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Originally Posted by Jigman13
Good points, Dave. Would a smaller stocking work though? The white perch population makes for a great secondary forage base for the top predators in there. I know that NYS stocked walleyes in fort pond out in montauk long after the hybrids died off there to handle the white perch population and they've been thriving. It's a lot less deep there, comparable weed growth and similar rocky structure, but they don't have the pike and hybrids that spruce has obviously... Just thinking out loud here lol...
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A small stocking could work in theory, problem is the 'eyes would most likely begin some degree of natural reproduction which is more often than not difficult to quantify, and given the highly variable nature of the water levels and temps in Spruce would be that much more difficult to track let alone predict ahead to plan for any future stockings. Also as you refer to regarding Fort Pond, the Div would likely have to begin reducing the hybrid striper stockings in an effort to not overload the top end of the ecosystem with predators.
Since we already have well established walleye pops in so many places I honestly think it would be a valiant but fruitless effort to lobby for walleyes in Spruce. However pushing for some hybrids in Swartswood could turn out to be a far more achievable goal due to a number of factors.
A couple of the primary items include the stability of the lake levels, the size of the waterbody, and very important in my humble opinion the simple fact that the hybrids are sterile so their numbers can be controlled via stocking quantities and size/bag limits. These latter factors would allow the Div. biologists to more easily monitor and control the population as well as determining what impacts the introduction has on the forage base and subsequently the existing predator species populations.
Bottom line, if anyone wanted to truly push for either of these propositions I would strongly recommend the Swartswood hybrids option and forget about Spruce 'eyes. Just my $.02, your mileage may vary.
