Finally, after years of reading the forum, so much effort, time and money put into managing the pond to try to have a healthy and balanced LMB population, it seems to me that things are starting to go in the right direction.
Probably not the right time to take the weights of the LMB, being many of them full of eggs, but I wanted however to start to get an idea of numbers and dimensions after the winter and so I took advantage of some free time from work to try to catch some and measure them.
I have to admit that I was surprised by the number of LMB that I caught in such a short time and from their good-looking appearance (apart from some old scars caused by last year's cormorant pecks).
In the album
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PLW8YZFUPGhH12HYA you can see all the bass caught (except those up to 10" which I almost never photographed). On 2 occasions I also measured and weighed them to try to compare them with relative weights. Unfortunately there is no relative weight chart in Italy, so I tried to compare them with the calculator I found on the forum, although I don't know if it's correct for my zone.
However the results are the following:
DAY 1
Lenght Weight RW
10" 0.50 100%
14" 1.32 90%
11" 0.60 88%
11" 0.85 125%
14" 1.68 114%
14" 1.85 126%
15" 1.98 108%
16" 2.42 107%
11" 0.45 66% (culled)
11" 0.60 88%
11" 0.62 91%
15" 1.90 104%
DAY 2
Lenght Weight RW
10" 0.39 77%
10" 0.46 92%
17" 2.40 88%
11" 0.57 84%
16" 2.00 89%
16" 2.08 92%
15" 1.54 84%
11" 0.83 121%
16" 1.94 86%
10" 0.44 88%
16" 1.98 88%
15" 1.86 102%
14" 1.58 107%
11" 0.65 95%
14" 1.57 106%
10" 0.54 107%
17" 2.38 87%
12" 0.91 102%
10" 0.47 94%
11" 0.74 109%
11" 0.79 116%
What do you think about? It seems to me that the smallest and the biggest don't have enough prey suitable for them.
In march I've found a fishery that have "scardole" (Scardinius erythrophthalmus), that are known here as a very good forage fish for LMB, big enough to not be eaten by bass. They reproduce a lot and are similar to your gizzar shad. I've stocked about 65 pounds and they was doing their first reproduction just yesterday.
Also I will stock monthly, starting from tomorrow, about 10 pounds of "pseudorasbora", a fish similar to your FHM.
I am open to all your considerations and suggestions.
Thank you
