[steelhead]

Pic Pat wrote........



............i agree that the foothills and mountians are safe, its the rest of the province that im concerned with. this isnt just about trout, its the competition with other species should bass take hold and be self sustaining that concerns me. in a fertile system i think it may be safe. in a more fragile system, bass may push out native populations of fish by eating the limited amount of prey species. competition in an already tight food chain may throw everything out of whack.


In many other provinces, bass are both a excellent predator and a suitible forage. In the east, they are more likely to get pushed out as they spawn in hot summer months and when the feedbag is on for all the other species, bass dont eat while protecting thier nests and are easy forage for large predators. They compliment lake ecosystems more than they harm, unless the lake they inhabit was designed to hold stocked trout. Then theres problems.


More information just search the Sir Sandford Fleming site. They do the research on the kawartha lakes in ontario. Lots of wicked information on those lakes and how bass are a bonus for any of those lakes. I have been in on a few of those research projects.


STEELHEAD