Think we have too many predators at the moment and not enough recruitment of BCP if that is possible.
I think it is possible and this may explain, at least in part, why the numbers are not as good as they once were.
I don't think crappie are more prolific than BG. I don't see how they could be. They have to be fairly large, larger than BG, to reproduce (typically > 8in TL). I would think that BG inhibit reproduction of Crappie in much the same way that BG inhibit reproduction of LMB. With only one spawn each year, its hard to argue that they could out-produce BG in terms of numbers of recruits or biomass.
If the number of crappie is greatly restricted by predation, one would expect, however, that the crappie would achieve large sizes as is often the case also with BG. If they don't, then there must be competition for food from other species that is limiting growth.
