So the HSB will never spawn? You control their numbers/size by harvesting? Can a pond full of large BG co-exist with the HSB?
No successful spawning of HSB - never reported to happen. You control numbers of HSB by put and take. Numbers to put and take should largely be determined by the structure of the BG population. Keep in mind that HSB do not eat as large of BG as LMB for HSB and LMB of same length due to smaller mouth size of HSB. Adult BG co-habitate well with HSB. As worst case condition in a pond as small as 3/4 ac, you could fairly easily manually remove some smaller BG by annually trapping and or seining of the over abundant size classes for example the 4"-6" size group. If there are no LMB in the pond you should be able to supplimentally stock smaller sizes of HSB compared to if larger LMB were in the pond to prey on any added 4"-6" HSB. When larger LMB are present, add stock HSB should be a minimum of 8"-10" to improve survival rate. IMO one should stock at least a few HSB every year so there are numerous size classes of HSB in the pond to eat various sizes of BG from 1" to 4".
