Here is my question. Why is the range of weights so divergent for the original stockers? One is 3 times weight of others. Is this a sex difference mostly? >6 lb SMB is very remarkable. 😀
Here's what I've found sexing.. to 4 to 5-ish lb range, my fish have remained near the same weight, M or F. When I sex in Feb I'll better be able to answer that question as This will be my first chance to sex a 6+lb SMB.
As for the wide range, these are not all the same yr class, as my pit-tagging increases my data should be more accurate and reliable but I am certain on the fin clipped fish. Several of those clipped fish were pit-tagged last Feb so 3 yrs of good data that will now be quick to ID with the scanner. Here's the kicker.... I still have 5 months to go before the measurements will be taken at a full year to be consistent. It is possible that I may see another .5" and a few ounces more on weight.
In the back of my mind, I know at some point I will need to cull-permanently- a few of the originals, and I may decide to keep some of those mature fish for tank spawning only, just pair them with different males on a 3 year cycle, but... I believe if the fish is still at or above 100% WR (some say RW-I use Weight ratio) there is no reason to pull those as they are still consuming sufficient forage to grow.
I appreciate every single one of you that responded-that's the discussing I was looking for.
2 yrs ago I was seeing some issues with YP at around 10-10.5". Initially I thought it would be good to thin those YP a bit. Cody suggested I remove a few intermediate SMB instead of the YP. The results of that were 3-fold.. #1, the next year I seen a trend towards a higher WR on YP with good growth continuing through that size range. Obviously, #2, the forage had some pressure reduction and numbers increased, and #3, as a side effect, I noted better growth of similar sized SMB.
Excited to see how far I can take them.
