A good size range of all species indicates a good "balance" and a healthy fishery. Keep in mind a good natural "balance" or community structure has more numbers in each group of each respective smaller size class.
In most fish communities with reproducing populations, the group with the fewest numbers are the ones that are at the top, they are the largest size - the biggest ones of that species in the pond often considered 'trophy' sizes for that BOWater. The group with the most numbers is the fingerling size group. It is common for each size group to loose 50% of them each year to some sort of mortality until that age group is very old when only a few of them remain. As those oldest fish die there needs to be the individuals of the next smaller size to take the place of those largest fish. This applies to forage fish and sport fish. When those fish are not being replaced with similar sized large fish, your job is to figure out where the problem is.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/19/18 10:17 AM.
