Heppy, I don't have enough hands-on experience relating to the subject I'm discussing here but my fall net samples after my late summer high flow event revealed one thing to me that was obvious.. My largest RES went with the flow. SMB, Male BG, YP and even Tilapia stayed put. I have very good numbers of YOY RES but the largest adults are gone. I had been told to expect GSH numbers to be low or possibly even absent, but they are still there in good numbers. I stocked 67lbs of FHM after cleaning out some grow-out ponds about 30 days before my flood. FHM are gone also, but I can't say they went with flood waters or became forage victims that quick. If I had this all to do over again, I would highly suggest to others that don't understand, how important proper type and amounts of Aquatic vegetation are. It's not just the aspect of hiding cover for forage. It's also the breeding grounds for an unbelievable amount of invertebrate and other food chain essentials, not to mention soil retention, nutrient up-take and O2 production, etc. There are other non living structure types we use that "seem" to fit requirements of protecting forage and providing spawning substrate but they lack the ability to provide "other" obviously essential elements that I had not thought through as well as I should have. As I said, "IF" I did it again, I'd work much harder at establishing vegetation while building forage types and numbers before adding other species, and the crawfish wouldn't go in until yr 2 or later AFTER stocking SMB as true small fingerlings (3" or less). TJ, Bill C., Several of these guys understand this better than I, I just wanted to share my observations and assessments.
