O.k. Bob here's my take on this and I sure don't have all the answers, and probably not making my point clear, but I did stay at a Holiday Express last night!
Seriously, aquaculture text literature says from several sources the following more or less regarding trout which are a coldwater fish:
In trout, the minimum temperature
for growth is approximately 38°F. At
this temperature and below,
appetites may be suppressed and
their digestive systems operate very
slowly. Trout will require only a
“maintenance” diet (0.5 percent to
1.8 percent body weight/day, depending
upon fish size) at these temperatures;
more than this will result in
poor food conversion and wasted
feed.My thoughts are (and I sure could be wrong) that if a trout, a cold water fish, stops growing at 38 F. even while eating, why do we think a bluegill would continue to grow under the ice in northern Indiana as the author of the text I was referring to says?
I'm all ears if someone can show evidence of growth in those frozen lakes even if it's a millimeter all winter. Or evidence that the above information about trout is false. Like I said in a previous post it could be false about the trout, and is one of those things that has been accepted and repeated over and over again but not necessarily proven.
So I'm not talking about winter growth in general or winter growth in Texas or wherever. I was referring to the text Eric sent me that said there is bluegill growth in the winter in Northern Indiana lakes.
Perhaps when the author was talking winter growth in winter in Northern Indiana lakes he was referring to growth from the first day of winter to the last day of winter where on occasion we get unseasonably warm weather or a late winter? One year it was in the 70's on Christmas Eve here and many of us were out in our boats fishing.
