Don't mean to keep you guys waiting for the paper ... but here it is ...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5854328/The source of data they analyzed was from field collected data from various authors. Some of the data was unpublished. Those data that were unpublished are source to state DNRs. The paper is basically a report of what sizes of forage different predators eat according to their size. Intuitively, it seems wholly plausible that fish will target the largest meal they can swallow. The energy is maximized in this scenario. Yet this size forage is actually far less taken by predators ... than forage we currently think to be energy negative. After reading the paper, it seemed plausible that predators like LMB actually benefit from prey less than 1/4 of their length. The most frequently taken range in the 1/6 to 1/5 length range ... but I am sure that these do not comprise the majority of the mass a predator eats. Even so, it is also clear that 1/3 length prey isn't either in the large and diverse samples of this paper. With some effort, I could extract some information from the graphics as to percentages of mass attributed to differing relative lengths ... for another time .. maybe.
I propose that willing readers here at the Pond Boss forum that harvest their bass might examine the stomach contents of their harvests to determine the lengths of prey their bass are eating. Feel free to post in this
thread. I would help with getting the data into db form where it can be analyzed statistically, regionally, and according to other potentially relevant relations. Large fish > 20" might provide some information that is notably lacking in this paper. I'll refrain from any debate but it is worth asking the question. If you harvest a 24" fish and have lots of 7-8 BG, conventional wisdoms says that it will have them exclusively in its gullet. But if you find predominately 5" BG then it would seem to challenge convention.
To be sure, BG 1/3 the length of an LMB will fit in an LMB. If they don't predominate in the diet then there must be an explanation as to why. Possible reasons may be that they are less plentiful or that they are more difficult to capture unless sick or dying. These questions are worth asking because a BOW can produce significantly more weight of 5" BG than it can of 7"-8" fish.
