Originally Posted By: Fyfer123
Hi,

Do you believe the trout will now have absolutely nothing to eat? I believe the bass have eliminated the minnows already. I haven't seen one in weeks. Pellet feeding is not ideal for me, so I may loose the trout if that is necessary. Should I start to fish them out so they don't go to waste?



Fyfer,

The trout have lost an important food source but they may not have lost the primary source of food. If your water supports a large population of scuds, it is likely they are more important to them than the minnows. It's difficult to say just how strong the LMB will become. I think in a worst case, it will be as Bill and Eric described with LMB topping out at 10 to 12" supporting between 70-85/acre of them.

Species interactions are sometimes difficult to predict. In the Summer, the LMB have a clear advantage in shallow, warmer areas of the pond. The young LMB freely go to very shallow water to forage. The reluctance of the Brown trout to do so has always given the minnows a refuge. I can't make any predictions of benefits the LMB might provide to your BOW, but there could be some we haven't yet considered. For example, Leeches readily prey on amphipods and if these are more important to your trout than the leeches are they may be limiting trout food. If the young bass will feed on them, a potential positive outcome could be more amphipod prey for the trout.

The waters of your BOW are cool enough to support trout year round. Trout are cold water fish and they are more active than LMB through winter and they will have a very powerful advantage over LMB at ice out. Overwintering 0-year LMB could offer substantial forage for them during this time. The point I am making is that we don't yet know how this will play out for the brown trout. It might be worth giving the Brown trout a chance show you what they may be capable of withstanding in competition with LMB.

If you add an additional species there will be benefits for the LMB. They will achieve a larger ultimate size but their biomass will not be substantially increased. You will have fewer but larger LMB. An additional species like YP will serve as a predator and competitor of the 0 year class LMB helping to reduce LMB recruitment. The standing weight of LMB and YP will be much greater than LMB can achieve on their own. To be sure, the YP will compete to no small degree with your trout for invertebrate prey organisms.

You cannot likely eradicate the LMB but they may be something you can live with and still keep trout. If you add a prey species for the LMB, the prognosis for the trout could be less certain than with LMB alone. Just some things to think about if you would like to keep trout.


Last edited by jpsdad; 09/03/19 12:27 AM.

It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers