Flame--It did happen. But, as the coontail expanded and completely altered the habitat, fish that were used to open water were now mostly excluded from their "normal"...they didn't grow up with it. Those young of the year, fat 7-9" bass were making a living in the coontail. That's the "new" norm for that pond.

liquidsquid--if the coontail went away, tens of thousands of small bluegill would be quickly consumed. Since there are very few intermediate-sized bluegills, overcrowded bass would decimate the food chain. As the largest bluegill age out, they won't be replaced rapidly enough. Gotta get the predator mouth numbers down, too. Besides, the biggest bass have some irreplaceable years on them, too. Can't make up for lost time. Your hypothesis is correct, by the way. Small bluegills would quickly be eaten, without much improvement of Wr in the bass. The numbers of bass suggest to me that they feed to maintain weight rather than grow. Those bass 90 and under have to make up what they lost and that's really hard to do, especially the next three to four months.

jpsdad--Yes, I'd say they are in order, based on the available time frame. Culling can be immediate. Bluegills will feed for another month, give or take, coontail won't respond to any sort of treatment right now...that needs to be done when coontail arises from its winter dormancy, when water temps rise into the 60's. To enhance genetics, make room for those fish, first. Cull bass, remaining predators will eat lots of bluegills between now and the first spawn of 2020.


Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...