The green sunfish comments make a lot of sense. I'm convinced, no goggle-eyes. They will probably come in anyway.
Ewest, thanks much for the references. I will get smarter soon.
Meadowlark, I am already worries about some of the issues you raised. I plan to release any LMB over 2 pounds or so, but I do like to eat the smaller bass and will try to target the smaller fish. I don't know what I am going to do about the fishing pressure and the conditioning of the bass. I can enforce the catch and release part, but I don't know how to keep friends and family from conditioning the LMB. An earlier string recommended only fishing 1x to 4x per year. That sort of defeats the purpose. I am interested in these more aggressive strains of LMB. Do you have any experience with them? They claim to competitively make the standard LMB more aggressive too. It has to be a catch and release situation though or you will very soon remove these aggressive fish. How do you handle the problem of conditioning on your ponds? I think two big ponds will be enough to keep my brother and I sated, but I am not sure about our extended friends and family. It does worry me to spend all of this time and effort on a lifetime dream that almost has to ruined by the people I love most. What is the alternative???
