Just to be clear, I knew my pond was "hot" before the cold snap. I was hoping for a natural fall process but we had anything BUT a natural/normal fall.
The circumstances were unusual and this is not something one can plan for. In a near normal fall, this wouldn't have happened.
He also told me when I stocked just barely 2lbs of craws when I did-that it was a mistake. He was ABSOLUTELY correct.
He suggested waiting until spring of year 2.. That's why I'm recommending to anybody asking for advice about craws NOT to do it at first.
+1
Thought that comes to mind is "what do you suppose 425lbs of craws need of what weight to grow like they did???"
Crayfish are remarkably efficient in conversion. Brown & Wetzel found they could grow ~ 800 lbs in an unfertilized control pond. The thing to remember here is that under a cropping system (like when fish are removing craws every day) this level of production can be exceeded. In such a scenario there is a peak in standing weight with high numerical numbers of small individual followed by a decline in standing weight and number of individuals. An annual cycle of this can be expected going forward.
Despite a large standing weight and an early stocking, the crays I think, have contributed to the food chain. I have recently learned that they are more energy dense than BG. Nearly 50% more energy density. So 200 lbs of NCF are worth 300 lbs of BG in terms of the nutrition they provide. This might explain Lusk's comments that LMB eat few BG after a crayfish forage stocking. Crayfish provide more nutrition and somehow they know it.
The growth of your fish has been remarkable and I think the crayfish are a big part of this. Despite their overabundance being a anecdote this year, I don't think they can be credited as the cause or even part of the cause of the water conditions after the cold snap. You have to squarely place that fault on the weather and its effects on your pond community.
