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.
Given your reply, I like your plan but would bump up the minimum length to > 6". Per your samples, proportionately, 85.8% of your BG biomass appears to be > 6" in length. The biomass of the small lengths is much smaller and concentrated in 4"-5" length range. These could still be consumable, let them grow, you will be harvesting some of the survivors next year. You've sampled 46.58 lbs of your BG Biomass.
I am unable to make a population estimate (from which a biomass estimate could be made). To do mark and recapture, one first marks fish and records the number marked, then he resamples and the gross number of the resample along with the number of recaptures are used in a formula to estimate total population. It just wasn't clear to me what each of those numbers were based on your comments. But you do have marks on 71 BG that are greater than 6". Let that reference be a base line.
Starting now, I would harvest >6" BG that are unmarked. Release >6" BG if they are marked. But record each fish >6" that are caught in a spreadsheet whether culled or released as a marked fish. Google has a free spreadsheet if you do not have excel. I think a Date and the length and weight of the fish you keep would be great for estimates of biomass removed. Also, you want to assess how frequently marked BG are recaptured as you cull. Let's call that a lookback. So if you lookback 50 captures and 48 were culls and 2 were recaps ... this suggests that your pond had 24 times as many >6" BG that were unmarked than marked at the beginning of the lookback. I would like to see you cull until the lookback of 100 fish falls to around 86 unmarked or 180 lbs Gross weight removed (60 lbs/acre) ... whichever comes first. Over winter, you should consider keeping your fishing spot baited. Just a half pound or so of fish feed each day. I would crush to a crumble so that it sinks well. This kind of chums the water and may help keep fish concentrated near where you will be fishing.
Also, I don't see a problem catching LMB. Give them a fin clip ... and if you want ... also clip some of the dorsal spines to uniquely identify. Again, to start get at least a length. I like the idea of a fin clip that identifies the year it was clipped and that way you can reuse the dorsal spine clips each year and still know which fish is which. Try to get a good census of your LMB by fishing with live bait. If the water temp falls below 57F, stop fishing for and handling them but try to understand what you know is in there. Using live bait will attract fish that may otherwise ignore artificial lures.
You are blessed with fishable temps most of the year. Take advantage of it and keep us up to date on your progress.
