My sensibility is that being stunted one should have low expectations. But then I have only one experience and it is not consistent with that. I have moved severely stunted LMB to a pond with no competition and abundant prey and seen them mark growth that is comparable to LMB of much younger age but of similar length. The only way can make sense of it is that consumption limitation (specific consumption - weight prey consumed per unit body weight per unit time) may have more do with the length of LMB than their age. By this I mean fish of same length seem to have a similar propensity to consume and will consume comparably regardless of their age.
An LMB that has had an extended period (eg several years) of slow growth will never catch up to siblings that were stocked where food was abundant and growth unhindered. How big one could get would depend a lot on how old it is, how old it could live, whether it stays in good health, and especially it will depend on how much it consumes. It will grow such that growth reflects how much it eats. One can't make them eat any more than they want to or they are able to... much like Boondoggles reference to horses and water drinking. But I will add this. I think wanting to eat is usually less of a problem for growth than access to forage.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
