Thats a good question TJ. As of right now the pond owner is happy, yet questioning the future. Since I have been here (1 year). Him and I have been keeping some hook and line sampling data. We have yet to catch a LMB under 14 inches. The Wr on these fish is great, Upper 90's average. There are also BLG, and Golden Shiners present. The BLG are stunted at 5-7 inches, which is what he wanted as he wanted a primarily LMB fishery. The only problem is, he is seeing less and less bass, and they are all between 3-5 pounds. With the exception of an 11 pounder last summer (09). He says this is a definite decrease in numbers from previous years. Once again, according to the landowner, who only catches acouple of these blues a year. Says that they have really been packing on the weight the last 5 years or so. The fisheries researcher in me wants to cut open some blue stomachs to see if there is smaller LMB in them, which is what I suspect is happening. The BLG populations seem to be the same, and the golden shiners are thriving. So to answer your question, I think if he were to of put in more blue cats, he would be having bigger problems. I also suspect that this will continue, and could crash the bass pop. Has anyone else experienced anything like this with blue cats?
