That is what I was thinking ewest, and I feel I have more (make that a lot more!) to learn on the management end. I'm just not sure how the mix of different things work out and what I should do more of if needed. Perhaps there are old threads, or old magazine articles that one would suggest?

One question is what you have eluded too, that I might have some nice HBG as a bonus. There is no definite way to be exact with what is in the pond, but I did catch that one fish that looked heavy towards GSF. If it bred with a BG, does that make the hatch as good as a HBG that I would be able to buy for stocking?

If I catch a fish that looks HBG and is 3-4" long, should I remove it or let it grow to it's potential? I have only stocked BG that are 5"+, so anything less would be some sort of new spawn. It could be that the RBT and LMB did their thing because I have not seen any fish in the 3-4"range. However I have seen a bunch in the 1"-2.5" range.

No new fish in the 3-4" range actually has me a bit concerned because the predators might be too plentiful for future years. At what point would I remove predators to start letting new young fish get past the 3" mark? I also am trying to keep an eye on the LMB size so they don't get to big to take out my adult BG that I stocked. Right now the LMB are close to 12".