Snipe I don't catch many GSF in my pond. The ones I get come from a drainage ditch close by and are only 2-3" so I really think I am just feeding my LMB when I dump em in. I have only caught some BG-GSF hybrids. I don't catch much of any small BG either. . .
bigpullerman,
What would you say the typical size of your BG is?
If you often catch BG in the 9"+ range those are great bluegill and reflect what many BOW's "settle to" with age. It is a sustainable condition where LMB less than 12" do very well and larger LMB struggle with declining RW. This is very common and even highly desired by some but it all boils down to what you have and what you might rather have. If you like large BG you would want to exclude <12" LMB from harvest. Harvesting LMB larger than this size should allow more BG YOY to make it to adulthood giving you more BG to catch thought these BG might not reach the same ultimate size you have been catching. The same goes for the CC. >5lb CC eat decent sized BG. Removing some of them will allow more BG YOY to make it to adulthood.
If you don't want to remove larger predators like LMB and CC, their may be other options like cage/pen raising some BG or HBG that are to big for the LMB and CC to eat. The smallest of the size you frequently catch would be this length.
Knowing that you like to eat fish you should consider this. A pond has a carrying capacity and a production capacity. Once a pond reaches carrying capacity it will only produce as much as the mortality. This may sound counterintuitive ... but ... the way to produce more fish to eat is to harvest more fish to eat. When you harvest a fish you make more food available to others that will grow to fill the freed capacity. When you are harvesting what the pond will produce you have optimized production.
