Bill,
Firstly, YP I do not think directly compete with GSH due to several reasons...
This definitely clarified YP's vs. GSH's roles in the food web for me. I was assuming much more overlap in diet than what they really have.
The information on water quality, different mixes of LMB to BG, and appropriate harvest rates is a very helpful analog. Also, I'm impressed by several of the numbers you quoted, for example your guess at the typical size of LMB in LMB-crowded BOWs of my size in my region, because that fits very closely to what we've seen in our LMB-crowded pond as it has evolved. I think/suspect that you're spot on regarding your prediction of total pounds of SMB that our pond can produce; I don't have good soil or water chemistry test results or Secchi numbers, but from what we've been told in the past (IIRC) and have observed, our water has mediocre-okay fertility, low pH and low alkalinity, and is pretty clear (I'd guess about 4-5'), so anytime I read carrying capacity ranges, I've always assumed ours would be in the low-mid part of the range.
I know of a 0.25-0.3 ac pond with mosquito fish (Gambusia) and only one LMbass present that I estimated to have been around 3-4 lbs.
It surprises me that a bass was able to get up to 3-4 lbs with only small forage (Gambusia). I know that her being the only big dog around allowed her limitless forage, but I thought that'd be like us having a bottomless Cheerio buffet, but where we'd have to run a mile first each time we wanted to eat a handful. I think we'd all be pretty slender in that case.
I'm not that hell-bent on having only bass and forage (like GSH), but just for argument's sake, do you think that if we conducted a similar experiment (all else being equal), but instead of only 1 LMB and Gambusia, if we had 1 LMB and hordes of GSH or LCS (i.e., a bigger forage), that that lonely LMB could in theory grow a bit larger, say to 5-6 lbs?
I agree with your and others' sentiment regarding stocking of fish, I just don't want to say too much out loud...
In any event, I greatly appreciate the time and effort you took, and all that fantastic information. I'll definitely be referring back to this post on occasion especially as I iron out our goals for the fishery with my family. Thanks a lot!
