Quote:
Originally Posted by huntsfurfish
You dont stock lightly especially if you are starting out a new fishery or have a crashed fishery. You stock pretty heavy with hopes that they "take" and in good numbers. When they do people get ticked off, but then again, when it fails to "take" they get ticked off too.   Cant win.
On the other hand it doesnt hurt to discuss it. |
I can see RavYak's point that the large initial stocking had an affect on the population stunting, and I would agree to a point. However, I think with a sufficient forage base, the effect would have been drastically reduced.
Your point here is my understanding as well. You have to stock planning for the worst, and hope for the best. Knowing that the lake wasn't exactly ideal, I would have erred on the side of larger numbers too, expecting a high mortality rate.
It's a real testament to how hearty the walleye is that they survived in such numbers in a lake without a sufficient forage base and adapted to the limited available food source. Had there been a healthy bait fish population, PCR might have been a pretty amazing fishery...