BG/CNBG should be spawning soon if they haven't already done so. Spend some time and throw in some added structure for the fry to hide in. The only advantage to a massive drawdown is the abundance of shoreline structure it creates as grass/weeds/brush fill in the void. Odds are you will be lacking forage in the 1-4" size.
anthropic,
Did you get some water to fill up your forage pond yet?
Getting some forage started now that could be grown up to your missing size range, and then released this summer, might help your "gap" predators that are going to otherwise be deficient for their optimal prey size this year.
I'm putting your posts together because you make similar good points. Last fall's electrosurvey, done when pond was 3' low, showed sudden gap in panfish sizes most vulnerable to LMB predation. IIRC, stocked about 250 or 300 CNBG in the 3 to 5" range to help make up for deficit. But that's just a temporary stopgap.
Rod, my forage pond is still pretty low, but I'm gonna put in 8 or 10 healthy CNBG soon. May need to pump from main pond, worth it now at full pool. Forage pond can grow a lot of fish, especially when fed.
