This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but it may lend some insight to how much the LMB eat.

My pond. It was roughy 1/4 to 1/3 acre. It winterkilled in 2003 right when I bought it. I stocked a bunch of BG, 90% Males because I caught them off of beds in a local lake, and a few LMB. Fast forward 5 years. Pond was drained and renovated. As many fish as possible were squeezed in one area of the pond, and that was dammed up during the renovation. Now the pond will vary in size from 5/8 ac to roughly 1 1/4 ac due to being a groundwater pond. I culled out a lot of the Male BG, added some females and stocked 4 feed trained LMB that were about 1# each. The LMB spawned, and I tried to stay ahead of the offspring. I stocked roughly 45 feed trained LMB that were around 12"-13" long in 2010, and tagged each and every fish with a numbered floy tag. Next fall I stocked between 2,000 and 3,000 BG. I started catching out every LMB that was a male, every LMB that didn't have a tag and every one that wasn't exhibiting fast growth rates. Within a year I noticed that the BG population was getting sparse.

I stocked about 500 adult BG, approx 60/40 females to males. The rule on the pond is to remove every LMB that doesn't have a tag, and I catch and remove every male LMB that I see guarding a nest. I still had at least one successful LMB spawn this year, as I saw 1" LMB in the pond. I'm still removing every LMB that isn't tagged, from 1" fish to 18" fish. No tag? Out you come.

The BG population is still thin, but the LMB are pretty plump, probably because they are feed trained and are eating Aquamax fish food. I think there are approx 20-30 adult LMB in the pond now (probably closer to 20), with a dozen feed trained SMB and one lone HSB in there. The BG population is still thin. I think next year it'll get another stocking of 2,000-3,000 BG.

I have caught a LMB this year that was 18 3/4" long and 5.5# after spending 3 days in a cage with no food. Here's a picture of it (I'm 99% sure it's a her).


So, I don't think you have to worry about the BG stunting in the pond.....

One thing - with my water fluctuating, there is very little cover for the BG to hide in when the water level drops. You can also add Tilapia to the pond to help take pressure off of the BG population and provide a different forage base for the LMB, at least for 9 months out of the year. Depending on the size of the pond you could look at Golden Shiners or Threadfin Shad for forage too. If you get a lot of cover in there (riprap) you probably should stock crayfish too. I put a couple hundred in the pond before I renovated it and the LMB (and possibly the CC) ate them all because of not enoug cover for them to hide in.


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).