PaulR,
You have hit upon what I call my biggest disappointment of being a pond meister.
The good news is you get to raise your own LMB, the bad news is, you can't catch them. "Catch and release" in the pond turns out to often mean "catch once or twice and never again".
The frustrating thing is you can see them, but can't catch them. Feeding simply adds to the problem. The LMB get not only hook smart, but get all the food they want from the BG hanging out around the feeders. In my large pond with multiple feeders, it is extremely difficult to catch LMB....big BG no problem, but not LMB. In another smaller remote pond without feeders and only twice a year fishing...I can expect to catch 20 to 30 LMB on flys.
Its a big disappopintment. As a result, I've moved to a "put and take" HSB operation supplemented with feed and Tilapia and gizzard shad. The results thus far are very encourging. The HSB are growing very well and after one year I will begin the "take" side of the equation this summer.
