Generally 40lbs of Bluegill and 10lbs of Largemouth bass is the recommended harvest per acre. Harvest more bluegill and little or no bass for trophy bluegill ponds and little or no bluegill and more bass for trophy bass ponds. The 40lbs and 10lbs is just a basic guideline. It could be as much as double for more fertile ponds or less for heavily infertile ponds.

Besides bass stunting at 10"-12" I've heard of similar situations on this forum where bass stopped growing at 16"-18".

As bass grow they need appropriate sized meals. If something drastic changes midlife cycle or there simply isn't enough bigger prey they'll slowly stunt depending on how much food they do or don't get. My lake has bass with decent body condition throughout the year. But they hit an upper limit around 12"-13" but I also catch some bass that are obviously been stunted for some time. If none of yours are obviously stunted and they are not fat they may be feeding only enough to maintain their present weight.

While it could just mean you only use baits that target 15"-16" bass more likely it could mean your bass don't have access to enough prey in the size class they need to pass that size ceiling.

How is your bluegill population, numbers and size wise? Any other prey species show up yet? Also excessive cover such as weeds could make largemouth feeding tough.

-Allch Chcar
Living the dream, 21 acres. No pond, yet.