ColdSprings,
When you and your brother are putting the SPB in your big (1.3 acre) pond are they going into an environment that already has LMB? How deep is that pond?
I hope you get to run a good experiment on that pond and keep us posted.
If you really get serious, would you consider spaghetti tags on the SPB? I have caught SPB in a reservoir where the fish has an obvious fresh hookset on the opposite side of their mouth. I am pretty sure I have caught multiple spots in the evening that someone else caught that morning!
If you tag your 12" fish going in, you can find out if these are 16" fish later, or if they are losing weight and failing to thrive in your pond. You can also figure out how many times per year you (or your kids) can catch the same SPB!
Augie is of course correct that something else in your pond will suffer. I think all of the unrequited love for SPB on the forum is that we are hopeful that it is the "overpopulated small BG" that will suffer.
Good luck,
Rod
I am glad you mentioned the tagging! I have been meaning to look into tagging options. To answer your questions, the pond is about 10-12ft deep. I moved over mosquito fish back in summer which are everywhere. In the last month I have moved over aprox 250 1"-6" CNBG and 10 or 15 fingerling bass from one of my other ponds. The only mature bass in this 1.3 acre pond as of now are 2 SPB and 2 LMB. The others that bro caught were put in the "holding" pond that all these other fish are coming from. I still plan to move over another 400-500 panfish while the weather is ideal, the idea being to jump start the age classes of panfish and other forage before I introduce many mature predators. This "holding" pond was originally intended to be a trophy BG pond, but I failed in getting bass established quickly enough. The bright side is I have LOTS of fish for these 2 new ponds.
Gonna look into tag options now! Fortunately one of the 12" SPB had an eye injury so he will be easy to remember.
