I believe we are arguing two different points here. I think the point CJ is trying to make is that letting FHM or BG get a few spawns in before predation will allow the forage base to maximum it's effeciency, or in other words get the most bang for your buck. You can grow ten times the number of fish you purchased to feed your predators. Thiswill grow your predators bigger and long-term save the pond owner $ that would of been spent on more forage. Keep in mind this would be a trophy predator system. IIRC in a trophy predator system you want the mean forage base size roughly 2-4" or the perfect meal for a bass.
Walt I think you are looking at the situation from the approach of a balanced fishery with diverse size distribution of each species, with a few trophies from each species. Maybe you would want your average BG a little larger say 4-6". In order to achieve this you would put LMB in sooner to start predation sooner and limit the number of BG in the pond. Which will in turn eliminate competition for resources and increase overall size distribution of the population. At the same time it will take your predators a little more work to find food and growth potential will not be maximized like it would in CJ's "Trophy Bass" model. IMO this situation should be more sustainable long term as it is a more natural environment for the fish.
I do think you both can agree that anyway you slice it FHM will not survive long term in a BG/LMB pond.
There are many management options available to the pondmeister. It is important that we know what our goals are for our fishery from day one as each action we take during our management will have long term effects. Thats why I am so glad I found this website and the magazine, too bad it was after I put it in 25 CC that I really dont want to feed. They are also taking up valuable predator biomass and will eventually have to be fished out (if possible). What a great investment???
Last edited by Black Bass; 07/19/09 12:53 AM.
