Tracy,
Sorry about that long winded post on big bluegill
... I just noticed that you are managing for trophy LMB.
I once wondered how a female LMB scenario might work where 8 LB bass were achieved 6 years after stocking. The scenario involved yearly stocking of Female LMB at 2LB initial weight(this weight to prevent consumption by trophy LMB). The scenario is catch and release assuming no mortality until the 8 LB goal was reached where upon they were harvested. Below is a tabular depiction:
LENGTH__NUMBER/ACRE____NUMBER___WEIGHT/FISH____GROSS WEIGHT
15.4_________2___________2__________2.00__________4.00
17.4_________2___________2__________3.00__________6.00
19.0_________2___________2__________4.00__________8.00
20.4_________2___________2__________5.00__________10.00
21.5_________2___________2__________6.00__________12.00
22.6_________2___________2__________7.00__________14.00
23.5_________2___________2__________8.00__________16.00
________________________14________________________70.00
So this is a 1 acre pond with Annually stocked 2LB female LMB at 2 fish/year. For a pond able to sustain 70 LBs of LMB this is a dream pond with 8 fish/acre exceeding 5LBs. The 7LB + fish are certainly able to consume 7" bluegill (and possibly can't achieve 8 LBs without them).
Now if the growth exceeds 1 lbs annually the 8LB goal could be achieved sooner or the number stocked might be increased to 3 but no more than 4 for sure. One thing I take from this is that it probably isn't possible to help a trophy LMB fishery by managing bluegill harvest. Only the harvest of LMB will help. So here are a couple of thoughts. Because male LMB reproduce at 10+ inches, harvest as many as you can. If you are able to identify sex. Try to select two females/Acre of the 16" class each year and mark them with a fin clip. Always release these when caught in the future.
Harvest any bass greater than 16" which is not marked. If the harvested bass is marked, harvest when your trophy size goal is reached. If you have a very large trophy size goal (ie > 8 LBs) you may need to supplement forage or reduce the number of bass you select for fin clipping.
Another option may be to purchase two/acre of 16" female LMB and fin clip before stocking each year. Harvest every bass you catch except for fin clipped LMB less than your trophy goal weight. If these fish are selected for growth .... so much the better.
