06-24-2007, 10:53 AM
[cool][#0000ff]Hey Geoff, I think you make a good point. Both the bluegill and the perch are showing signs of stunting in Mantua. Over the past two years I have observed a drop in both the average size of those two species...and the size of the largest fish available. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Strangely, in the fish I caught yesterday, I observed that the smaller fish seemed to be fatter and healthier than the larger fish. I'm guessing that there is plenty of zooplankton, copepods and other small invertebrates for the fry and smaller fish, but that the food sources for the larger fish are being taxed by the overabundance of both species. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I kept a few bluegills and perch for the table yesterday, and I was unpleasantly surprised by how thin the fillets were on the larger bluegills. Definitely not what they were a couple of years ago...and not even close to Pelican Lake quality.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Anglers have been fishing Mantua more, and catching (and keeping) more fish...as they should. I think the problem is partially the result of reduced natural predation...from large bass. Largemouth populations have dropped way down also, from where they were a couple of years ago. Still some real toad largies in there, but a lower population over all. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I suspect that it is not so much the fault of a few anglers keeping the occasional bass, but the DWR program of harvesting small largemouth to use for stocking the community ponds. DWR does not have a warmwater hatchery program so they must rely on moving bass from one location to another, if they can't rear them or buy them. I have heard that literally thousands of small largemouths have been transferred out of Mantua by DWR. That's gotta have some kind of impact on the predator - prey balance. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Strangely, in the fish I caught yesterday, I observed that the smaller fish seemed to be fatter and healthier than the larger fish. I'm guessing that there is plenty of zooplankton, copepods and other small invertebrates for the fry and smaller fish, but that the food sources for the larger fish are being taxed by the overabundance of both species. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I kept a few bluegills and perch for the table yesterday, and I was unpleasantly surprised by how thin the fillets were on the larger bluegills. Definitely not what they were a couple of years ago...and not even close to Pelican Lake quality.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Anglers have been fishing Mantua more, and catching (and keeping) more fish...as they should. I think the problem is partially the result of reduced natural predation...from large bass. Largemouth populations have dropped way down also, from where they were a couple of years ago. Still some real toad largies in there, but a lower population over all. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I suspect that it is not so much the fault of a few anglers keeping the occasional bass, but the DWR program of harvesting small largemouth to use for stocking the community ponds. DWR does not have a warmwater hatchery program so they must rely on moving bass from one location to another, if they can't rear them or buy them. I have heard that literally thousands of small largemouths have been transferred out of Mantua by DWR. That's gotta have some kind of impact on the predator - prey balance. [/#0000ff]
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