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<br />fish diet, but juvenile striped bass can thrive on a zooplankton <br />diet. Mature fish have been found with a similar large bolus of <br />plankton in the stomach, but energy expended pursuing zooplankton <br />apparently exceeds energy gained since these plankton-eating <br />adult fish consistently have low K factors. <br /> <br />Seasonal Feeding <br />In the fall shad seek shallow water to avoid predation. <br />Striped bass will often remain in a cove and trap shad for <br />extended periods. The predators rest in deep water at the mouth <br />of the cove and attack any forage that attempts to leave. The <br />vigil is interrupted by periodic feeding sprees as striped bass <br />rush into shallow water and eat their fill. <br />Cold temperatures force striped bass into semidormancy. In <br />winter feeding is of short duration and infrequent at best. In <br />years when fat reserves are high, dormancy is prolonged. When <br />body fat is absent and food is scarce, striped bass tend to move <br />constantly in search of food. <br />Midsummer feeding opportunities when surface water <br />temperatures exceed 26 C are mostly limited to juvenile striped <br />bass; however, young adult stripers weighing up to 2 kg have been <br />seen "boiling" in these extreme conditions. Apparently, <br />temperature acclimation is possible allowing healthy adults to <br />take advantage of foraging opportunities if they do not stay in <br />the warm epilimnion for extended periods of time. These boils <br />are normally of short duration. Diving schools of young adult <br />striped bass have been tracked on sonar as they retreated to the <br />cooler thermocline. <br /> <br />PHYSICAL CONDITION <br /> <br />Healthy striped bass in Lake Powell exhibited a K(fl) factor <br />of 1.2 to 1.3. Really robust fish were 1.4 to 1.5. When K <br />factor declined below 1.1 striped bass were noticeably thin. <br /> <br />19 <br />