I've been sitting here talking about chain pickerel and you've been talking about grass pickerel all along. Not sure how much difference that makes. I will say that you're notion that grass pickerel stay pretty small is probably a good thing in terms of top predator status. There's one thing that concerns me. LMB are able to maintain a high position in the food chain due to the fact that they can swallow just about anything. That could be negated, though, if the grass pickerel's eating habits are anything like other Esocidae. Pike, muskie, and to some extent chains, are ambush predators with big teeth, and will often wait for something to come by and then slash first and ask questions later. If the diminuitive grass pickerel has this same tendency to kill anything that happens by, whether it could feasibly eat it or not, that could be bad. I dunno, I don't have any experience with them.
