Florida strain bass do not surpass Northern strain largemouths in locations as far north as Maine, which is where you are if I read correctly. Since you cannot fertilize you have a set limit on the amount of protein available to distribute among a number of fish, which you can vary, i.e. there are only so many pounds of fish your pond will support. Removal of 8-12 inch bass is the way this is often done. You can tell how you are doing by measuring wt vs length. Ten inch bass should weigh 10 oz, 12 inch bass=12 oz. If less then some stunting is occuring. The book available from Pond Boss on growing trophy bass goes into this in more detail.

Layton Runkle