Hello so update and new info on my pond. My pond is roughly 1/2 arces. My goal is to have fun catchable LMB that range from 1-5 pounds. My pond is located in in NE PA and is spring fed from underneath and a stream that comes the mountains. All around the inside of the pond is weed line that is always full of the smaller BG. Larger BG's are pretty hard to come by but there is countless amounts of fry in the weeds. Next our not so helpful neighbor put in 2-5 goldfish or koi. What should I do with these?
Next my bass right now are at a decent sizes with the biggest one we caught being almost 4 lbs. These were bucket stocked a long time ago. I have keep the data of the LMB I caught. (L)ength (W)eight

L: 9.5 IN
W: .6 LBS

L: 11 IN
W: .63 Lbs

L: 14
W: 1.5

L: 16
W: 2.85

L:17
W:3.1

L:17
W: 3.25

L: 18
W: 3.75

L: 18.5
W: 3.5

L: 14
W: 1.3

L: 11.5
W: .8

L: 14
W: 1.5

L: 17.5
W: 3.30

L: 15
W: 1.6

L: 16.5
W: 3
None of my bass seem to be getting over 18 inches. I don't know if thats because the bass are stunted or they are just not getting that big. The pond has a healthy population of frogs. They are everywhere and I have seen the bass eat them.
Also I found one dead bass after winter. It was 9.5 inches and very discolored. Is this concerning? Overall, my goal is to add some SMB if possible there is decent structure and rock about 8 feet down. (Pond was dug deep by farmers to collect runoff in the early 1900's).

Summary.
Can I add SMB or YP?
Is the dead bass worrisome?
How do I deal with unwanted Goldfish/Koi?
Is my forage good? Can there be too much?
Are my bass stunted?
Thanks for reading if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Hey Nick,

Just some food for thought.....

Are you harvesting LMB? If so, what size?

You report lots of little BG but not many bigger. IMO the problem may be too many smaller bass keeping your BG population smaller in size. Your bigger LMB need bigger food. If there is none available they will burn a lot of energy catching a lot of small meals instead of the size meal they really need. All that extra energy spent catching small meals may have reduced the growth rate of your larger LMB. IMO I would start removing all LMB 8 to 14 inches caught since your goal is larger LMB.

Not a pro....just my 1 cent

Bill D.

Here's a relative weight chart for LMB. Check it to see how your bass compare.

http://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/Documents/weightlength3.pdf

Bass need to eat fish that are close to 1/4-1/3 their length to maximize their caloric intake vs. caloric expenditure for catching the meal. There needs to be cover in the pond for the bass to "hang out" and ambush their prey, or they are like marathon runners, running around all the time to get a meal and burning up all their calories. If the Relative Weight of the LMB are good (over 100%) then I may consider saying stock SMB/YP, but if your goal is to grow larger LMB, why put in a fish that might compete with them for food?

If the goldfish are the size that a bass can eat, don't worry about it. If they are larger, then get them out.

Dead bass worrisome? Not to me, a few fish die every year, it's how nature works.
How do I deal with unwanted Goldfish/Koi? If you don't want them in the pond, catch them out, net them out, bowfish them out.
Is my forage good? Hard to tell. What are the sizes of the forage fish, and what species and quantity?
Can there be too much? Yes, read about pond carrying capacity.
Are my bass stunted? Run the numbers against the relative weight chart. If they are at 80% or less, then I'd say yes. If they were all over 80% RW after spawning then I'd say maybe. If they are over 100% RW then no.

Nick, your larger bass all seem to have RW well above 100 percent. If they aren't growing beyond a certain length, food may not be the issue.

I'd be careful about stocking SMB with LMB already there. Almost always the LMB outcompete them.

Ok I'll keep u guys updated.

If you were to add SMB I would look at harvesting some LMB.
I would also stock advanced size SMB if possible but that could be tough to locate. I wouldn't expect any recruitment from the SMB.

Also introducing some new genetics to the mix might be an idea for the LMB. You said it was bucket stocked a long time ago. Again with new genetics I would harvest some of the LMB.

That all said, it sounds like you are hitting your goals on the LMB.