Saying all that I really miss BG in the pond even though we have perch and RES.
Our pond is 3 1/2 ac so Im sure that would make the control of the BG even tougher to handle long term. So far there is very little weedy cover in our pond as it is steep banked so I wonder if in this type environment if the SMB and HSB could better control the BG.
Things are really going well so far, the predators are growing nicely and there seems to be quite a bit of forage especially GSH available. But with the lack of cover I wonder just how long the prey can survive as the SMB seem to be hammering them almost nonstop. With this in mind Ive been looking forward trying to make plans so we can continue to keep plenty of food in front of the bass.
Options Ive been pondering are adding BG or digging a decent sized forage pond and raising forage to supplement the large pond.
Sounds to me like you've got a good thing going, if your smallies are growing well, and still have plenty of forage 2 years in, especially something fusiform and perfect for SMB. Hard to say how it'll look in a couple more years, when the SMB have gone through a couple more cycles of growth and recruitment-I've been impressed with how voracious the smallies are, and think you're wise to be thinking about this now. I don't have enough experience with GSH as a primary forage source to have a good answer.
I also have mostly steep banks in a 3 acre pond--even when there was no weed cover, the SMB weren't able to adequately control BG by themselves. For me, the pleasures of catching big BG outweigh the extra work removing and managing them, but require consistent efforts-they can escape control quickly. It is possible that introducing BG to a fully mature, predator rich environment with multiple, plentiful year classes of SMB might allow for adequate predation, but I don't think I'd count on that, and would add BG only if I was fully prepared to deal with the consequences [if you can consider paddling around in a canoe on a warm fall evening targeting 7-8" BG with 2lb test and microjigs to be "consequences"].
