Based on a question most recently raised by Calvin Tynes here, if one is managing for large bass, what size and sex of BG should one concentrate on removing? Does it even make a difference?

To copy rather than retype,
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If you are managing for big BG, concentrate on removing a higher % of small males and small to middlin' females.

The basis for small male harvest is that large, mature male BG suppress early maturation in smaller males, who then concentrate on growing big before next year rather than spending energy on spawning. Think of the bully on the beach kicking sand in the 90 pound weakling's eyes, who then bulks up via Charles Atlas so he can win his girl back.

You remove more females simply to reduce the total number of eggs available in the pond, to in turn reduce BG fry numbers (and hopefully total YOY numbers). Fewer mouths eating your pond's BG food supply means more for each BG to eat, hence bigger BG. But since the biggest females have the right genes to grow big, leave them be.

As I have speculated a couple of times now,
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I have hypothesized that, doing much the opposite of big BG harvest practices, one would want to leave as many females in as possible. Also, perhaps harvesting those big males could be beneficial, by enabling more small males to mature and start families at an early age. I present this SWAG at BG size/sex harvest practices for big bass management, once again in the hopes that someone who knows more about big bass management than me (there are thousands of you out there) will give better advice.

I will add that since LMB prefer to eat BG 1/3 to 1/4 their own body length (just about my favorite Bob Lusk Rule of Thumb), you might NOT want to remove BG in that size range wrt your larger bass.

Okay, Fisheries Pros and big bass managers (and, what the heck, other PM's no more qualified than I am), time to speak up:
When managing for large bass, does the size and sex of BG removed have an impact on resulting bass growth? If so, what size and sex of BG should be most often removed from a big bass pond?

"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
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