11-06-2018, 04:31 PM
"That was kind of my question...with an adequate food supply for some of the year--shad--is something else filling the void during the remainder of the year? What has changed or has something changed?"
[#0000FF]There is a line from "Jurassic Park"..."Nature will find a way". And thus it is with Willard Bay. Over the course of each year's fishing that lake, anglers find an amazing variety of "alternative" food items in wipers and walleyes. Crawdads are common at some times of year. And young crappies, bluegills, yellow perch, carp and even juvenile catfish are also seen in some fish. However, I cannot ever recall finding any remnants of young wipers. Like the old saw about sharks not eating attorneys...out of professional courtesy. Maybe the wiperettes get a pass...or maybe they are just not available in numbers...in sizes small enough...long enough...to be a regular food item. Like the shad, they grow fast.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Other food items in stomach contents include log perch and spottail shiners. Both of these species were introduced as potential forage long before shad were brought in. Small populations still exist (and flourish) in a few isolated areas of Willard. And when pickings are slim the hungry predators search them out and invite them to dinner.
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[signature]
[#0000FF]There is a line from "Jurassic Park"..."Nature will find a way". And thus it is with Willard Bay. Over the course of each year's fishing that lake, anglers find an amazing variety of "alternative" food items in wipers and walleyes. Crawdads are common at some times of year. And young crappies, bluegills, yellow perch, carp and even juvenile catfish are also seen in some fish. However, I cannot ever recall finding any remnants of young wipers. Like the old saw about sharks not eating attorneys...out of professional courtesy. Maybe the wiperettes get a pass...or maybe they are just not available in numbers...in sizes small enough...long enough...to be a regular food item. Like the shad, they grow fast.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]Other food items in stomach contents include log perch and spottail shiners. Both of these species were introduced as potential forage long before shad were brought in. Small populations still exist (and flourish) in a few isolated areas of Willard. And when pickings are slim the hungry predators search them out and invite them to dinner.
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[signature]