I guess I'm somewhat "attempting" one on a very small scale.
I built a very small .065 acre pond this spring that has FHM and about 20 fingerling RES. My intention is to use it as a forage pond that I can throw a minnow trap in and pull some minnows out to put in other ponds. In addition would like to raise some RES fry and let them grow to a size large enough to escape predation and put them in my larger ponds. I know in that small BOW I can't raise very many RES but got some encouragement when a few weeks ago saw a male and female RES spawning in very shallow water. They were only about 4" long and do not know yet if they were successful. The male was having fits chasing off tiny FHM fry.
I did another attempt but it had to be abandoned. In my old refurbished pond had put 125 fingerling (3") RES that I had previously put 10 adult BG from my main pond. This pond is about an acre. The intention was for it to be a RES "heavy" pond, adding predators when the RES were established. The problem that came up was that when rebuilding the pond there was a small puddle left and I did not nuke it. So this spring had an explosion of GSF and bullheads. Had to put predators in a lot quicker than I wanted, and most likely the GSF hammered any RES reproduction so likely I only have the original RES in the pond with little to no recruitment. Also been adding quite a number of 3-5" BG. Figured if sunfish are going to populate the pond, better it be BG than GSF. Been taking large numbers of GSF and bullhead out by line and also by trapping. So this particular pond will now be more of a traditional BG, RES, LMB, CC pond. Been adding 12" CC also to give the bullheads a run for their money.
That is my list of attempts to date specific to RES. Not much help or info for you, but at least you know others are trying to do something specific with them also.
Last edited by snrub; 07/27/14 09:41 PM.
