Nothing like the shock of free fall, the shock of being out-of-water, the shock of moving at speeds not intended for fish, the shock of hitting the BOW surface, and the shock of a quick elevation change to help ensure a successful stocking...I'm not sure I would survive that! If I did, it might take a therapist to get my mind right again. lol
All things considered, It must be working and it would be a cost effective way even if the losses are higher than they claim.
My son got the greatest kick out of the that. There has to be losses when stocked like that but there will be losses with the milk containers too. But I can vouch that enough survive to make great fisheries that are only accessible by hiking trails. I have some great memories of a few of those lakes (in Colorado). It's something everyone should experience if afforded the opportunity. Watching mountain goat and bighorn sheep on the mountains surrounding you and catching salmonids (whatever they stocked) on flies. Doesn't get much better than that.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
You can minimize the water temp shock by having the water in the plane at the same temp as the pond water. Depending on the orientation of the fish, they might not be falling that fast. Knowing fish, they sure aren't going to be nose down in a dive, they will be flipping and flopping as they go through the air, so their speed will be minimized. Like was said earlier, if they weren't successful, they'd stop doing it.
When I first got rainbow trout stocked, I was surprised to discover that they just dumped them into the pond. All they checked was temp to make sure it wasn't much different. I asked about this & was told that RBT are less vulnerable to changes in water chemistry than most freshwater fish, temp was the only thing that mattered much.
