07-08-2014, 10:01 AM
[quote mtncat1]I think the forage in the lake has crashed , not seeing chub or crayfish anymore it's a shame[/quote]
[#0000FF]The chubs have been gone for some time. A few big ones survived for a few years after the population explosion of walleye and smallies. But the predators ate up the young as fast as they could be spawned. The big chubs finally reached the end of their life cycle and I haven't seen one for over 2 years.
And yes, the crawdad population has dropped way off too. The hordes of smallies are the main reason but trout and even walleyes eat them too. There were lots of baby crawdads showing up in all species early in the year but there was nothing in the bellies of the two walleyes I kept last week.
Perch are the main forage base in the lake right now. When the perch had that big die off two springs ago it put a dent in the food chain. Fewer perch meant fewer baby perch for all the predators. The surviving perch spawn okay but their newly hatched fry get slurped up before they can get any size. That means they will end up like chubs...only a few big ones that will die out if they are not able to create enough babies to feed the hungry masses.
The trout still do fine on the zooplankton and other invertebrates. But they also dine on crawdads and baby perch...when available.
Don't know what the answer is. Heck, I barely know any good questions.
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[#0000FF]The chubs have been gone for some time. A few big ones survived for a few years after the population explosion of walleye and smallies. But the predators ate up the young as fast as they could be spawned. The big chubs finally reached the end of their life cycle and I haven't seen one for over 2 years.
And yes, the crawdad population has dropped way off too. The hordes of smallies are the main reason but trout and even walleyes eat them too. There were lots of baby crawdads showing up in all species early in the year but there was nothing in the bellies of the two walleyes I kept last week.
Perch are the main forage base in the lake right now. When the perch had that big die off two springs ago it put a dent in the food chain. Fewer perch meant fewer baby perch for all the predators. The surviving perch spawn okay but their newly hatched fry get slurped up before they can get any size. That means they will end up like chubs...only a few big ones that will die out if they are not able to create enough babies to feed the hungry masses.
The trout still do fine on the zooplankton and other invertebrates. But they also dine on crawdads and baby perch...when available.
Don't know what the answer is. Heck, I barely know any good questions.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]