I agree on the pic from the trap. I can definitely identify the Green Sunfish when I see them but the nuances of picking out a Northern Bluegill vs Longear or other similar species is not something I've ever tried to do. I suppose as fall gets a little closer I'll be able to try the "everything but crawdad trap" in the pond to see how we did on spawns which is really what I'm trying to get to here.

Goal is no obvious holes in the food chain / sizes of forage through some sort of sampling.

One of the things I've noticed a shortage of with all this spawning is a nearly complete void of mature FHM since spawning started in the feeding zone. Seeing babies in the bazillions but very few mature ones. Only a few reasons I can think of for this:

1. Busy on the nest making more babies.
2. Natural mortality after spawning.
3. My YP have been snacking on them.

With 1st year water and LMB as top predator would it make sense to pop a few more lbs of FHM in to make sure spawning continues trying to rule out 2 and 3 above? I get FHM are a short term population while the BG and GSH are getting established.

1.5acre LMB, YP, BG, RES, GSH, Seasonal Tilapia
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