Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Small Large Mouth Bass

I need some opinions. I have a 1 1/4 acre pond. In Feb. 2012, I drained and rebuilt the leaking dam. This is a old spring fed pond that was originally built in the 1800's for a plantation pond in South Carolina. The rebuilt 1 1/4 ac. pond is what I call a woods pond. The spring area is heavily wooded but the dam area is cleared. Depth at dam is 13 ft. gradually going to 2ft. at the spring 400 ft. from the dam. Reasonably good plant life around the pond. Lots of frogs, bugs, and turtles. Plenty of Bluegill that are doing well. I feed them fish food.
When the pond was rebuilt, I had some left over bluegill , a few 2lb. Bass, and a slew of 2 a 3 inch LMB. I added 200 bluegill after rebuilding the pond just to make sure I had enough. I did not add any bass.
Last summer, 18 months after the rebuild, I caught a lot of 6 inch bass. This year I am catching some 7 - 8 inch bass but nothing larger.
My question is: Is this a normal growth rate? I guess I was hoping to see some larger bass then I am seeing. Am I expecting too much too soon? Should I add some larger bass while I wait for the existing bass to grow? Not sure what to do if anything.
I sure would like some opinions on how to get larger bass. Should I eliminate some of the bass so that the remainder will get bigger?
Any thoughts on this will be appreciated. This is the first time I have ever asked a question on this great forum . So please excuse my lack of forum knowledge.

How many LMB at 2" did you stock? Depending on your goals, stocking recommendations for LMB range from 25-100/acre/. Densely stocked LMB will compete for forage to such an extent there becomes a shortage, and it limits their ability to forage/grow.

If you have too many LMB, you may have to remove some. However, your BG will pull a few spawns this year and it should help provide the forage size needed for LMB in that 6-8" range and their growth rates will correspond favorably.

Let us know stocking numbers and we can advise more specifically. Welcome to the forum - post photos of your pond, please!

In addition to what TJ said, there should be approximately 10 to 30 BG per LMB in the pond, depending on the goals. The 2# LMB that were left in there are a wild card, and could have eaten a lot of the forage fish that were supposed to go to the fingerlings that you stocked.

TJ and esshup, thank you for your responses. I did not stock any bass after the rebuilding of the pond due to the fact that I caught so many 2 - 4 inch bass, I thought I would not need to. My train of thought was that my bluegills would spawn 3 - 5 times per year and provide enough forage for the bass. I guess I will be patient and give the bass one more year to grow. If I don't see the growth, I will reduce the population of bass.
Again, thank you.

Stocking some golden shiners [GSH] could also help pump up the LMB...they will spawn throughout the Summer for you.