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Originally Posted by "W"
So Could it be that when the weirs are open fish are more active and gorging ( regurgitating) due to the amout of bait and tidle flow?
When weirs are open we have move tide and bait on east side as to none when close ? So could it just change there feeding habits as when you have affective tides and bait trout on east side gorge more ?
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You have some interesting ideas here, to be sure. Regurgitating would likely decrease feed efficiency and increase energy costs.
Question: specks are well known for their rapid gorging and regurgitating under certain conditions. This may account for their negative correlation with weir openings in the spring months. What do you know about redfish gorging and regurgitating? Sure, any fish can vomit in the boat or in the ice chests, but do you know of redfish gorging and regurgitating like specks do? Or is this a unique behavior to specks and more closely related species?
Quote:
Originally Posted by "W"
Let's take last summer for prime example , weirs were closed all summer long and trout fishing was horrible. East side and south end were not very productive as it has been this year due to them being open all summer long
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The weirs concentrate the fish in a predictable location so they are easy to catch. The fish may be responding more to the moving water than actual feeding efficiency. "Productive" from an angling viewpoint means hungry (easy to catch) and concentrated fish. "Productive" from a fish condition viewpoint means well fed and spread evenly through areas of the estuary with sufficient forage.
In 2013, the weirs were mostly open through May and June, and the mostly closed situation began July 10, 2013 and persisted until early October when fresher water allowed switching to a mostly open operational scheme. In 2014, the weirs were mostly closed (30% or so open) from April 15, closed even tighter in early May, and remained closed tightly (10% or so open) until mid July when heavy rains dropped the salinity and allowed going back to a mostly open condition.
There were similar length weir "closings" in both 2013 and 2014, but it occurred earlier in 2014. The greater productivity of the estuary in 2014 was not due to the weir openings after mid-July. The productivity was obvious back in May when we were doing our measurements. Lots of anglers were complaining that the fish were hard to find, but the fish were fat and happy and chasing abundant bait fish (menhaden, croaker, mullet) in schools scattered throughout the estuary rather than stacking up at the weirs sharing a meager influx of shrimp (came on stronger later in the summer).