Little late on this, but figured an update was in order.
Had family in town and we fished a bunch over the weekend. I'll get RW info posted soon. But my YP and SMB are in excellent body shape. There's nothing skinny about either species.
I attempted to source SpotFin Shiners locally last spring, but failed, mostly due to timing. So I did a small stocking of GSH last Fall to supplement my FHM that were diminishing. I must of had some GSH make it through the winter because I have quite a few GSH YOY in the pond. I regularly see these schools of YOY being crashed by predators. I know I've been told that a large population of GSH will diminish my YP recruitment. I intentionally stocked a small number so that they are controlled, but give my predators another option in the lunch line. I hope to try again next spring for SpotFins.
What I did learn this weekend, however, is that my RES have absolutely had a population explosion. We are catching RES that are 3-5" one after another. Using a clover leaf trap, I'll have 5-6 RES in the trap after only a short 15 minute soak. Also had a few small less than 6" YP in the trap. So there's also some YP recruitment. We caught several YP over 10".
I've also learned that I've had quite a bit of SMB recruitment, catching quite a few SMB under 8 inches. So much so that I need to come up with a culling program IMO. Also of note, is that I'm seeing some of my newly recruited SMB feeding on pellets.
So my question is, how do I keep things going where I'm growing large YP and decent SMB. I don't care too much about the RES as they are primarily a forage source for the SMB. Slot limits? If so, how do I set those in term of sizes to take out of each species?
