Would love to hear any opinions/guess why the BC are said to be stunted and the WC apparently are not.
Food items reported for Pomoxis annularis n = 9 Food I Food II Food III Food name Country Predator Stage nekton finfish bony fish Aplodinotus grunniens USA recruits/juv. zoobenthos insects insects Diptera larvae USA recruits/juv. nekton finfish bony fish Dorosoma cepedianum USA recruits/juv. zoobenthos insects insects Ephemeroptera nymphs USA recruits/juv. nekton finfish bony fish Menidia beryllina USA recruits/juv. nekton finfish bony fish unidentified USA recruits/juv. zoobenthos benth. crust. benth. copepods unidentified USA recruits/juv. zoobenthos insects insects unidentified USA recruits/juv. zoobenthos benth. crust. n.a./other benth. crustaceans unidentified crustaceans USA juv./adults
Food items reported for Pomoxis nigromaculatus n = 4 Food I Food II Food III Food name Country Predator Stage nekton finfish bony fish cyprinid remains USA juv./adults nekton finfish bony fish Dorosoma cepedianum USA juv./adults zoobenthos benth. crust. n.a./other benth. crustaceans unidentified crustaceans USA juv./adults zoobenthos insects insects Unidentified odonate USA juv./adults
I've wondered about this a lot - some contributing factors at play here: there are much more black crappie vs white crappie in the pond based off what I have caught. The whites tend to cruise the basin while the blacks tend to hold to cover. I have very large amounts of yoy bluegill, bullhead, tadpoles/frogs and should have plenty of plankton sized food chain to eat - competition for smaller food items is substantially higher than yoy sized food items. White crappie can of 8-10" can likely start eating the crawfish available in the pond.
I would think that putting even more effort into thinning the herd should continue to show improving results in not only the black crappie but the bluegill. Reducing black crappie, bluegill and bullhead numbers. My native and stocked bass are doing very well, i have great numbers of 10-14" bass and very few larger - top end of lmb is pushing 6lbs and likely 20", and i can verify i have 3 of those sized fish in the pond...they are just very hard to catch.
I'm working to improve access to the pond which will in turn make it much easier to feed on a regular basis. Any extra minnows from fishing other bodies of water are deposited in the pond after verifying they are all truly minnows and not unwanted fish. We dumped a few dozen in right after taking pictures Saturday.
Thoughts? opinions?
Jpsdad - we leave the small bluegills on the ice for raccoons and bobcats to eat. But I'm getting to the point that our cull fish are fastly approaching fillet size. I have seen improvements in bluegill size since I've started this project - and the pond is becoming more fun to fish. Sadly I don't think my hsb survived, and I have no caught a walleye in almost 2 years, i haven't seen a yellow perch since the spring after stocking.