This is very interesting to me..
I'm probably going to expose my weakness here but oh well.
My thoughts on removing the larger LMB is that is leaves the gate open for more BG to be left to spawn. Yes, it's removing the largest of the predator that "may" be controlling BCP to some extent but what Data do we have that says the large LMB are targeting BG over BCP or visa versa?? They are going to eat what is most abundant and "catchable"..In my small mind that's not the BCP as there is little slip-through, which I would think there would be some larger crappie showing up, but there isn't. My thought process says they are being taken out before that stage.
I do believe jpsdad is on to something with the density of BG hammering the nest and hatch of any BCP, so... in my mind this would be a multiple-step process. If 1,000's of BG are removed, some bass would need to be removed as well, possibly large and small sizes only if harvest of BG exceeds demand for forage. I think it would need to be an extensive harvest of BG and at some point BCP would have to be reintroduced to start refilling the gap left from the lack of BG for forage with the understanding you need the BCP to reproduce very prolifically in the beginning, So...again, we need the number of small bass and BG at a low enough point we get some slip-through of BCP.
The number of BG to be removed "could" be in the multiples of 1,000's..
On a side note, my pond is quite small compared to yours and yesterday I ran a small fry net around some small patches of floating FA attached to small shore-bound structures such as a tumbleweed. The number of 1/2" to 1" BG I netted from those very small areas literally scared me. They are not being decimated by what I'm seeing visually-at that size, but by what I'm seeing of last years hatch there is a good number being utilized and I don't have LMB.. SMB, YP and Saugeye are my top predators. I do have a few HSB but less than a dozen. By their growth rate, they are eating a lot of "something".
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