oldsconv, as ewest said, we have a 4-acre pond with 20 species of catable fish. LMB, SMB, HSB, white bass, rock bass, BG, HBG, pumpkinseeds, GSF, WC, BC, CC, walleye, sauger, saugeye, freshwater drum, goldeyes, white suckers, shorthead redhorse and sterile grass carp. Out of all these species, only BG sucessfully reproduce. It's very simple, big fish eat little fish. It doesn't take a LMB to eat fry, BG can do the job just as well.
Our lake was started in 2000 so we have some history to refer to. The most important dynamic in our lake is the ability of the various species to compete for forage. Grass carp don't have any competition for forage so they do well. The CC, LMB and SMB are the winners amoung the large predators while the HBG are the winners amoung the pan fish.
Except for the BG, all of the other species will eventually die out. For me, this is good. I can constantly adjust the species competition of our lake any way I want. For example, it is often said that LMB will outcompete SMB in a small lake. Not in our lake. Since neither species reproduce, it comes down to what I want to restock. I restock SMB with very few LMB so SMB dominate in our lake.
The use of non-breeding species has great potential in our small lakes. Think of what we have done with trout, CC and HSB. Just expand this thinking a bit and you have it.
