Critterhunter - the golden shiner has a reputation of being a fish that can be added to a pond, and provide some additional prey without causing any problems. Generally speaking, they only survive in ponds with enough aquatic plant coverage to protect them from predators. So, a pond with largemouth bass and little vegetation would probably result in the bass eating all of them.
The key to golden shiners is supposed to be that adults can reach that 10 or 12 inch size, and avoid most predation (at least if they have vegetation in which to hide). Those adults then spawn each spring, and the young shiners provide the food source for predators. When I worked in Kansas, it was pretty common to find 12 inch golden shiners, and they were pretty common in some of the ponds.
Having said these positive things, I'm actually a little frustrated with my attempts to get golden shiners established in several eastern South Dakota farm ponds that contain largemouth bass. I wonder if our shorter growing season keeps them smaller for a longer time, and the largemouths then are able to eliminate them. I've probably stocked golden shiners about a dozen times in a couple of ponds the last 5 years, and I rarely even sample a shiner.
So, the "reputation" for golden shiners in bass ponds is good if you have vegetation, but I haven't had much luck up here in the north country.
Hope this helps. Hopefully, you'll get some feedback from other parts of the country.
Dave
