I have read all those papers ... and yes ... smaller LMB tend to eat prey which is a larger proportion of their length. One hypothesis proposed by one author is that the risk of taking prey that they may choke on is outweighed by the need to grow fast. So small fingerlings take that risk more frequently. Rather than "it depends", I would say this. There isn't an optimum size that has to be fulfilled in order to optimize growth. There must be sufficient forage consumption to support optimum growth. In the reference you noted above, the author(s) talk about the maximum sizes depending on the body shape of the prey.
This is interesting to me. Most everything I've read has used some sort of efficiency in prey size and that some forage was specifically targeted (size and shape) because of higher RoI. The study that I cited was providing information info on YoY LMB as they shift from zooplankton and insects to fish between 50-100mm (roughly 2-4") referred to shift sized bass. Not that they weren't still eating some of both or only targeted one size, but there was evidence of larger meals being taken in stomach content analysis. Figure 1 on page 3 showed this graphically for two basic size groups of less than 100mm (roughly 2-4") and 100-200mm (roughly 4-8").
"
For these larger bass the maximum size prey eaten averaged 25% their own length. This appears to be different from the sizes preferred by the smaller fish which selected items 35% their length and had an upper limit at about 40% their own length."
I would be interested to read the article on risk of choking. Could you share a link?
I think my initial question/subject was to try to find information or quantify what the needs were for YoY LMB relating to forage. No doubt that there is a range that this fits into by species and body shape. I think the "generally accepted" 30-50% prey size works for the middle ground and not as much for the extremes like you mentioned on the 28" fish. First off, congratz to the manager/owner that raised this beauty. I guess I took it as a general rule not a requirement that fish are only able to target prey within a specific category. She's earned the privilege to eat whatever her heart's desire is imo.
