What you need to do is keep every single bass you catch. This will allow the remaining bass to grow to larger sizes and allow some younger bass to survive and recruit.
I dont understand what survive and recruit is.
Just simply spawning does not ensure that that a species of fish will have a next generation in a pond. The successful survival of fry that spawn until they can reach adulthood is called recruitment. A few BG may exist in a BOW full of a multitude of stunted bass, manage to spawn (although that will likely be difficult, with hordes of small bass trying to rob eggs off the BG nests), and yet have no recruitment because all the fry and ensuing fingerlings from the hatch are eaten by small and medium sized LMB. Over time, as the existing BG die or are eaten by a few large bass, the number of BG in this case will decrease.
If a lake has a massive over population of stunted LM, and very few BG , will harvesting all the LM you catch help to bring back the BG population?
Two things will be needed to bring back a BG forage base: having an adult BG population present big enough to escape predation and spawn, and reducing the numbers of bass present which will decimate that BG spawn before it grows to count as recruitment.
Can a overpopulation of LM actually wipe out a BG population?
Given enough bass and time, I would say yes. Certainly we have heard of many ponds where the BG population was effectively wiped out - I think the situation where "99.9% of the fish caught were LMB, with just one BG caught" would count.
Are there hardly any BG because the BG fry are being eaten so fast due to LM overpopulation?
Bingo! Although some may make it to fingerling size before becoming bass meals.
How will harvesting all the 8-10inch LM help the lake?
See two answers up.
![[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ed/b5/e7/edb5e7f935843b996cf52be593c9ebd2--smoothie-smooth-collie.jpg)
