O.K. I'm going to weigh in here and by no means do I know it all. But what I am going to say is from the school of hard knocks and what I learned in my college fisheries training. So here goes:
1.) If the green sunfish did not come in via an inlet, and/or flooding, or someone doing some unsolicited stocking, it's most likely they were put in with the fatheads, or if the hatchery wasn't so incompetent they sold you green sunfish. I say this because I have seen green sunfish mixed in with fatheads from fish farms. I planted fatheads in a holding pond to keep smallies in good condition over the winter, and lo and behold I found green sunfish when I drained the pond. I have no run off or connecting bodies of water so the only place they could have come in was with the baitfish I planted. The fatheads and baitfish up here are trucked in from large Arkansas fish farms that specialize in bait fish.
2.) Northern pike and musky are top of the line predators, but largemouths and wipers are much more effective, mainly because they can be held at higher densities. Furthermore as the NP and musky get larger, they prefer larger food items. At some point they prefer 8 inch plus bluegills and 10 inch plus largemouths. Counterproductive if you ask me as now you are competing with them.
Additonally fisheries studies have not shown them effective at turning around a stunted population. Of course it all depends on other factors and there could be situations -- especially in a smaller BOW such as a pond, where they could work.
Another thing to consider is since the NP and Musky are coolwater fish they may not be as effective in MO when water temps get really warm in summer. The bass would be at their peak while the above species many be hunkered down on the bottom.
I concur with those here that say put some advanced size lm bass, and/ or wipers and let them go to work. Or if you can't find them or don't want to pay to much put some feed trained bass in a cage and get them up to size before planting them in with the rest of the fish. I do it all the time. Not difficult at all.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 08/23/09 11:03 PM.
