MnAngler,

The numbers above do not jive with what you said earlier. You said there were tons of 2"-5" and tons of 6"-7" and a decent amount larger than that. From that, I thought you had an enormous population of BCP stunting at 6-7 inches and growing very slow. Based on your latest numbers above, these are normal healthy lengths distributions for most farm ponds. The proportions both in population and biomass favor harvestable sized fish. Based on your latest entry, there is nothing wrong (at least nothing seriously wrong). I don't know what the lake could carry per acre. Bill would you have any idea?

Just tentative tongue in cheek, limiting the BCP carry to 150 lbs/acre, assuming 70 RW, and using your stated proportions in the catch .. I come up with a population of no more than 940 BCP per acre. More than 50% of crappie biomass is > 10" and More than 75% of the biomass is > 8". What are you complaining about? Just harvest the crappie. Per your population percentages I estimate ~320 BCP/acre > 8". Don't pick on any particular size > 8", just take them that size and larger. Don't throw nothing that size back until the proportion of >10" isn't 15% any more. When the proportion is "right" it will be about 9%. That is, 1 >10" BCP for every 11 you catch. This should be all that is needed to improve condition and growth of the BCP. The numbers are fairly limited, I would be surprised if the standing weight of BCP is greater than 150 lbs/acre but if it is you will know if after indiscriminately harvesting 160 >8" BCP/acre you are still catching more than 1 >10" BCP for every 11 BCP you catch.

On the other hand, if you can't trust the information you gave me, then don't trust the analysis that came from it. Use your best judgment there and good luck with this. Sounds like a really fun project. Below is a breakdown of your data. Biomass is calculated based on your thin comment at 70 RW.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers