Dean,
No matter what path you take .... you may not neglect management of the population of LMB. This means limiting the number of them. This act on its own will have the effect of recruiting more 4" to 5" BG. It is by far the
most powerful method at your disposal to grow larger LMB. Without it, anything else you do will fail. So keep that in mind.
Feeding and stocking BG sub-adults will jump start YOY production. Your LMB will respond to it favorably. But this isn't a solution by any stretch of the imagination. A solution solves the problem and this won't solve the problem of too much LMB competition. If the LMB double in weight, then they need twice as much for maintenance, and they can get just as skinny and be just as low in RW at that length as could at the lengths they presently are. The only advice you received which is a solution is the advice about harvesting LMB.
The other advice deals with increasing productivity. Fish health and growth has nothing to do with productivity. Reasons for increasing productivity are to increase the total weight and number of fish the pond can support to improve the fishing experience through more catches per unit effort (fishing man-hours). IMHO its not bad advice but it needs context that melds with your goals and very particularly your commitment to the management of fish numbers. Some folks really don't want to keep fish and eat them. They want to release everything they catch.
One can grow big LMB in a catch and release management scenario. but it depends on preventing LMB reproduction almost entirely. The only way increasing productivity is going to help grow large bass as a long term solution is if it accompanied with population management. You can grow big bass by managing the population and doing nothing to increase nutrients. You cannot grow big bass by increasing nutrients and neglecting the population management. Eric mentioned in another thread that he doesn't think there is any way other than population management to meet goals. Your advisor would say the same. 5 years from now, if adding BG and feeding gives larger but skinny bass, your advisor will tell you that you have too many bass and it isn't his fault.
I think before you do anything, you need to consider what you want in terms of the commitment of managing the numbers of LMB. Is it hard to catch an LMB or is it very easy? If its really easy and there are large numbers of them ... then you may already have a productive pond that would meet your expectations under harvest management. On the other hand, if its really tough to catch LMB and you feel like there should be more, its a really good candidate for stimulating productivity.
Do you intend to manage LMB numbers through harvest? Will this be a good a experience that you enjoy or one you dread doing? See where I am going? Its not about what the advisor wants ... its all about you ... what fits your needs and what will fit your constraints on population management (both time and behavioral). The key to long term success (growing larger LMB) hinges on your population management ... nothing else even matters ... just make sure what you are doing fits what you want do in this area.
