Originally posted by dave in el dorado ca:
i'm still not 100% sure on the gams, there are definitely some, just nothing like (late) last year (a few little handful sized schools instead of many swarming clouds). But, probably, i just need to wait for warmer weather before really knowing....patience, patience, patience i keep telling myself.
My guess is that as the water temp warms up you will have Gams a plenty much like last year. However we both now have lots more predators to thin the Gam herd.
Originally posted by dave in el dorado ca:
i'm not sure how this will work in yer pond jeff with the presence of higher numbers of adult GSF. will they be competing for the same spawning grounds? will the GSF only spawn once in spring and leave the spawning beds open for the RES to spawn more than once?
Do GSF have rolling spawn all summer here? i know my GSF spawned in late summer (i'm not certain i have any adults left), so you can bet yer GSF spawn will be at least twice this summer.
this will be interesting jeff, no doubt.
My pond has a lot of area for potential spawning ground. The entire east end of the pond (an area of probably 1/2 to 3/4 of an acre) is 7 feet deep or less, has plenty of cover and has a gentle sloping bottom. This is were it seemed like the GSF were primarily spawning last year. I'm fairly certain that I had two GSF spawns last year also. I netted fish in Sept and Oct that based upon their size differential I kinda figured there were from different spawns. I'm new at this though so I can't swear to it.
I'm sure thought there will be competition for spawning beds at some level. The size of the RES that we put in were comparable in size to the small GSF that I caught last year. The RES have some growing to do before they match the size of the larger GSF I was catching. Based upon my reading though eventually the RES will get significantly bigger than the GSF and therefore may "bully" the GSF.
The BG in my pond will be an entirely different story. The will have to run the gauntlet of the LMB, GSF and to a lesser extent RES. I'm certain that I will lose a lot of my BG to predation but then again they are forage base. I do believe that the LMB and the GSF will eat their share of BG. In my pond the BG that survive will have to be some tough fish. The largest of the BG that we got may be too big for my larger GSF to eat but then again I was amazed at the size of lure that the GSF would stike. Pound for pound it seems like the GSF have a huge mouth when compared to BG and RES.
Last year I caught quite a few 13 to 14 inch LMB. I have no doubt that those guys are quite capable of eating any of the BG that we stocked.
The water temps issue will be interesting. Last year I didn't record any water temps (stupid me). Therefore I have no idea when our ponds will reach 70 degrees do you? May possibly?
If the water temps must reach 78-80 for BG to spawn it seems to me that they won't begin spawning for at least a full month after GSF and probably a couple of weeks or so after the RES. I am just too ignorant of when our ponds will reach those temperatures and how quickly they will rise in temperature. Since I'm about 1,000 ft higher in elevation there may be some variance between our two places although based upon our recent comparison of surface temps it didn't seem like we were any different.
Do you have any ideas or info about average monthly water temps?
With your fancy testing equipment it would be interesting if you ran monthly tests on your pond for temp and chemical analysis and kept track of it (hint, hint).
I'd also like to (on a 2 or 3 occasions during the year compare readings at your pond to readings at my pond to see the similarities and differences between our ponds. I intend to keep a cooler stocked with your favorite beverage along with a supply of BBQ ready food to lure you over the hill this year.
