Here's my anecdote on tadpoles, and in my case, bullfrog tadpoles. I was under the impression fish didn't eat them, because we had thousands and thousands of them in our pond when we bought our place in 2015. Same thing for next two years. I did a little Googling and even came across articles/opinions saying that bullfrog tadpoles had a toxin of some sort in their skin, so fish didn't like them. Seemed to jive with what I was seeing. THEN, I stocked 5-7 inch LMB in the fall of 2017. I recall having this same discussion with Nate Herman when he was helping shock survey the pond. He noted we had a gazillion bullfrogs and tadpoles, and said the bass will 'love those'. I told him the above. He said 'just wait and see, I bet they clean them out'. Well, I owe the man a beer, because the main pond is almost frog and tadpole free. And the LMB are fat and sassy. At least fat, not sure on the sassy. Most are pretty decent folk, if you handle them carefully...
Just what happened here at my water hole, not saying it's the universal truth. The LMB in south central Iowa eat bullfrog tadpoles like fat kids eat twix.
