It�s probably not a mater of genetics, but available food. When the forage base was wiped out the bass stopped growing. If you moved some of those fish to a pond with lots of food and few predators they will grow.

In the conservation pond there is lot of food but how big is the food? The six-pound bass have great supply of food in the smaller bass. What do the small bass have to eat that will enable them to get big? Also lots of the 8 to 12 inch fish are not making it to adult hood because the 6-pound bass are probably eating them like candy.