07-05-2007, 08:45 PM
[cool][#0000ff]I don't pretend to know all the answers, but I do know most of the questions. I also know that the entire ecology of the lake has undergone several potentially relevant changes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The attached picture was taken in the late 70's. It was a double limit of cats taken fishing in the channel of the south marina in May. Missing are the first three fish we caught...that all weighed between 7 and 10 pounds...and which started rolling and twisting and tore up a strong metal pro bass stringer. The rest of the fish we strung on the rope. The smallest was over 3 puunds and the biggest about 15#. Most were over 5. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In those days, as I still do today, I checked stomach contents of the fish I kept and filleted. The bigger cats almost always had several crawdads and often a couple or three bluegills or green sunfish. Sometimes small crappies or baby carp in season. The fish always had plenty of good high protein kitty chow.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Today the average cat has declined in size from about 22 inches and 3# to the CC kitties of today...about 15" and just over a pound. The good news is that this is an improvement over the 12 and 13 inchers we were getting at the end of the drought years in 2004.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When the smallmouths took off, several years ago, they became major competitors for the available crawdad population. They also either ate or displaced most of the sunfish population...bluegills and green sunfish. There are still some around, but not the swarms of them that used to line the inlet channel. So, I partially blame smallmouths for some of the reduction in food supply.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Of the hundreds of bitty kitties I have "CSIed" in the last three years, I have only found a few crawdad remnants. Nothing like there used to be. And, I have not found a single (or married) sunfish in any of them. Only rarely have I found any shad. The channels will come up higher in the water column and chase shad, but only when desperate and when the water is really clear. This year, with the low water, the clarity has often been poor because wind washes the waves against exposed mud banks and muddies the water.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]What I do see a lot in the bellies of Willard kitties these days is algae. They are rooting on the bottom for anything edible, and slurping up greenery on the off chance that it contains some kind of invertebrates...like worms, snails or insect larvae. Some cats have guts so full of undigested algae that you wonder how they ever pass it all through. That does not help produce large fat cats.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is always a matter of the balance between total fish biomass and available forage. When food is scarce, or difficult to acquire, fish expend more energy feeding than they derive in nutrition from what they eat. That's a great weight loss program for us humans but it doesn't make for porky kitties.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My opinion is that there is really nothing to be done. Every ecosystem establishes itself and maintains some kind of balance. With the water conditions of Willard, and the species currently in the lake, it seems unlikely that catfish will suddenly find an untapped food source to CATapult them into the heavyweight bracket.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The upside is that the smaller cats are very plentiful, and they are always on the prowl for vittles. They are also much better eating in the smaller sizes. That makes for a mixed blessing for anglers. Plenty to catch and eat, but not too many bigguns to stretch your string.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The attached picture was taken in the late 70's. It was a double limit of cats taken fishing in the channel of the south marina in May. Missing are the first three fish we caught...that all weighed between 7 and 10 pounds...and which started rolling and twisting and tore up a strong metal pro bass stringer. The rest of the fish we strung on the rope. The smallest was over 3 puunds and the biggest about 15#. Most were over 5. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In those days, as I still do today, I checked stomach contents of the fish I kept and filleted. The bigger cats almost always had several crawdads and often a couple or three bluegills or green sunfish. Sometimes small crappies or baby carp in season. The fish always had plenty of good high protein kitty chow.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Today the average cat has declined in size from about 22 inches and 3# to the CC kitties of today...about 15" and just over a pound. The good news is that this is an improvement over the 12 and 13 inchers we were getting at the end of the drought years in 2004.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When the smallmouths took off, several years ago, they became major competitors for the available crawdad population. They also either ate or displaced most of the sunfish population...bluegills and green sunfish. There are still some around, but not the swarms of them that used to line the inlet channel. So, I partially blame smallmouths for some of the reduction in food supply.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Of the hundreds of bitty kitties I have "CSIed" in the last three years, I have only found a few crawdad remnants. Nothing like there used to be. And, I have not found a single (or married) sunfish in any of them. Only rarely have I found any shad. The channels will come up higher in the water column and chase shad, but only when desperate and when the water is really clear. This year, with the low water, the clarity has often been poor because wind washes the waves against exposed mud banks and muddies the water.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]What I do see a lot in the bellies of Willard kitties these days is algae. They are rooting on the bottom for anything edible, and slurping up greenery on the off chance that it contains some kind of invertebrates...like worms, snails or insect larvae. Some cats have guts so full of undigested algae that you wonder how they ever pass it all through. That does not help produce large fat cats.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is always a matter of the balance between total fish biomass and available forage. When food is scarce, or difficult to acquire, fish expend more energy feeding than they derive in nutrition from what they eat. That's a great weight loss program for us humans but it doesn't make for porky kitties.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My opinion is that there is really nothing to be done. Every ecosystem establishes itself and maintains some kind of balance. With the water conditions of Willard, and the species currently in the lake, it seems unlikely that catfish will suddenly find an untapped food source to CATapult them into the heavyweight bracket.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The upside is that the smaller cats are very plentiful, and they are always on the prowl for vittles. They are also much better eating in the smaller sizes. That makes for a mixed blessing for anglers. Plenty to catch and eat, but not too many bigguns to stretch your string.[/#0000ff]
[signature]