Pat, I am not sure what it was eating, but it is possible that the size was small was small enough to evade detection from your vantage point (think of Bill's reference of efficient use of zooplankton) or even more occasional meals of small fish that are attracted to the zooplankton that congregate at lighting. IME night lighting is very attractive to crappie probably because of increased density of zooplankton and small fishes. I think most fishes will feed at the surface to include crappie. How much they do so probably depends in part on the relative abundance of forage. IOWs, if food in the water column is insufficient or in low relative abundance (energy/unit area) then foraging at the surface will increase.
Esshup, good points. Most fish are initially trained on sinking foods like frozen krill, fish eggs, ground fish, or even dried meals that sink made from similar combinations very high protein foods. IOWs, most fish must be trained to take artificial food from the surface where initial training with sinking (particularly moving) food helps to facilitate the training. Notable exceptions are minnows, catfish, BG and others which seem to soon figure it out. Some species seem to be more reluctant to forage at the surface. I would include crappie and RES in that group but that doesn't imply that they will not feed at the surface especially in low light conditions, when there is a lot of prey energy density at the surface, or when the fish have been trained on or depended mostly on surface foods.
Last edited by jpsdad; 08/06/23 11:48 AM.
