David and Buzz -- I can't completely answer your questions, but I can make one point that might help this discussion.
Remember that some fish in a population will die every year from natural causes, regardless of whether they are harvested by anglers or not.
For largemouth bass in Texas, let me make a guess that perhaps that "rate" is about 45%.
So, let's assume that you have a year class of 1,000 age-1 largemouth bass alive in your 10-acre pond this spring. Below, I'll "do the math" showing what percent will still be alive out through age 10. 45% dying each year means that 55% will live, so 55% of the original 1,000 means that 550 will still be alive at age 2. Then, continue that through the older ages.
Age 1: 1,000
Age 2: 550
Age 3: 303
Age 4: 166
Age 5: 92
Age 6: 50
Age 7: 28
Age 8: 15
Age 9: 8
Age 10: 5
It gets awful warm in Texas, and the bass grow fast. In general, the faster the bass grow, the younger they die. So, Bob may actually tell us that the average annual mortality for largemouths is greater than 45%, and in that case, there would be even fewer older fish expected.
Now, hopefully Bob will come on board and 1) answer your original questions completely, and 2) tell us if my guess of 45% annual mortality is about right for largemouth bass in Texas. This is a simple example of some complex information, and we'll see if Bob "buys" it.
Dave
