Plan of Action Moving Forward :

1 Remove as many BG >4” as possible before the Spring spawn & continue removing them throughout the Summer of ’26.
2 Pause all LMB fishing and evaluation till after the ’26 LMB spawn. Consider adding LMB in the largest size available after the ’26 BG spawn.

Your thoughts, comments, opinions, & advice would be much appreciated.

I am very sure that I have decimated my LMB population. Any LMB <10” is very rarely seen or caught. LMB >10” are now difficult to catch. From analysis I perhaps have as few as 15 in the 3 acre pond, my gut says there might be as few as 5. Last week I was heartened to see 3 LMB >15” trolling a group of BG & 2 YOY after some MF. There is always a small amount of mortality with capturing LMB & I do not feel that I can afford that at this time. I will re-evaluate the LMB population in ’26, marking each fish & doing RWs.

From pond observations, I have No or negligible: BnBH, eel, GSD, GC, GSH, Bowfin, crayfish, or GAR. Although I have added & attempted to add more shelter for fry & fingerlings: I consider the pond poor in that respect. No recent otter sighting but the Osprey, Heron & Anhinga visit daily. Today I consider these & the LMB have a negligible effect concerning the ponds biomass.

I believe the ponds biomass is locked up in an excessive amount of BG. I am surprised that the BGs RWs are in the 80-100% range. I have abandoned an attempt to get accurate estimate of population by recapture. I have observed problems in biases from change in season, geo position, z-trap size, trap vs angling. I am lazy & going KISS. The average pond/acre in FLORIDA can support 400-600lbs of fish. I will assume 500lb/Acre & all that bound up in BG biomass. I roughly know from my trapping & angling that <4” is 40% of the population the remaining 60% is >4” . My gut says that a surprising amount is >8”. Remove 50-60% of that as a goal. My slot is >4”to 9.5”. Those males 9“ & above & healthy will be marked & returned. All < 4” will be marked & returned. Angling,I have not caught a BG <8” . They are not difficult to catch. Trapping numerous small BG is now much more of a challenge. I have marked 177 BG & recaptured none in the past 10 days.

My question: that 50-60% to remove is of the total BG biomass (250-300 lbs /acre)? Or the 50-60% that is >4” (150-180 lbs/acre) as I now assume?