09-20-2013, 05:47 PM
[quote submoa]So how much affect will removing trophy Mac's have? If a 40 lb fish is removed, a 15 lb will get there but when?[/quote]
it's not the 15lb one that you have to worry about. That 15lb mac has already switched to a pisciverous diet, which means it's growth rates should be high - especially in Fish Lake. You need to stop thinking in averages. Sure, if you take a 20 year old lake trout that is 20lbs you can easily say that it grew 1lb per year, and took 20 years to grow that large. In reality, that same fish may have spent the first 15 years at 20" and 4lbs. In the 16th year, the fish switched to a pisciverous diet and grew to 15lbs in 2 years. That happens with lake trout.
you're going down the wrong road with a lake trout discussion. We already know that places like Fish Lake have other issues, and reasons for slot limits. Again, it comes down to populations numbers.
Read the attached study.
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it's not the 15lb one that you have to worry about. That 15lb mac has already switched to a pisciverous diet, which means it's growth rates should be high - especially in Fish Lake. You need to stop thinking in averages. Sure, if you take a 20 year old lake trout that is 20lbs you can easily say that it grew 1lb per year, and took 20 years to grow that large. In reality, that same fish may have spent the first 15 years at 20" and 4lbs. In the 16th year, the fish switched to a pisciverous diet and grew to 15lbs in 2 years. That happens with lake trout.
you're going down the wrong road with a lake trout discussion. We already know that places like Fish Lake have other issues, and reasons for slot limits. Again, it comes down to populations numbers.
Read the attached study.
[signature]