 ea Crappie
Mark:
What I did is go
here , type in my zip code and started calling them to see if they either carried aquamax or could order it for me.
Am I understanding that you want to grow large bass? If so, I don't see the forage base in your stockings to support them... HBG do not reproduce enough to provide adequate forage, the same is true of GG. FHM and Gambusia(mosquitofish) both reach a maximum of 4" and 2" respectively. Hardly a meal for a 20" bass. You're going to need to stock something that reproduces more rapidly and grows to a larger size for your bass to feed on. Pure BG, GSH, LCS would be good options. There aren't many LMB ponds out that produce quality bass without BG making a substantial % of the bass community's diet. One thing missing here is if your bass are feed trained... If they are, you may be able to get around some lack of natural forage but I suspect even at lakes like Richmond Mill where the bass rely heavily on artificial feed, they also rely heavily on natural feed particularly those bass in the 8 pound plus range... I suspect that last batch of 2"-3" HBG mostly went into the bellies of your bass. If you have enough 16" bass in your pond that you feel the need to cull some, they're surely feeding on your newly stocked HBG and I am betting your 12" bass are doing the same... Also, I would keep a close eye on your newly stocked crappies. IME crappies often struggle to successfully spawn in >2 acre ponds. So they may not spawn... If they do, be ready to harvest any and every one you catch. I think you bass will really help you keep their numbers down though, particularly if you pond has minimal vegetation and other cover. Just my .02...
Yes, hubby and neighbor want to catch the almight large bass out there in our pond... I know y'all told me about more bluegill before, am having a problem finding other than hybrid in Indiana and I know that y'all told me they really don't reproduce much if any. Anyone knows of a fishery nearby that sells other than hybrids. IMO what I put in last is 'food'. We haven't seen many bluegill yet so i suspect I still need more of that. Thanks.
I know that Rex (rainman)is making an indiana trip shortly, and Jones Fish in Ohio delivers in Indiana. Check with the local feed mill, or farm supply stores, they might have a fish truck coming to the store this summer as well.
What's bad is Purina Mills is in Richmond and I cannot find anyone thus far that carries the stuff, I called about 10+ places they listed at their site and none have the fish stuff; got all the other animal stuff though. Haven't given up yet trying to find the Aqua Max.
I've heard of Jones Fish. Most of the local fisheries in the area carry the Hybrids. Where does Rex go in Indiana...i'm outside of Richmond, In.
Any place that sells Purina products should be able to special order you bags of fish food. It will be shipped to them in their regular orders. Start by asking your closest Purina dealer. If they seem to be hesitant I would contact Purina directly and see if the main office will put some pressure on your dealer to get you the fish food.
The Purina dealer that I go to didn't carry AquaMax, but when I asked them if they could order it they said "Sure!". They went on to explain that they placed orders with Purina on Tuesday, and the product was usually delivered the following Monday. No need to pre-pay, they called me mid-day the next Monday and said it was in. They have since started stocking 8 bags each of 500 and 600 and they said that they will have to start carrying more because it isn't lasting the month.
I just went thru the same thing wtih our local co-op. They carry Purina products and they were trying to sell me Game Fish Chow, I explained it didn't provide the protein level I wanted my fish to have and asked about 600 and she said, well let me see if it is in "the system" and lo and behold there it was...I said kindly order me 100 lbs and call me when it arrives. $32 for 50 lb bag, about what I heard the going rate was on here not long ago.
As far as bluegill surely there is a pond somewhere near you that has an abundance of them?? If I wanted bluegill around here, there is no need to pay for them, people would be glad to get rid of some excess fish.
I'm going to make some calls again today to see if I can talk one into carrying the AquaMax, they told me Purine was very 'picky' that they had to carry the other products for a year (stuff like that). Surely I can find this nearby.
If you are that close to Richmond, and can't find a local store to buy the stuff; I'd drive to the plant and talk to someone there in the front office and explain what you are going thru. I'll bet they'll help ya.
The Purina dealer that I go to didn't carry AquaMax, but when I asked them if they could order it they said "Sure!".
I just tried this with our local Tractor Supply store, the closest Purina dealer to me. The guy told me that they used to be able to special order AquaMax. However, just a week or two earlier, the Purina rep had stopped in and told them no more special orders on anything that wasn't on their shelves already. In other words, to take liberty with a famous line from Seinfeld, "No AquaMax for you!"
Soooo, with Purina having lost a potential customer in me due to that view of marketing, I went to a local fish supplier - Rainbowhead Farms - and bought a 50 pound bag of Burris feed for $30. My BG, which I've been trying to get to take pellets, seem to really like it, so that was a win in my book.
