Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Standard LMB slot limit

RAH,

If you want to set a lower size limit for LMB culling/harvest, here's what I would do...

Assuming appropriate forage size for LMB is 25 to 40 per cent of their length, then if your trophy LMB are currently say 20 inches long, appropriate forage size is 5 to 8 inches. Based on this I would leave LMB smaller than 8 inches as they are forage of appropriate size for the trophies. Those 8 inch and smaller LMB are then available to eat some of the smaller BG up to about 3 inches (40% of their length) which are too small for your trophies anyway. Removing many of the small BG will increase the food available to the remaining BG allowing them to grow faster to an appropriate size for your trophies. The 8 inch LMB are also too small to eat the 5 inch BG that are the lower range of appropriate forage for your trophies so they do not represent competition to the trophies.

Might also be a win win by leaving those smallest LMB. IMO a good chance of both Bigger BG and Bigger LMB.

Just my 1 cent