Poachers , 2 Legged , or 4 Legged ? How about the infamous Water Turkey, Eagles , Fish Hawks , or Osprey ? Possibly a little of all listed ? Last of all , IIRC , read somewhere that 30 per cent per year natural death was not unusual , If you have a couple of the above, + the 30 percent over a years time, oh don't forget the fish eating duck varieties , and you won't have much left. I've watched Water Turkeys every spring at my pond, its a battle for 2 weeks , constant poaching and I see beautiful fish of 12-14" hanging out of heir beaks , plus 2 days of Bald eagles every spring . Trolling for Trout on Colorado Lakes, the Osprey and Eagles feeding nests , are constantly fishing and quite successful . Just a thought . 2 Legged and four legged mammals , can haul out 30-40 Rainbows in a night or two Easily , especially dumb hatchery trout , just stocked. We stock 200 lbs of Rainbows each November , I ask our customers to wait 7-10 days before they start targeting trout , to let them acclimate. 1 acre isn't much to search through , to find a school of hatchery rainbows.