With TSC leaning more towards emulating the "big box stores", (at least the one that I deal with) I'm wondering what Purinas' side of the story is......
I'm sure there's a reason behind it. Not sure if it's a good one or not, but I'm sure there's a reason! The guy I was talking to at TSC was really frustrated by it, but it's obviously something that was decided way above his pay grade. Just sucks for me as the consumer but, like I said, I believe I've found a good alternative so I won't miss a beat.
It's simply amazing that with this economy some companies are going out of their way to lose customers. And you can bet it's way up their in the pay grade where they aren't in touch with reality and are overpaid. A sure testament to the "Peter Principal" if there ever was one.
As I posted a while back I ran into this with the Helena Chemical Company when I was refused a sale of liquid fertilizer for my ponds, and treated like an idiot for even asking. My letter to the regional headquarters went unanswered but you can bet I will go up the food chain until someone listens.
A good example of sheer stupidity at the corporate level was in a small town near me. The town can't have more than 300 residents but had a full size grocery story and even a smaller one for after hours. Someone decided the town needed ANOTHER grocery story!
Anyway a local bank lent the new guy the money to build a new grocery store from ground up. Said there was a study that backed up the fact that the town could use another grocery store. Huh? The new guy could not compete with the established grocery story in prices because his overhead was higher due to his loan. The established one, which I worked at was all paid for. Needless to say the new guy went under in record time. The building is now a church. Dumb, dumb, and dumber!
But the cool thing is that others, in many instances, are there and ready to pick up those customers. I'll continue to patronize this local guy who carries the Burris feed. Plus, as I learned to my pleasant surprise, he lives about 200 yards away from me and I didn't know it!
I remember your escapade with the fertilizer, Cecil, and agree it sounds like it was a crazy situation. Yet there was Nate (if I recall correctly) ready to jump in and help.
Do you know the stats for the Burris feed? Ingredients, protein levels...
Not right offhand, but I will get back out to the farm in the next day or two and grab the tag. If I'm not mistaken, he said the protein is 42% maybe. It certainly smells a heck of a lot more fishy than the TSC Game Fish mix I bought awhile back - that stuff looks like big Grape Nuts and has absolutely no fish smell at all.
I ought to actually be able to swing by there tomorrow and, if I can, I'll grab the tag off of the sack and either take a pic or scan it and post.
The fact that is smells fishy is always a good sign...
That's what I was thinking. I literally wash my hands 2 or 3 times before the smell is gone. I guess if they keep sourcing their fish from the Gulf, the smell is going to get even stronger!
Oily, but the wrong kind of oily...
But the cool thing is that others, in many instances, are there and ready to pick up those customers. I'll continue to patronize this local guy who carries the Burris feed. Plus, as I learned to my pleasant surprise, he lives about 200 yards away from me and I didn't know it!
I remember your escapade with the fertilizer, Cecil, and agree it sounds like it was a crazy situation. Yet there was Nate (if I recall correctly) ready to jump in and help.
You bet! Nate send me fertilizer ASAP and he has my business forever!
Do you know the stats for the Burris feed? Ingredients, protein levels...
So I grabbed the tag yesterday and can't get it to scan very well, so I'll just list out the relevant stuff that it says.
Crude Protein - Min. 44%
Crude Fat - Min. 22%
Crude Fiber - Max. 3%
Phosphorus - Min. 1%
Ingredients: Animal protein products, Processed grain byproducts, grain products, fish oil, animal fat, plant protein products, mono dicalcium phosphate, and then a bunch more things like that last ingredient.
It's marked as being a trout food, but the guy says he sees really good results with all the fish that he feeds it to and that this is the exclusive feed he uses.
It's actually branded as Cargill Aquafeed, but I understand that Cargill is owned by Burris and this tag does reference it as a Burris product. I still see some fish grabbing the pellets and then spitting them out, but there are way more BG hitting them, and doing so happily, than there were with the TSC product. Pretty much every pellet gets taken, so I'm hoping to see some benefit in the fish sizes eventually.
Actually, Cargill bought Burris several yrs. ago. The mill near Todd must have some leftover tags. The stuff I get at the plant in Franklinton, La. has cargill tags. I usually get 46/12 or 42/12 in whatever size they have. I have to get an overrun of whatever large order they are brewing, but I got some in mid March made the day before, and some last wk. made a few days before. $25 per bag tax included. 20 miles from the pond. I've only been able to get as large as 1/4 lately. I have a small amount of 3/8 left over from last yr. The HSB go crazy when I throw it out. I save the tags, but are in Miss. It has added vitamins, etc. They sell a lot to catfish and talapia farms in Nigeria.
