Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Size / Weight comparison for F1 _ Tiger Bass

I was wondering if anyone has seen a growth chart for F1 Tiger Bass... I have done a little tracking on my fish this weekend and I am wondering how my F1's compare to others... Caught 17 F1's this weekend and measured and weighed each one. Pond was rennovated and killed off in 2008....stocked with CNBG, RESF, FHM, GS, TFS, CRAWFISH, all in 2008. Forage fish were allowed to grow and prosper before we stocked 200 3" - 6" F1's in March of 2010. In May of this year we stock an additional 2000 CNBG and 100#'s of Tilpia and 10,000 FHM.

This spring we harvested 50#'s of 12" or smaller F1's.

This weekend as I said earlier we caught 17 F1's.

The ranged in length from 15.2 - 17.1" The 15.2 inch fish weighed 1.7 pounds and the 17.1 fish weight 2.8 pounds. Every fish that we caught was very thick and healthy. I can list each fish if neccesary but can anyone chime in and let me know how they think my F1's are doing?

As of today they have been stocked for 15 months.

PS. My 6 year old daughter also caught a 4.2 pound Tilapia bream fishing with a Barbie rod / reel, bobber, and #6 hook with live worms.

Thanks!!

There is a Relative Weight chart in the archives. It doesn't specifically break out F1's, just LMB in general. If yours are heavier than the ones on the chart then you are doing well.

Yikes!!!!! I could not find the relative weight chart on Pondboss but I found the Bob Lusk chart on another site... I've just realized my bass are underweight. I went to bed last night thinking I would have some great comments about how good my bass are doing.. it appears to my horror that the opposite is true.

Ok, What else can I do??? I have two Texas Hunter feeders going off... feeding approx 5# per day per feeder... When we bream fish we always catch tons of bream ranging in size from 3" and up....so I think we have plenty of forage, plus what we pumped into the pond...

Also... quoting the excerpt below from a web blog I found this morning (from Nate Herman)

"Take some time and think about this for a minute. If your bass is skinny, it simply cannot grow any longer. Even though the growing season we have is about 6-8 months, if your bass doesn’t have adequate forage for all 6-8 of those months, it will not ever reach its full potential. It may be really fat for 2 months and skinny for 10! On lakes I am managing for big bass, I will remove all bass from the lake that dont measure up to at least 100% Relative Weight at all times. In fact, some lakes I manage for really big bass, we eliminate all the bass under 115% Relative Weights!"

If I follow this rule of thumb I will have to remove every bass I've caught from my pond....

HELP I NEED AN EXPERT OPINION!!!

PS. Here is the quoted relative weight chart that the blog author attributes to Bob Lusk
Largemouth Bass Relative Weight Chart:

Length: Standard Weight
10 10 oz
11 11 oz
12 12 oz
12.5 15 oz
13 18 oz (1 lb 2 oz)
13.5 20 oz

14 23 oz (1 lb 7 oz)
14.5 26 oz

15 29 oz (1 lb 13 oz)
15.5 32 oz

16 36 oz (2 lb 4 oz)
16.5 40 oz

17 45 oz (2 lb 13 oz)
17.5 48 oz

18 52 oz (3 lb 4 oz)
18.5 57 oz

19 62 oz (3 lb 14 oz)
19.5 67 oz

20 72 oz (4 lb 8 oz)
20.5 78 oz

21 85 oz (5 lb 5 oz)
21.5 92 oz

22 99 oz (6 lb 3 oz)
23 114 oz (7 lb 2 oz)
24 131 oz (8 lb 3 oz)

Don't make any rash decisions. I think you have the right approach. There are no RW charts for F1s that I have seen. Did you have a plankton bloom ? What about water quality and size ? Do you see yoy BG and LMB?

If there's BG of all sizes in the pond, then maybe there's too much cover? If there's lots of hiding places, then the LMB have to work extra hard to find (and catch) food.

Go to Common Pond Q&A (archives), page 1 and scroll down the threads. Look for one that says "Relative Weight Charts".

ewest, I am fertilizing monthly and have had one plankton bloom since we limed for sure... I was way low on lime this spring and added 25 tons of lime (reccomended by Auburn University). My water clarity is still to clear but I am working on it with the monthly fertilizations... I see young BG, but we are not catching any young LMB. 15" or so is the smallest we have been catching since we harvested... I havnt really seen any young LMB swimming around either.... When the feeders go off there are LMB and BG and GS, Tilapia everything going crazy around the feeders, so would it make sense that the LMB have plenty of opportunity to eat?

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=160456#Post160456


Here are the Relative Weight Charts on Pondboss.

I’m biased but think this is the easiest to use. http://lakework.com/site/documents/Pounds.pdf
Love to help you out if you’re interested. Hard to replace a good properly interrupted electrofishing survey. First thought is your doing lots of awesome management but not sure I get the full picture with just this info. Your bass are near 100% and during the summer this is not so shabby. I do not recommend pulling bass that you just stocked. That makes no sense. How big is the pond? That is one missing piece of info.

Hi Greg, Pond is 2.5 acres when full but i have a leaking issue that I am trying to figure out as well... so I kind of fluctuate between 2 and 2.5 acres depending on rainfall.

Would love to have your help... what do you have in mind?

Thanks

Tony

This is interesting to me. I also thought my mid-size bass (17" range) were doing OK but it seems like maybe they're a little skinny according to the charts. I guess I have some work to do! Time to thin the herd.

Straw might be time to thin the herd but check the Wr at a differnt times of the year as well.

TOny not trying to be a salesman but shocking this fall would yield you some good info. flip email if you like. At 2.5 acres you have taken the right steps it appears. How many cnbg were stocked? My advice no more fhm just a waste of money goign forward with adult bass. It is not just about the releative weights. 17 inches in 15 months is pretty dang good.