If we would decide to feed the BG and BC and then remove some bigger fish in fall or winter ice fishing, does feeding fish affect how much fry they will eat during the months we are feeding them? I mean we need them to eat the fry to avoid a large population right ? So if we are feeding them will they feed as heavily on the offspring that is being created now ?
I don't know of any particular research documenting this for BG, but I do know of research pertaining to LMB and the yes feed trained bass tend to rely on feed. We must keep in mind, however, that BG do not need to be trained and have already developed the skills required to survive in the absence of feed. But then there are other variables. If feeding intensifies the natural bloom it will provide alternatives to fry and also reduce the visibility providing some level of cover. Whether, more or less fry are consumed by BG & BCP is a tough call and I don't know the answer. Even so, I do think it is probable that feeding will allow more YOY to survive due to the enhancement of bloom and fertility.
Keep in mind, once again, that the limiting factor on fry survival, fry recruitment, and fry advancement is availability of appropriately sized zooplankton and not the number of bluegill or crappie eating them. Only so many are going to make it regardless of the number of predators eating them. That however is only true up until the point that the young of the year quit eating zooplankton.
Just an anecdote but I have caught 2" BG on 1/2" Gams.
I would think that by the time BG reach 1" in size they are cannibalizing younger BG fry and other things bigger than typical zooplankton. Just keep in mind that millions upon millions of fry will swim up and there can be several peaks in spawning and BG can spawn more than once in a season. Feeding will help to boost zooplankton for the BG fry to feed on. A slaughter must take place and it does. Very few fry survive but this doesn't necessarily mean that BG are not able to over reproduce themselves. Buck & Thoits studied BG in monoculture and they attain individual counts into the 10s of thousands per acre without a predator like LMB. On their own, they cannot control their numbers except by mass mortality events where it may be said they were the cause of their own destruction.
