As an update. RBT live in Dixon Lake year round. I was thinking they were stocking the massive fish shown in pics but in August a ranger discusses how even though they had stopped stocking in March that people were catching RBT. He mentions that the normal size of RBT is between 2 and 5s with an occasional 8 lb plus. The Lake Record for RBT is between 16 and 17 lbs.
I also saw a striped bass photo. It weighed 22 lbs but was very lean so summer forage must not be as abundant for their preferences. They may also be more gape limited than LMB as the RBT grow.
Check out the photos. BG > 1.5 lbs are caught. >2 lb Crappie are also caught. Just about everything can get big there.
At 60 lbs/Acre/stocking ... A schedule of every two weeks through March (when they stop) could be as many as 9 stockings or 540 lbs of RBT per acre-year. Most of RBT that are consumed, I suspect, are consumed by >10 lb LMB. A 20" LMB could swallow one at stocking but catching one would probably be limited to when new stocking occurs and the occasional mort or soon to be dying fish. Any trout consumed are a boon to the consumer. Hatchery strains of RBT can grow at 1 inch per month and the .36 lb RBT they would stock in December could be 18" and two pounds (standard wgt) by the following August. So the prevalence of August caught trout >2 lbs is in line with that. December stocked RBT are very close to immune from predation by April for even the largest LMB. In the examples, I am assuming 10" average length for the stockers but 12" stockers change the outcome to favor LMB that have managed to grow very, very, large. A smaller stocking size of 8" would bring many more LMB into the trout consumption loop.
What weight of trout consumed by LMB would depend on a few things. First, the weight of LMB consuming RBT. Second, the rate of consumption. Third, the rate of growth of the trout forage. And finally the consumption of forage sized trout by competitors like humans and CC.
Last edited by jpsdad; 11/28/23 08:06 AM.
