Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Saugeye vs Walleye - Locating, Uses

Knowing a little more background, why add the 'government popularized in vogue' saugeye (SE) instead of the standard, dependable largemouth bass (LMB)? Lets do a little comparison; others are welcome to 'chime in'.
1. LMB will reliably reproduce and add numerous new predators which your lake apparently needs. Extra predators will also benefit anglers. SE very rarely reproduce naturally in lakes; SE are not a sterile hybrid. SE have the ability to dilute the gene pool of WE when the two cross naturally which is a big negative for combining them in navigatable waters with WE.
2. Price will be a little cheaper for LMB vs SE.
3. LMB will be more readily available vs SE.
4. LMB will be available in larger sizes to help them avoid being eaten by other predators thus survival will be better - more bang for your buck. IMO it seems Government employees often seem not to concerned with this feature which often reflects their advice. Supplimental stocking LMB should usually be done with sizes of 6"-10" to improve survival rates.
5. IMO, LMB are a much more aggressive and better shallow water predator to reduce your overabundant prey fish populations; esp bluegill.
6. LMB have a bigger mouth compared to same length of SE. This allows them to eat a wider size range of forage fishes that includes larger forage fishes.
7. LMB are more likely to be an open water predator vs SE to better thin out the shad numbers. Shad are primarily a pelagic or open-water oriented fish. SE tend to be a bottom oriented and more sedentary species than the LMB, thus not foraging heavily on fish living high in the water column. LMB are noted to be opportunistic and will readily resort to feeding in open water to use the shad as food.
8. SE are not 'famous' for feeding on bluegill (BG) whereas LMB can thrive on BG.
9. IMO LMB are much easier to catch than SE, thus making them a more popular and successful fish for anglers. Although LMB may not be as good eating fish as SE, but taste is not your main goal for the overpopulation problem in 'your' lake.

IMO a better species than SE to help rid the lake of shad is to introduce hybrid stripped bass (HSB). The HSB have a relatively small mouth but they compensate for this by having a huge appetite for smaller fish, thus they have the potential to eat lots of small shad. Both species prefer to live in open water which makes HSB a good choice as predator for shad overabundance 'problems'. Larger sized HSB (6"-8") are MUCH easier to locate than SE. Survival rate of supplimentally stocked predators is always better when larger sizes are used. Idealistically the better predators for your situation are LMB and HSB. These two species have proven very compatable in several research studies.

I think one of the main problems causing the over population of BG and shad in Hastings Lake is the overharvest of LMB. If there was a slot limit or a size limit was imposed the overpopulation of small fish would be less of a problem. Public lakes often suffer from over harvest of predators. IMO probably too many predators are harvested compared to panfish and shad. More catch and release of bass on this lake would result in a more balanced fishery.

My source that has WE and SE stocked at a ratio of 1SE:4WE says he usually catches 1SE per every 5WE; only a slightly better catch rate for WE compared to SE.