I recently purchased a house with a4 acre pond built in 76 it is roughly 12 to 14 feet deep
And averages 7 in most spots. Was told it had largemouths shell cracker bluegills catfsih and crappie. After fishing for three weeks now I have somewhat better idea of the fish population. I have caught shell cracker and bluegill consistently in the 5 to 7 inch range some huge crappie in all probly 40 over 12 inches no crappie I set 9 inches have been caught. The bass are super small most fish under 10 inches. The bass don't seem overpopulated only catch a few each trip. No catfish have been taken. I started to feed the fish and have noticed a pile of small bluegill . Do I need to start removing these smaller bass and stock a few bigger bass ?

I am sure an expert will chime in soon with a better answer. I have heard of some stocking strategies for crappie that let the bass overpopulate and stunt to control the boom of crappie spawns. This might be something the previous owner was doing?

What is your goal for the pond ? That will determine how to address the questions.

I would like a few bass to control numbers but more of a pond for the kids to catch fish when they go have a good population of bluegill and shellcracker while still having some big crappie to catch. Lot to ask for I know. The bass must be keeping the crappie in check I figured the pond would be over run with them.