I'm thinking the lack of abundant edible sized forage is cause for lower WR as skinnier bass. The skinnier bass should also not have grown a lot in length - correct? How many bass have you collected for your sample? It is possible you are sampling slow growing males?
Likely the plump bass basically ate all the abundant preferred sizes of forage in the lower structure habitat. Fast growing bass 'cleaned up' on the main initial crop of forage items. This is a common problem in new ponds; fast initial growth, then a noticeable slow down. Now, many of the CNBC are too big to eat and remaining forage is too small of sizes to allow higher body weights and continued fast growth of the LMB.
For followers of your project refer us back to you original post with the link for your baseline information.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/01/19 03:42 PM.
