I agree with ewest, at least for the first 4-5 years leave out the HBG. See how the BG and RES perform with your management. . Your fish guy is pushing HBG just making money moving HBG. HBG will grow initially fast but then tend to slow growth at around 8"-9" whereas well fed BG-RES will keep on growing well and out grow -perform the HBG as top end size if they get plenty of food. Plus offspring of HBG is sparse density and grow not as well as the original HBG parents. If your goal is big BG & RES then you want the bass to trend toward the smaller sizes less than 14"-15" as noted by esshup above when he said ""further down the road harvest any LMB that is bigger than 12"-14". ""Lots of smaller bass eat lots of small panfish to reduce their high numbers. As you noted above "" back in 1990's, lots of 12-14 inch bass allowed big panfish to develop.
The remaining BG-RES have more food and less competition that allows them to grow faster and bigger. Also to grow the biggest BG,,,,, harvest primarily the females. Bull male BG are needed to suppress spawning of smaller BG so smaller ones keep growing fast instead of expending energy for early spawning as smaller sizes.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 05/09/22 09:13 PM.
