I'm no expert, so enjoy the reading
- Did you count the bass fingerlings? Maybe there were only 150 or 175.
- How small were the bass fingerlings - 1", 2", 3" etc.? If too small they might have been dinner for other larger fish OR beat upon by larger fish but not eaten.
- Never discount birds of prey - hawks, falcons, etc. I've lost some bass in the shallows due to our gin clear water by hawks.
- No matter the current head count of bass, they are small for the duration they've been in the pond. Is this due to genetics, or due to lack of available forage, or due to expending too much energy to eat forage, or a combination?
- Given the shallow nature of your pond, can you run some nets and seine it pushing the fish to an area where you can better shock them or dip net them?
- I would hesitate before throwing more forage into the pond. You don't want stunted forage and a biomass too large for your pond.
- Can you pump the level down to better seine it to corral the fish to see what you really have?
- Do you have ample cover and structure for the bass to hang out and pick off forage, or do your bass have to cruise around for forage?
- If I had the means I would corral the fish to get as accurate of a count as I could, make sure I've got good structure and cover, and then based upon findings of fish count add forage and/or bass.
