To be sure, it will be irreversible. Whether the move would be regretted? That is unknown.
I would consider at least this question, does the club enjoy the fishing as it currently is? Some might argue that the water is out of balance because the LMB are not attaining their potential for growth. Another way of looking at this is that everything has reached a unique balance for
your lake that doesn't happen in many others. There is just enough energy consumed by LMB to support their biomass and they weigh just enough individually to sum to that biomass. The same can be said of the crappie. So the biomass of each species is in balance with the foods available to them AND the biomass is in balance with the product of the average weight of each species and their population number.
What you are experiencing is not the balance achieved in all water but unique to your lake, in your location, under the existing exploitation practices. Some might find such water great to fish where catch rates are high for small LMB and BCP are dandy sizes. I think the question of whether something needs to be fixed is subjective and should be arrived as a consensus of the club.
PondStar, you mentioned that:
While we are trying to "thin the herd on the bass", I am sure our efforts are not enough to make much of a difference.
I would just say this. It does make a difference, but this is also a balance. Suppose you have 40% mortality this year including the exploitation. Neglecting recruitment, this would allow an increase of average weight by 40%. So this might increase the average length from 10" to 11". But this neglects recruitment which will slow the growth.
On the other hand, can you add 40% more energy consumption by LMB by adding an additional an additional prey species? If so, then they could grow from an average length of 10" to 11" on that extra ration without the mortality. But this neglects recruitment which will slow the growth.
We truly underappreciate the role of mortality for fish growth. LMB grow at remarkable rates and at 10" they have the capacity to quadruple their weight (in a year) at maximum potential for mid latitude climate. But to grow at that rate the 10" LMB must consume 4.3 times the forage it would have to consume to remain 1/2 lb. Relative to using mortality to increase consumption per individual, that is a mortality rate of ~ 80%.
Point well taken, harvesting modest amounts of LMB will not boost their size much ... but likewise ... adding forage probably will not either unless it affects populations.
If you add BG, you should expect a few things. You should expect growth of crappie to slow as BG populations increase due to competition (unless lower BCP recruitment can compensate). You should expect recruitment of the LMB to decline. Over several years you will have fewer LMB. This could have a positive effect on LMB growth
provided they are able to consume as much energy as they are consuming now. There are other unknowns, for example, do you have another forage species (eg a minnow species) contributing to forage production that will be adversely affected by BG. Species interactions are complex and the result of combinations vary. It will be difficult to predict.
