Regarding the feed, HSB will hit all sizes of feed, but they'll also grow quickly enough to hit the Aquamax Largemouth/Optimal Hand Throw which are all close to 1" diameter.
I'm glad that you mentioned this. I stocked 8"-10" HSB last fall and I've been wondering if they're ready for the Hand Throw pellets.
I sampled a few in the spring, and they were ranging 12"-14". .
Check the gape size of your HSB and see if the pellet is more than 30% of gape size. I use to cut LMB pellets in half to hand feed 12 in HSB. I would hand feed a few uncut pellets and see the results. If needed cut them in half.
1997 -- regarding LMB culling
For LMB
This is what is suggested by Dick Anderson - the Prof who wrote the book on PSD.
Keep taking <12 in bass until the number 8-12 equals number 12-15.
Ideal pond structure is 40% 8-12, 40% 12-15 and 20% 15+
This assumes good fish condition.
Another suggestion is take out all the fish in poor condition in all size groups. Note the size group that is stunted will have a much higher % of fish in poor condition.
These are all correlated to the concept of RW mgt.
Here are 3 archive links with a ton of info on the subject.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255372#Post255372http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255359 http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92492#Post92492
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