A quick little update since Bruce's visit back in late October..... upon discussion with Bruce he has assured me HSB would do well in my 15 acre pond, or any fish that are feed trained. I've always had the concern that due to the turbidity secondary to carp presence they wouldn't thrive. Although I do have crappie, various sunfish and some LMB that get by, they struggle to thrive. Well after a long discussion of turning lemons into lemonade I've decided to grow fish out in grow out ponds, add a couple more feeders and to improve the game fishery via 'corrective stocking'.
As luck would have it, my friend 3 miles down the road has a 1 acre pond that he'd like to have fish grown out for. He also has a NICE backhoe and skid steer. So for a few fish he built me two nice little grow out ponds. Fortunately I had a perfect place for them right where I already have a well and electrical. So long story short, 3 days later I had a 550 sq ft and 1100 sq ft grow out ponds built and full of water. They're dropping about a foot per day yet, but I'm not sure how unusual that is for a new pond. If they leak terribly bad I'll attempt bentonite, soil floc or a liner.
The plan for year one is to order 1000-1500 HSB from Keo Fish Farms at about 1.5"-2" size and grow them out til fall in the larger grow out pond and then move them to my 15 acre pond. The plan for the smaller pond is to put about 5 male RES and cross them with about 5 female Condello Strain BG to create a BG X RES hybrids. I'd like to share those with a few local guys (Bruce, Shorty, TJ, snrub, etc) to see how they turn out. The excess of those hybrids will also end up in my 15 acre pond. Over the years, I'll probably grow different species that take readily to pellets and turbid water and adjust as I go. At this time I've pretty well scratched the idea of ever using rotenone or draining the pond and starting over. I just don't have the patience for such. LOL.
All input and ideas as to what I can add or need to watch out for are appreciated.
