Don't forget rocks, rubber, and an occasional bird:)
LOL. Indeed.
It would interesting to know the range of weights of the fish from which the stomach samples came. It should also be noted that the stomach samples were only 178 in number and that most (88%) contained a "high proportion of unidentifiable food, substrate, and detritus."
The sampling method of baiting with soybean cake might have skewed collections of CC <3 lbs.
To be sure, the success of CC as predators and the reliance on fish increases as they grow in size. It is not hard to imagine fish > 5lbs having much higher dependency on fish than this report shows.
I think we are just coming at this from slightly different perspectives. I look at CC eating fish and crayfish as impacting other fish that are primarily predators (like LMB and SMB). The degree of competition that someone is concerned about may vary from person to person. I am reserving my 3rd pond for some blue catfish to hopefully partially control black crappie (along with fishing), but need a good forage base and more plant cover before adding either of these species. No CC anymore in my SMB or LMB ponds.
The proof is more in the eating and than in the pudding itself. These questions interest us all but up to now the appropriate combinations are not well understood. The topic of whether CC can crop BG sufficiently to grow BG at acceptable sizes has been a recurring question. I think the answer is not necessarily negative but when positive it may be highly contextual.
With regard to the blue catfish and crappie, I will certainly follow this experiment with interest and think it has good chance of success. Even if the crappie get a head start, the blues have the genetics and behavior to catch up. I would and I think many others would appreciate a thread on this BOW that chronicles your plan and progress.
