Cecil,
I don't see your logic. Please explain further. I'm not getting it.
Admittedly, my fisheries management style is based on good science (but not specific science), which makes much of it an art, which is based on what I perceive as common sense.
My common sense tells me that when a fish eats, it eats because it needs to. If the food chain is available and the fish is hungry, it eats. I have not seen a fish just trying to "maintain"...if they have plenty to eat. I have watched them grow like little fat sumo wrestlers, even in the winter.
My "common sense" approach tells me a fish only maintains when that's the only choice it has.
I haven't grasped the concept that any bluegill that has copepods, insect larvae or fish food...or any favorable food chain... available at times when that fish is hungry, that it will turn its nose away and swim off, just because it wants to maintain. If a fathead minnow swims near and the bluegill is hungry, I contend it will eat it, regardless of the temperature. And, I also contend that when that sunfish eats that minnow and its nutrition is more than the bluegill needs to "maintain", that it will gain weight.
So, would you be so kind as to enlighten me? I'm just hard headed enough to stay in this fracas, but also intelligent enough to realize there are plenty of people out there that know more about it than I do. Really, all I have to show for it are the ponds and lakes I take care of, and they may be exceptions to the rule(s).
So, I am really interested in your side of this friendly little debate.
I guess I am asking you to cite some real world examples (beyond some specific study we can read) or some idea that I can wrap my mind around that will help me embrace your idea.
If I am thinking in the wrong direction, I need to shift it.
Thanks, buddy.
