The population of BG increased the most at the small sizes in all ponds. Increase in intermediate sizes was also noted, but primarily in ponds which were low in BG population to begin with. I already had very large BG in my main pond (can routinely catch 10 inch BG in spring and summer) and did not observe any increase in that class there nor in the other ponds as yet. I attribute the very large BG to artificial feeding.
I've no interest in starting a new thread nor in continued arguing with anyone over effects of artificial feeding on the aggressiveness (or lack thereof) of LMB. We've been there and done that, sometimes painfully. A predator that hunts and stalks for its food is likely to be more aggressive than one that has its feed handed to them twice daily. That's my opinion, borne out by considerable personal observation. I don't believe I've been inconsistent in that belief.
I will assert and discuss, however, the possibility that Tilapia can reduce the need for artificial feeding. In fact, in my experimental pond, they are completely replacing artificial feeding without any observed degration in weight gains from the predators, in this case F1 LMB. If you add more usable protein to the pond mix, use the resources (algae) that otherwise go unused, take pressure off BG and thereby increase their numbers...why wouldn't it be possible and even reasonable to see results comparable to or even exceeding artificial feeding? My assertion is that you can, and in fact for one growing season, the results indicate they exceed a pond with artificial feeding and without Tilapia. The journey continues.
