Eric, Steep pond banks with limited vegetation results in very little refuge area for small fish. AS refuge areas lots of rocks and numerous pine trees are not very helpful as refuge for small fish, thus the short life spans of stocked minnows. Numerous studies have shown that manmade structure even in what seems like a lot to the eye is not very good as refuge areas for survival of small fish.
Have you ever fished or trapped (sampled) fairly intensively the YP at spawning time to check for occurrence of male fish?. I still think you have too many bass for that small of a pond if you expect recruitment of YP. I stand by my suggestion, remove a few of the largest bass each yr and stock a few pellet trained YP each year till you see small YP in late fall or spring.
