Greg, we have had a LMB heavy pond for over 15 years. There are always lots and lots of LMB under 15", very few above that and when they do get above that size they start to get skinny due to the lack of 3-5" BG. Historically BG between 1.5" and 9" have been absent from our pond. Part of the issue with our pond is with the heavy aquatic weed growth, year after year it allows for an unusully high survival rate of both YOY LMB and BG, they have lots of places to hide from predation. A balanced fishery to me is seeing lot's of size variabilty in both the LMB and BG. In the past fishing has been like catching one clone after another, both with the LMB and BG. Culling is something we do every other year after we start to see a strong rebound in the population and the clone syndrome starts to return. BTW - we cannot legally cull any LMB under 12" due to NE regulations and we have to wait until LMB are that size before they can be culled.