Originally Posted by SetterGuy
Originally Posted by teehjaeh57
Provided you're sampling some better WR YP you're fine - I've had really poor growth rates on some YP also - I don't lose any sleep provided I'm still sampling solid YP. Start keeping WR records on fish you sample so you understand your fishery dynamics which in turn dictates management strategy. Do you witness YP feeding?

TJ, I’m not very good at tracking or even getting WR on my fish. My scale is out of batteries again. I don’t think we take enough fish out to make much of an impact. I’ve added cover recently to help fry survival.
The feed is cleaned up very quickly. They hit it so fast, I can’t tell what’s taking the feed. Polarized sunglasses and watching closely. It’s still a blur.
I did clean several YP last weekend. All had stomachs with lots of Optima feed.

YP gender is easy - flip them over and look at the urogenital opening. Males have round pores, females have crescents. There are a lot of photos on PB posted on this, many of which are mine IIRC.

If you are serious about managing your fishery and achieving your goals, whatever they are, you need to be on top of WR measurements. When you catch a fish weigh and measure it, write it down, release the fish.
When you're done for the day get online and download WR tables per your species. Do the math. When you've done this a few times you'll be able to hold a fish and come within 5-10% accuracy of it's WR, no more need for charts - you'll become attuned to how a WR 100 BG should feel and appear - same for all other species. You won't need to rely on measurements and charts for long.

Of course this means keeping spare batteries on hand for your scale and a measuring board on the dock. If we don't interpret the data the fishery provides there's no way to manage it correctly. I assume you've invested a lot of time and money on your pond build and development of your fishery, it's worth the effort to learn how to manage it well. WR measurements are an important management tool to help you get there.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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