Bill, the bass do eat pellets too but not as much as other fish as far as I can tell--the catfish have been eating pellets like crazy. Sounds like i better scrap the yellow perch idea for now, I figured as you said I'm at capacity and perch would be more work than I need right now--trying just to keep the pond in balance is enough work for me:) The Georgia Giants are an experiment, I will have to watch the offspring thing down the road. They are more aggressive than HBG. As far as forage fish, I still have lots of minnows around the edges (I put in 3 types; 7000 total originally)--the catfish and bass strike along the shores alot; I have the auto feeder running steady. I am seeing some of last year's offspring in other types of fish. Last night my meighbor caught a CC that was 19 1/2" long; and 3 1/2 lbs--these were 4-6" catfish that we put in 9/9/6. Do you think the catfish,if conditions right, could have had offspring--haven't seen any??? Do you think I need to increase my forage fish now (as a truck will be in the area next weekend)? Thanks.