We have a small city lake near me (55 miles) that has OSS. Don't know where they came from, they were just there one year and have been a nuisance since. LMB will not control numbers because of amount of shallow water so the state stocked saugeye and has for 9 years. Got some great Saugeye, great crappie, LMB really never came back and population structure of OSS remains the same.
Snipe,
Why does the "amount of shallow water" make it such that the LMB cannot control the OSS population?
I assume it is because the OSS can spawn more fish than the LMB can consume. However, it could be due to impairment of the LMB predation, or other reasons I don't know.
I would also think that saugeye would be more effective predators than LMB in open water and less effective than LMB in shallow, weed-choked water.
Obviously, I am missing something (not unusual). I am just trying to learn what factor I am missing. I could imagine some pond management scenarios where OSS might be preferred over BG.
