Thanks Adirondack pond.
I plan to sink a few Christmas trees this year to add some cover. I am also allowing the few weed beds to stay, as they are really the only decent cover available.

Bill Cody,
Thanks for all the info! We like admiring the Rainbow Trout as they go nuts for the pellets! They put on quite a show. These fish are getting quite large (2 to 4 pounds)and are most likely feeding on small fry? As I said, the pellets are like a treat, rather than a regular feed. It is my understanding that the Trout are strictly a "put and take" fish that will not reproduce in the pond? We have 8 of them and I was not planning to add more until they died off.

My favourite fish by far are the Bass. I figured that the 5 adults and maybe a dozen remaining adolescents are still underpopulated?
The one SMB is big by our standards at around 4 pounds! I added another SMB, but cannot tell if I have a male and a female.
When I added the two adult LMB to the pond last year, I must have gotten lucky and added at least one member of the opposite sex! Originally, there were only two adult Bass. 1 SMB and 1 LMB.

Watching the LMB spawn, guard the nest, guard the young fry, and see a few of them survive was a fantastic experience! The whole family enjoyed checking on them daily. All you had to do was walk around the pond and look for the mass of fry and the male guarding them!

I don't know if we will ever get enough Bass to start fishing for them, but I'm hoping! As it is, we know them by name!

You are correct I believe and that what we have, are likely Pumpkinseed. Is there a good resource on the different strains?

That is good news about the suckers not reproducing. It makes sense because we don't see any small ones. I hope the Panfish and Bass can keep them away from the nests. I think the RockBass are probably the biggest nest raiders! All of the Panfish that live near the feeding dock go for the pellets, but if we feed them in other areas, they are reluctant.

We also have two huge goldfish that eat the pellets. Do you know if these goldfish will eat the bottom grass? I thought I read somewhere that they are vegetarian. The bottom in some areas does get a real thick mat of grass or weeds growing about a foot thick during the summer. I'm hoping that this is also good cover for fry.

This is all great info you folks are sharing with me!
Thanks