Last October I got rather unpleasant news from electroshock survey: My bigger CNBG & BG were covered in fungus! Not the small guys, not the RES, not the LMB: Only big CNBG/BG.
Fishery biologist said that something unusual had happened, though uncertain exactly what caused the problem. One possibility: fall spawn interrupted by very severe cold front, stressing the larger CNBG. Smaller CNBG, RES, LMB were not spawning, so were not nearly as affected.
This year I definitely have fewer big CNBG. Biggest I've seen might push 8 inches, whereas last year I had some close to 9 inches. My long term plan to catch 1 - 2 lb CNBG took a major hit.
On the positive side, I have tons of small forage fish this year, probably due to transfer of forage mini pond fish to main BOW. So the LMB are doing just fine!
I'm thinking about this fall. If I don't want to risk losing my big CNBG, could I discourage their spawning? Specifically, what if I draw down my main lake several feet to leave most spawning areas high & dry?
I have a constant inflow of water, maybe 2 to 3 gallons a minute under normal conditions. A mild drawdown would make forage fish (including TP I will get stocked this week) more available to the LMB. Winter is wet season around here, so I have no real fear about replenishing the water.
What do you PBers think about this strategy? Is it totally crazy, or are there good points? What should I consider before possibly doing it?
