As I understand it, in the two pond scenario, it doesn't matter if the crappie eat every one of the yoy bass in the trophy bass pond. The only goals of the XL LMB pond are as many as possible and as big as possible XL LMB. These bass will be stocked in the pond as 14” fish. The “work” is figuring out the best way to reach those goals. Most of the management problems would be typical of pond management in general, e.g., providing the best possible habitat. What isn't typical is that balance isn't a goal. The forage base for the LMB should be self sustaining and super abundant. Supplementing with trout or perhaps other species is another matter. Mostly BG and crappie have been talked about as the forage for the trophy bass, but this is an area where the “work” has to be focused. Whatever species are chosen, they would not be managed for a reasonable density, but rather, it would be hoped that they would increase to the greatest possible density. As was stated earlier, BG were chosen as probable candidates because they spawn several times during the year and crappie because they typically produce a very large number of yoy. But other forage species certainly might be added to provide the ideal self sustaining forage base in this atypical pond. Crappie, as has been pointed out, are erratic spawners.
