I was thinking maybe getting 300 or so. Raise them till they are 6 inches or so and start transferring them out. As the remaining fish keep growing, keep taking some out to make room for the fewer number but larger size.
I would figure on feeding them and I have a single 9" aeration diffuser that I can put all the air I need to it.
Open to suggestions.
John,
I think if it were me with your situation I would get the max they will ship in a single box. NEDOC mentioned that is 400.
Might sound odd, but I wouldn't worry about stocking too many. You will stock them in cool weather after the turnover and the weight per acre you add would probably be less than 15#/acre for 3 acre BOW even if all 400 were stocked. However, at that stocking rate you will need to begin thinning them the very next year. I've attached a spreadsheet that plans a harvest through 4 years. Under such a plan you would purchase fry and grow them out every 4 years. Feel free to play with spreadsheet with numbers more to your liking.
***BUMP***
John, the harvest weight per fish is assumed to be the average of the fall weight and the prior fall weight. The harvest plan allows for taking HSB throughout the year with the number harvested being a harvest goal for the year. This keeps the HSB from developing a very large biomass and allows for a progressive harvest over several months in each year.
The following summer after stocking is when you will need to really hit them hard with a harvest. The average weight per fish of this first year is estimated at around .67 lbs which is an 11" fish. So you might begin harvesting at a minimum length below the average weight ... say 9" which is .25 lbs. Once they achieve 9" the standing weight would be in the neighborhood of 50 lbs/acre. By harvesting them along you can keep the standing weight below 70 lbs/acre. Over 12 weeks the harvest of 240 fish is about 20 fish per week.
You would only need about 160 HSB if you wouldn't want to harvest sizes smaller than 13" but the way I figure it the small fish you harvest are worth at least a several times more than what you pay for the whole batch especially if they grow primarily on pond foods. They should also make a huge dent in the BG YOY to help with the trophy BG goals you have.
