11-22-2011, 12:34 AM
If you are asking seriously....
We have a problem with the stripers that happens with many species in many bodies of water. It is called STUNTING.
When you have a species of fish in a lake that do not have any significant predators, they can become over-populated. If this happens, the ratio of gamefish to baitfish per surface acre of water becomes unbalanced.
A good balance could be, for example, 10lbs of bait per every one pound of gamefish (striper in this case). Those striper will grow up to be bigger, getting used to an abundant food supply. They will breed successive generations that are genetically prepared to eat generously, and they too, will be bigger on average. If the bait to gamefish ratio stays high, the trend will continue.
But, if these fish get busy too often, and bring the ratio down to, say 3lbs of bait for every one pound of gamefish, then things change. Those fish simply have less to eat. They will not be as big that year as the year before, and if they continue to breed with a dwindling food supply, the successive generations are genetically prepared to eat less.
This is stunting, and Lake Mead is a victim. Overrun with stripers, and a dwindling shad supply from a decade of drought, we now have millions of stripers that average 1 lb.
If there were fewer stripers, and more shad, we would see a very obvious increase in the average size of the striper in Mead.
And this is why NDOW changed the limit on stripers recently. They let you keep as many stripers under 20" as you want.
The moral of the story is, release your bigger fish to be breeding stock and keep the LEGAL dinks you catch for food.
As far as LMB and SMB, they aren't overpopulated. We need every dink in there to grow up, so we can hope it breeds or we can catch it as an adult.
And we want a massive shad population. The more the merrier. All of the fish can always eat more. They are gluttonous.
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We have a problem with the stripers that happens with many species in many bodies of water. It is called STUNTING.
When you have a species of fish in a lake that do not have any significant predators, they can become over-populated. If this happens, the ratio of gamefish to baitfish per surface acre of water becomes unbalanced.
A good balance could be, for example, 10lbs of bait per every one pound of gamefish (striper in this case). Those striper will grow up to be bigger, getting used to an abundant food supply. They will breed successive generations that are genetically prepared to eat generously, and they too, will be bigger on average. If the bait to gamefish ratio stays high, the trend will continue.
But, if these fish get busy too often, and bring the ratio down to, say 3lbs of bait for every one pound of gamefish, then things change. Those fish simply have less to eat. They will not be as big that year as the year before, and if they continue to breed with a dwindling food supply, the successive generations are genetically prepared to eat less.
This is stunting, and Lake Mead is a victim. Overrun with stripers, and a dwindling shad supply from a decade of drought, we now have millions of stripers that average 1 lb.
If there were fewer stripers, and more shad, we would see a very obvious increase in the average size of the striper in Mead.
And this is why NDOW changed the limit on stripers recently. They let you keep as many stripers under 20" as you want.
The moral of the story is, release your bigger fish to be breeding stock and keep the LEGAL dinks you catch for food.
As far as LMB and SMB, they aren't overpopulated. We need every dink in there to grow up, so we can hope it breeds or we can catch it as an adult.
And we want a massive shad population. The more the merrier. All of the fish can always eat more. They are gluttonous.
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