Going to chime in with a couple of ideas and +s on prior comments.

I like the HSB idea for several reasons. Also TFS will work there but may be subject to winter kill ( my guess 1/3rd of the time). However if the lake is deep enough (thermal safe space) like big reservoirs they may not die off. TFS are very good for med sized LMB 2-4 lbs. They need a good plankton bloom.

My guess is you are short on forage in the 4-5 inch size. If med sized LMB have falling RW but small ones and big ones look ok then you have a size distribution gap. As a general rule take out LMB in the size range that looks undernourished and try to get forage increase in the size that feeds them. Only way to know for sure is a survey. One way to get that size forage , assuming you can stock tilapia there, is grow them in the forage pond. Using aquaculture methods (lot of work and feeding) you can grow 3000 lbs of tilapia in the 1/2 acre and gradually sort and move them to the big pond. You could at the same time add 5-6 inch BG after habituation, into the main lake. With these methods you could add significant forage.

I have not discussed cost. Adding TFS can be costly and there is a right method. Growing out tilapia can be costly and require work. Feeding is expensive but will help the BG , HSB and tilapia and possibly the TFS.

I would not undertake a large scale effort without a survey - penny wise and pound foolish.
Also with any augmentation effort (increasing lake productivity) its not a one time effort. If you increase the amount of fish by , stocking , feeding , fertilization etc then you will have more fish in the furure to deal with. That is ok if you can manage the population structure through fishing and other harvest methods.

On the GShiners note that many of the hatchery fish populations have a disease that over a couple of years greatly reduces reproduction. While I like GSH as a forage fish I do not like to rely heavily rely on them if you are stocking them from a hatchery.

Ovipleistophora ovariae, initially Plistophora ovariae Summerfelt, 1964, is the etiological agent for ovipleistophoriasis (microsporidiosis) of the golden shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas.
The parasite is important to the extent that it reduces fecundity or sterilizes (parasitic castration) the host. Mean ovary weight from fish with infection was nearly half (55%) that of fish without an infection (Summerfelt 1964). The intensity of infection averaged 45% of 473 fish examined in histological sections of collections from 24 fish farms in 12 states (Summerfelt and Warner 1970a).

Last edited by ewest; 03/15/21 06:41 PM.