I feel for you guys. Our weather seems to be SNAFU too but at least I don't have any issues as I have a well and lots of ground water to top off ponds. In fact, I will be pumping 45 gpm 24/7 through my trout pond starting next April to November. That's a lot of water! However it is a business selling the fish and not just for pleasure. I could potentially get 5 to 8 grand for 100 large frozen brook trout if they are in good enough condition and large enough.
If I can be assured of the quality I will at some point in the future raise them in an RAS where I will use up to 99 percent less water. I'd like to go that route but fin quality is paramount for my niche market and it may not happen in an enclosed tank.
And I feel even more guilty about seining, draining, and refilling my .62 acre pond next year to start over, which will be a million gallons going downstream to Lake Michigan! I need to salvage the largest fish and put them back in, as things got out of whack due to mixed sex bluegill escapees from a cage in a one sex pond.
One thing I don't do anymore: Hold fish in cages over the winter! I bring them inside now into my RAS tanks.
What happened was I had thawing ice move and push up against a cage of mixed sex bluegills. It pushed the cage below the water level, and by the time I noticed it to rectify it, I had escapees. The little devils totally screwed my one sex pond. Literally! LOL Tons of them with only smallmouth and large yellow perch to control them.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 12/30/12 12:06 PM.
