In my swag, I have one problem with how many pounds are there. And that is how many have been removed by Otters, Eagles, Osprey, Cormorants? All have dined at the pond more than once. Culling by Mother Nature effects my swag, I'm just not sure how much?
It's certainly hard to tell. Something to consider ... Those additional predators may have helped you with trophy potential.
IMHO, managing for trophies means managing numbers. Give Toledo Bend some thought. There has been over that past few years a very good harvest 10+ lb LMB. What if these fish hadn't been harvested? What would the condition of the larger LMB be today? I dare venture that the largest might be in poor and declining condition. The harvest of those 10 lbers made room for the production of more 10 1bers. IMHO, you need a plan for how large you want them to grow. Then you can determine how many you can select for grow-out. Those selected should be fin clipped so that you can harvest the others.
I attached a spreadsheet below that seeks to grow 4 10lb LMB annually in a 3 acre impoundment. This scenario seeks a standing weight of LMB (> 12" TL) at ~47 lbs/acre. It's a doable goal for modestly fertile pond (say between 300 to 400 standing weight potential). It does require 369 # of total prey production. This production must be in and above that consumed by the < 12" LMB and those in the pond you don't know are there. Its a pretty rosy scenario to control the numbers of LMB in such fashion. There might be others that slip through but as part of the plan, they must be harvested when caught.
Additionally, the fin clipped LMB that are caught and are 6 years old must also be harvested to continue the future and perpetual production of trophies.If one applied such a plan, and wasn't able to achieve the goal after 6 years, then the prey production required was insufficient or the LMB culling goal wasn't achieved. TP should in an average BOW should be able to supply most of forage requirement. If, on the other hand, one exceeded the goal, then he could increase the number of selected LMB.
One other thing I think is important. The standing weight of BG shouldn't be near the carrying capacity. The only way for the BG to achieve a high percentage of carrying capacity is if they have outgrown the capacity of the LMB to easily consume them. They will require a lot of maintenance and vastly decrease the potential of "production". Production in this case means newly grown biomass that the LMB can eat. Production will greatest when there is a lot of carrying capacity space for newly hatched BG fry to grow into (a perfect example of this condition is a year old BOW).
