In your size pond of 1 acre, I would not be concerned about lack of recruitment from the SMB. Ideally you would only need 8-12 new SMB each year/ac when trying to produce a trophy class SMB fishery. You want the fish community to always have high numbers of 4"-6" forage fish and ideally some crayfish as diversity. Large fingerling or juvenile SMB are not that expensive to periodically add to the pond considering the total cost of having a 1 acre pond and a population of big superb smallies. Keep the underwater vegetation well managed so the bass can better catch food and keep growing.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/17/18 09:51 AM.
