Brennan it will be interesting to hear what the results are.

I'll keep everyone in the loop! Fingers crossed it won't result in a net-negative to the pond but there will be fun to be had and something to learn either way.

They look happy!

Brennan it will be interesting to hear what the results are.

My F1 Hybrid or "Tiger Bass" arrived from Arkansas this morning. Despite being a fishing nut, I swore to myself I'd never own an aquarium but I made an exception for this case. Going to feed them up heavily before fall, at which point at least half will get acquainted to my pond before winter at a less digestible size to the existing Bass, and the remainder to be added next spring. F1's are a mix of a Northern and Florida strain bass, where they get the hardiness and aggressive traits of a Northern strain, and the heightened growth genetics of a Florida. They've been added to numerous lakes across the country and have made ordinary bodies of water into trophy lakes in short order, some even above the Mason-Dixon line. F1's genes are passed through three generations before breeding out. There is very little information online regarding their success or failure in northern climates, but I've accepted the possibility that while they will ultimately become aggressive feeders and more fun to catch, they may not necessarily translate that to pounds like a Northern strain would in my climate. I'll be the guinea pig! The Minnow, Shiner, and Gill bill is sure to get bigger and that's perfectly ok with me if these grow half as fast as they do for pond owners in the south and mid-south!

Stay tuned for either a shining success or a failure with unintended consequences! 

With all the rain we've seen lately everything that I fish has high water. The lake north of town I fish for crappies on went over three feet above summer pool. The big river's backwaters are about four feet higher than normal so all the landings are tough to launch without getting wet.

We've really been itchy to get to the Mississippi River's backwaters because the best bassing is right about now. Our last trip down about a month ago showed me a couple in the four pound range and that was when the big bass begin to show, so they should be fairly common now.... if we could get to them without needing to take a dip.

The lake north of town is dropping fairly well and will be under a no-wake rule, but I think we're going to go hit it Weds to see if we can tease some suspended crappies into hitting.

Our recent weather has been nuts with tornado warnings for two consecutive days last week. Sirens wailed one of the days and the clouds with rotation went right overhead here at home. Pretty awesome to see but really not needed. Almost five inches of rain from those two days alone and all told about 10 confirmed funnels. The weather maps both days looked like checkerboards with all the watch and warning boxes. Its been pretty warm and humid since the bad weather. Hopefully we'll be able to track down the crappies but I'm worried about how deep the thermocline has gone. That can spell death to crappies if its too deep.