Caught this 13" SMB from this forage pond today. I stocked ten 6-9" SMB last December. Two that I know of died because I removed them floating. That happened a couple days after catching two fish but also when I reduced the aeration run time. Not sure which done them in but I went back to a 24-7 aeration run time after it happened.
But I had not caught any more since those two earlier this spring. So I was not sure I even had any of the original SMB left. I have put around 50 4-6" SMB fingerlings in this pond over the last couple months transferred from my RES/SMB pond to grow them out to a size capable of avoiding predation in my main pond. But now that I know there was at least one 13" SMB in this pond the fingerlings might have been as well off where they came from Oh well.
Catching any of the larger SMB (if there are any more) is tough because the pond is thick with 3-4" GSH so getting them to bite on an artificial lure is a challenge. I have fished this pond quite a lot to remove GSF and in fact was what I was attempting to do when I caught the one pictured below. Nice fish for a December stocking. I hope there are more. I had not noticed any SMB recruitment in this pond like I have had in my RES/SMB pond, thus the reason I was putting the fingerlings in here to grow them out. There is plenty of live food for them and I feed pellets too.
Edit: the tape is up above the fish a little and makes it look to be only 12" long but I did measure it and it is a full 13+".
Oh well.
