Daphnia importance

[Ketchn]

In my never ending quest to improve others knowledge of the water and how to ketch fish ,it often requires a next level of tutoring . The signs in and on the water are often abundant and go unnoticed by the masses .
This episode involves daphnia and copepods and other zooplankton , daphnia magnus is a type of larger micro organism. They are noticeable to the naked eye in many spots and more often than not signal there are masses of fish close by . The fish food chain starts in this general area and fish up to around 4 to 5 inches long relish "water fleas" as they are often called .
Daphnia magnus are about 1/4 of an inch long and sometimes look like a cloud in the water , upon closer observation they appear to be swimming and often seem to go in circles . If you notice them it is very and mean highly likely there are small fish feeding on them . Small fish in turn attract larger fish as we all know . Typically the next size up on fish in this particular scenario includes crappie if they are in the waters where this occurs.
So when out and about with or without the help of boats and electronics look closely on the surface . If daphnia are present in an area ,you are probably on crappie very close to them . The baitfish feeding on them will attract the crappie pretty much EVERY time it occurs .

[DockShootinJack]

Took this last time I was out night fishing. I was tild by SuperDave that these are water fleas. I had never seen them before. Pretty neat to watch that cloud swim around under the light

[SuperDave336]

I use to raise daphnia for my aquarium fish. Boy howdy do fish love those little things. I've never seen any as large as 1/4 inch just sort of fruit fly size. But like you said fish love them and usually near the start of the food chain for sure.

[Ketchn]

I use to raise daphnia for my aquarium fish. Boy howdy do fish love those little things. I've never seen any as large as 1/4 inch just sort of fruit fly size. But like you said fish love them and usually near the start of the food chain for sure.

there are several species of them , you might have been raising red daphnia

[DockShootinJack]

The white bass would come crashing through the cloud with their mouths open. I found that kind of odd since they don't seem to be filter feeders

[SuperDave336]

I haven't a clue what species they were. I used to go to local aquarium club and a member gave them to me to breed. He had huge livestock feeders in his backyard of the things. Must have been millions of them.

[BobC]

Something for me to look for the next time out.
Bob

[deathb4disco]

Thelma was much more important than Daphne. Thelma was the smart one. Daphne was just “eye candy”.

Wait a minute. What are we talking about?

[DockShootinJack]

Thelma was much more important than Daphne. Thelma was the smart one. Daphne was just “eye candy”.

Wait a minute. What are we talking about?

Absolutely

[hdhntr]

what's wrong with a little eye candy? important part of team.