Well thats where I'm a little different because I already had some bass in the pond that I was trying to get rid of the old 13 inch stunted bass but trust me they were hungry! And I still ended up with nice fish. So I can only tell you part of this and not lie
I bought my pond in May of 2009. I put my CNBG in my pond and my RES in July and then the bigger ones 75 CNBG in August. I did not put any bass in there on my own mind you until that next spring. Then I put in 14 Florida strain bass that were all in the range of about 12 inches from a friend. I knew they were FL bass and I knew they were not stunted. What I did not know is how many I still had in the pond???
So I guess you could say I gave my lower number stock fish a chance by
1. Waiting to put any bass in till the next spring. Except for the ones that were already in there.
2. Catching as many stunted bass as I could and keeping them.
3. Making sure they had plenty of cover when I put them in my pond.
In July of 09 when I put them fish in my pond you could literally see the carpet of Chara I had growing on my pond bottom it covered a good 50 percent of my pond then. So my fish has plenty of places to hide. (Keep that in mind when you stock.) If your pond is a wide open I can see from one end to the other pond then your fish are not going to have near the chance at surviving like mine did. That's what I mean about having some habitat for them. Either natural or man made you got to have something for them to run and hide in.
I don't think the bass you just put in your pond will be an issue this fall if you can get some 3 inch plus fish and if you have enough other bait fish the bass will got for those fish also and some of your BG and RES will make it I guarantee it. They wont get them all.
So back to you original question. How many bass did I have? Well I know I had 14, I'm guessing I had at least 20 still in the pond even after fishing it and all of them were bigger then your bass will be this fall. If you have a good spot you can catch some bigger BG go get them. Sometimes you got to what you got to do to get things going.
I DO NOT recommend doing that with BASS but BG IMO are fine to do that with as long as they look nice and healthy. All you would need are a spare 15 or 20 bigger gills to get your rolling down the right path. This time of year is the time to get them in there and let them spawn. They are spawning machines man.
Like said above I don't manage my BG, I let my LMB do that for me. I will from time to time take a few out to eat! But that 's it. I do however manage my LMB and MY HSB.
Good Luck man!!
Keep us posted
RC
