Go through the charts (and text) contained in the link above and see what result you get. They will help you get a better feel for pond balance.

Do you feed or fertilize the pond? If no fert. what is the water visibility depth? What is the water flow through if any? All these relate to productivity of the pond and its ability to provide for the food chain of the fish. Without enough data we are guessing. How are the CC doing ?

Recruitment is how many fish are born and survive to a certain point (usually when they can reproduce). It is made up of both spawning and staying alive and being healthy enough to grow to spawning size. That leaves 2 parts to your question. Was there a spawn and/or if so did they live to reproductive status. LMB are affected by both wrt BG. BG will eat LMB eggs and fry and small ones as will most fish. That is one part of the question which can be fixed with a few LMB to reduce the BG #s and/or by taking out some BG or both. It also results in more LMB spawning new ones. The combination will often lead to balance if you have made a correct assessment of the problem. If not then it may lead to LMB overcrowding (the other end of the spectrum). If you have wood cover then adding some shallow brush type cover may help but ,I doubt lack of cover is the problem or a good answer. More cover may aid the small LMB but it will also result in more BG surviving predation and thus effect the condition of the existing LMB.

The other part of the question is are the LMB spawning. There are studies which show that in BG/sunfish crowded ponds LMB may not spawn. The studies attempted to find out why. The info did not result in a proven conclusion but the authors indicated that the LMB seemed to sense the futility of the situation and just did not spawn or waited in hopes of better conditions until they reabsorbed the eggs.

IMO there is no substitute for enough data in making the decision you are faced with. The right answer is to gather the data or get a pro to look at the pond and make an assessment.