Here are the key components of a healthy lake.
Habitat, first. As goes the habitat, so goes what lives in it. Not only do we want habitat for the target fish such as bass, we also want habitat for what those fish eat�bluegill sunfish, especially, and in your case, yellow perch, too. Basically, habitat is what a fish needs to be able to feed, hide, loaf, ambush and spawn. Your lake has evolved to where it is today because it has the habitat to support what it has.
I suspect your lake has evolved to what it will be, based on its habitat. However, management of the dynamics of your fish population can certainly be a major issue. That may be part of the reason for Jones� recommendations.
As you zero in on your issues, don�t forget to focus on food chain. The food chain supports the system by supplying enough baby fish to build into plentiful supplies to feed proper numbers of game fish. Once you are confident that your habitat is conducive to achieving your results, focus on the food chain as you manage numbers of game fish.
Third most important is genetics. In order to grow giant fish, you need good genetics, whether it be bass, bluegill or crappie�or any fish for that matter.
Lastly, harvest is a key component to a well-managed fishery. Look at a lake as a garden. You plant it, feed it, weed it and harvest it. Same with a pond or lake. At some point, a lake produces a bounty of fish. Part of your job will be to harvest it properly.
Your lake has developed an interesting fishery. It�s taken quite a few years to happen. In its current state, the lake has an overcrowded bass population with not nearly enough food to help bass to grow. Bass are predator fish. They eat other fish�that�s how they make a living. White crappies are also predator fish, but they have a much smaller mouth than bass. That means they must eat smaller meals than the bass. Bluegill sunfish have tiny mouths and feed mostly on insects and tiny fish. Your lake is a bit too small to support a large population of white crappie
Here are a few more facts to set the stage for some conclusions. Bluegill are the backbone of the food chain for largemouth bass. Bluegills spawn once, maybe twice in northern Ohio. You depend on bluegill reproduction and survival of young bluegill to feed your bass. Yellow perch are also a potential forage fish for your bass, even though they are also a predator.
Crappie are less predictable than the other species. They spawn sporadically, depending on weather and the condition of the lake. When they do spawn, they spawn early each year, just after the yellow perch. Crappie and yellow perch babies are hatched and beginning to grow when most of the other fish are just beginning to nest. That means small crappie and yellow perch tend to eat other babies, as they come off the nest.
Largemouth bass are the bullies of the waterway, chasing, eating and dominating as much as they can, simply because they have a larger mouth than the rest of the fish population.
When bass become overcrowded, they overeat the food chain. Every living thing becomes food for bass�as long as something is swimming and fits into its mouth, a bass eats it.
The most interesting thing to me is how long it�s taken for this fishery to become what it is. It doesn�t happen fast. It takes several years of bass overcrowding for the entire food chain to disappear as this one has.
Let me take you through a �typical� year of a fishery as this one. Spring-time�ice-off, yellow perch spawn. Then, shortly after, crappie spawn (maybe) late March, early April. As soon as the babies hatch, they leave the nest and some are gobbled down by other crappie and bluegill. Then, in April or May, in your neck of the woods, bass spawn. As soon as the baby bass hatch and leave the nest, the swarm of fry are attacked and eaten, by bass, bluegill, yellow perch, and crappie. Gone. Adios�no more babies. Occasionally, some of the babies find enough hiding places to be able to find safe harbor from all those predators�at least temporarily. In your lake, those shallow areas near the cattails are the classic zones where baby fish will hide. Those young of the year fish are eaten later. A few of them even survive long enough to grow to 3-5 inches�not many make it, but some do. Now, it�s late May and the moon is full. Bass spawn one last time to finish their year. The cycle happens again, babies off the nest, predators actively seeking and eating them. July rolls around, bluegills may spawn again and the lake likely has the biggest supply of young fish it will have all year. Spawning slows and now summer is full on and all the fish are trying to grow and thrive. But, remember, bass are overcrowded, eating all they can. Crappie have a small mouth, and tend to eat smaller foods�which prevent those baitfish to grow large enough to be significant as a bass food. Summer temperatures begin to drop in September, triggering the last spawns of the year for bluegill, maybe. Fall temperatures drop into the �perfect� zone for bass, crappie and bluegill growth.
Nature�s way is for spring and early summer to be the time to grow the food chain to support the game fish. In your lake, the food chain is eaten too quickly to become significant enough to support your target species, largemouth bass. Here�s part of the problem. It takes ten pounds of baitfish for a bass to gain one pound. When bluegill, crappie and bass are first hatched, about 12,000 of those tiny fry weigh one pound. If a bluegill can live 45 days, it grows to 30 per pound. In your lake, baby fish don�t live very long. That�s the biggest problem for lakes overcrowded with predator fish. The food chain disappears way too soon after hatching.
So, what do you do about it?
Your lake definitely has some habitat issues. Small fish love to hide in peripheral vegetation in shallow water�that�s probably why you are interested in trying to promote aquatic plants that have been gone a long time.
A feeding program would make a measurable difference for this lake.
Here�s what I think would work best for your situation. Two directional, battery-powered feeders will feed the population of bluegills. You�ll want to feed Purina�s AquaMax 500 or 600 feed. That will do two things. First, it will grow your bluegills larger. Second, it will improve their ability to reproduce. Good nutrition grows more eggs. Third, when the baby bluegills are hatched, a feeding program helps ensure they have enough food, too. More food directly into the fish grows more fish. In essence, increase the standing crop of fish, especially baitfish, which helps produce more food for largemouth bass. Lastly, feeding congregates bluegill, which gives novice anglers a better chance to catch some of them. Feeders range in price, but the best feeders are made by Sweeney and Texas Hunter. For their top directional feeders, the price ranges from $500-650.
Here�s the bottom line as I see it. The recommendation to buy forage fish is a temporary solution to a long term issue. Harvest bass, but get rid of as many crappie as you can. Crappie are a big issue for your lake. Get rid of them. Odds are high that some of your bass are old and growth potential is limited. Your grass carp are way past their normal lifespan, so you don�t have many of them left.
Do these things and you�ll grow another batch of giant bass. It may take a few years, but you can grow some more bass into those sizes you�ve been proud of before.