I may have misread the tag, or more likely mis-characterized what it said. Under the feeding instructions section of the tag, it said that because feeding can be a very pond specific thing, to contact "your Burris representative" for assistance in developing a feeding plan. Like I said, the bag was branded as a Cargill product. The guy I bought it from was correct in how he told me which company bought the other, and I'm sure I just got them switched in my head since I'd never heard of either one before.
This stuff was actually purchased from a fish farm - Rainbowhead Farms - here in my area, not from a manufacturing mill. This brand is all the owner, Mike Nardella, uses at his fish farm, and he uses this same trout blend for a lot of his fish. The tag actually said it was manufactured in April for a WV aquaculture entity (don't have the tag with me at the moment and can't recall what the name was) and I'm guessing Mike buys from that entity. The size on this feed is 7/32.
Tonight when we went out to the farm, we tossed in a few handfuls and it was amazing to watch the fish come up and nail this stuff. They were never that enthusiastic about the TSC brand. Tonight was definitely the most aggressive feeding behavior I've seen. I don't know if these fish were ever feed trained, and there are several distinct size classes feeding, so for some at least, it's not something they were raised to do. It's exciting to see them taking to it so well, although now I may actually have to consider a real feeder before too much longer. Until I get electric run out there, though, that may not be possible, and the hand feeding is actually a lot of fun for the family.
Todd:
You don't need electricity for the feeder. They run off of a 12v battery and a solar panel.
I've noticed that the fish hit the better quality feed with more vigor.
Interesting, Scott. I know the deer feeder I have does that, but was assuming that a fish feeder (like a TH, Sweeney, or whatever) was a hard wired deal. Is that incorrect?
Feeding was a little slower today, but the water was really mucked up from some super intense storms yesterday that dropped a lot of water in a very short time span. Still, a decent number of BG found the feed when I tossed it out and those that did went to town on it.
Todd, as far as I know, the feeders are solar. My Stren Aqua Pro's are, and so are all the TH's that I've seen.
Well that's sure interesting. For some reason I was thinking that the higher end models were all hard wired. Dang. Now I have even less of an excuse for not buying one!
Go TH, Go TH, GO TH!!!
You have no excuse for not buying one.
You are an attorney.
You want one.
Your kids want one.
Your wife wants you to have one.
You have an easy source for high pro feed.
Go get one. T.H.
Man, Scott and Burger, you guys are really into this! Who the heck is T.H. and did he post a message that I missed here? I tell ya, if I had support like that guy does from you two, I'd probably go buy a feeder for my pond! Maybe one day you'll be chanting "Go T.L.! Go T.L.! Go T.L.!"
TH = Texas Hunter Feeder.
You have no excuse for not buying one.
You are an attorney.
You want one.
Your kids want one.
Your wife wants you to have one.
You have an easy source for high pro feed.
Go get one. T.H.
+1
The preschool chairs can't handle your heft any longer...besides, I need some company in Kindergarden. FYI - Esshup sits next to me and eats paste and red crayons when he's not busy throwing spitwads. He's very entertaining, you'll like it here!
Gosh...catching up here--been doing yard/pond work for a few days. I did call Purina (and I'm in Richmond, IN area) and I was told the same names of the same places I'd already called. The lady on the phone said call these places back that it could be 'special ordered'---right. I too had talked to a frustrated TSC guy who cannot get the stuff. So, I'm sticking to other brands and may even try some of what y'all are talking about further up if it's in my area. So sad, to advertise something that isn't available to many of us.
On a flip note, I still have my automatic feeder going, the fish aren't eating as much until late evening, they're bedding now. My fish feeders run on batteries and the batteries last a long time.
Paste is pretty good, especially if it is made from Turkey innards, But Red Crayons, Yikes!
At least they are not Tillie Turds. Tillie was a goat, and my sisters best friend would pick them up and eat them. They look just like Trix, was an explanation.
This is far enough into this!
TJ, Blue crayons, not the red ones.
I thought paste was made from Preakness losers.
This sounds like kindergarten where the students wear hockey helmets and ride the short bus. I'll fit right in with you boys!
(And before anyone thinks that was an insensitive comment, I had two uncles with severe mental challenges and am as attuned to those wonderful folks as anyone, so save any negative feedback!)
Todd, we're butt deep in mentally challenged around here.