Nick, there should be a a button or box to check when you first start a thread, I think, where you can select a notification, but I've never tried it, so I really don't know. I do think there's a way to do it in your profile also.
I've never experienced the 'nibbling' of fish when swimming, but many others have and don't like it. I don't spend a ton of time swimming in my pond(s) either.
These are general comments, but can certainly vary greatly:
-to have a healthy fish population, without a feed program, your top species of desired fish will need a good supply of natural forage. As you mentioned having HSB and LMB, etc., the base forage for the LMB to be healthy is bluegill. And, the bluegill need to be in heavy enough density to provide regular forage for the LMB, and other predators.
-my guess is there's more nipping in ponds where the bluegill population is more dense.
-the more dense the fish population is, overall, the more you may need to watch water quality and maybe need aeration.
-you could start with lower initial stocking numbers of both bluegill, and predators, but in year two, and some successful spawns, you may be back at looking at a fish density that is more at risk for nipping when swimming.
-for the best fish growth results, and without a feed program, conventional wisdom says to stock forage now and in the next few months, and let that all grow for a year if you can, but at least, wait on predator stocking until Fall '24; if you couldn't wait, go very low in quantity.
-feed very much supplements the natural forage base, and the more you feed, the more you can maybe almost replace the forage base. Of course, when using feed, things are kind of sim-world (unreal!!). But this is where the human factor comes in. Watching 4, 5, and 6lb+ HSB and LMB charging for 1" pellets is awesome fun. And you really get to see the fish quite a bit.
-water quality should be monitored no matter what route you go.
