IMO YP with BG & LMB are a dilema or a real challenge to keep all species in good balance. This is because YP & BG have very different body shapes. This makes it easier for LMB to eat a YP compared to a BG of same length and LMB do just that. Plus big LMB IMO prefer to eat a larger sized YP compared to a BG due to shape and the usual habitat of BG and YP . BG tend to be more open water fishes whereas YP tend to prefer areas frequented by LMB, weeds and cover. Overall this results in LMB encountering and preying more heavily on YP than BG, esp if both are at least common abundance. In some cases LMB may actually eat more YP than BG, even if BG are 2 or 3 times more abundant than YP. This results in YP not recruiting very many if any new YP into the pond. Thus in these situations to maintain a catchable population of YP, they have to be restocked regularly as larger individuals depending on how many larger LMB (15"+) are present.
Now comes the problem. IF you reduce the numbers of LMB to 'protect' the YP the BG become more abundant due to less predation since LMB prefer to prey on YP anyway. It is a delicate balancing act to have your cake (YP) and eat it to (BG). The type of habitat and the amount of habitat has a big influence on how well the whole balance of this particular fish combination succeeds. In some waters (Dr.Willis reports), LMB and YP work well together. I don't usually find this successful in weed free ponds in my area. BG presence complicates the LMB-YP combination.
If I was wanting just YP and LMB (w/ emphasis on YP), I would harvest all LMB over 12", and selectively remove numbers of smaller LMB based on each new year class strength of both LMB & YP. This would result in more and larger YP. This technique could maybe work okay if BG were also in the fishery.
Take not offense but as reference I do not consider water clarity of 24"-30" as crystal clear. Although some may very well experience that as clear water. For a point of reference, clear water for me is 7-10ft of visibility (secchi disk reading). IMO Crystal clear in ponds is 12ft-20ft. Usually ponds with clear water have many more weed problems due to sunlight penetrating to the entire or almost the entire pond bottom.
Removing the CC was a good idea IMO. They are predators. It would be very interesting to do a diet study of CC in the BG-YP-LMB pond to see exactly what fish the CC at most often!
Last edited by Bill Cody; 05/11/11 02:23 PM.
