09-04-2013, 01:47 PM
[quote chugg]I would agree with that if it weren't for the fact of over 3000 musky in a small impoundment like newton. When I see plenty of 4-6in bass every spring from the previous years spawn and can catch hundreds of 6-10inchers and a few over 15inches but rarely anything in between when in years past I never noticed the bust n boom cycle at newton. I blame the heavily stocked tiger musky. Newton has always been a good bass reproducer during good water years so why the lack of the particular age class of bass? We had 10 descent years in a row. How does large fish feeding on other large fish(spawners) help?[/quote]
Again, it is about competition. When those little fish have to compete with lots of other little fish like perch, bluegill, and crappie, growth is limited and survival goes way down. A good perch year could virtually eliminate good bass spawns. You are blaming all bass predation on musky...but you are forgetting that other fish prey on bass as well (including channel cats that can easily take 4-6 and 6-10 inch fish!). To answer your question, large fish feeding on large fish is very rarely a problem...again, if you eliminate one hungry mouth, you make room for another. Even if those large bass were being lost to old age or natural causes, their death makes room for another fish to replace it.
The one really good thing about low water at Newton and fish kills during the winter is that it helps thin the herds...if some of the fish make it through the winter at Newton and not all of them are lost, you will end up with a better fishery in a couple years because it will allow for fast growth of those that remain. It is all about fish density...that is how tiger musky can help the other species even if they eat some of them--they create more space for growth for those that have not been eaten.
I was reading a paper on tiger musky in Idaho just recently. The IF&G have used tiger musky in brook trout lakes in alpine lakes...what they have found is that they can increase the size of the brook trout in these alpine lakes by stocking tiger musky. The tiger musky in these lakes have only one fish to prey on--brook trout! But, by eating brook trout, the brook trout that escape predation are growing faster and bigger. The same phenomenon happens in a lake at Newton.
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Again, it is about competition. When those little fish have to compete with lots of other little fish like perch, bluegill, and crappie, growth is limited and survival goes way down. A good perch year could virtually eliminate good bass spawns. You are blaming all bass predation on musky...but you are forgetting that other fish prey on bass as well (including channel cats that can easily take 4-6 and 6-10 inch fish!). To answer your question, large fish feeding on large fish is very rarely a problem...again, if you eliminate one hungry mouth, you make room for another. Even if those large bass were being lost to old age or natural causes, their death makes room for another fish to replace it.
The one really good thing about low water at Newton and fish kills during the winter is that it helps thin the herds...if some of the fish make it through the winter at Newton and not all of them are lost, you will end up with a better fishery in a couple years because it will allow for fast growth of those that remain. It is all about fish density...that is how tiger musky can help the other species even if they eat some of them--they create more space for growth for those that have not been eaten.
I was reading a paper on tiger musky in Idaho just recently. The IF&G have used tiger musky in brook trout lakes in alpine lakes...what they have found is that they can increase the size of the brook trout in these alpine lakes by stocking tiger musky. The tiger musky in these lakes have only one fish to prey on--brook trout! But, by eating brook trout, the brook trout that escape predation are growing faster and bigger. The same phenomenon happens in a lake at Newton.
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