Josh, I "liked" FishinRod's post back a little ways particularly because he referred to your ability to effectively cull the BG in your small pond to keep their numbers low. My experience with our 1/4 acre pond leads me to believe that knocking down BG, GSF, and LMB to acceptable levels is a piece of cake. I have to be willing to keep any small sunfish I catch.
If it appears that BG are too numerous, I pull out 100 to 150 in a few fishing sessions. If GSF are everywhere, I do the same. It did take me 3 years of killing about 100 LMB each year to initially knock them down. Their numbers have stayed low now for several years.
I do have a very few BCP and YP in the pond. For years I've not caught 10 of either species in one year. I imagine the combo of LMB and GSF effectively knock the YP fry out each year. And, who knows why the crappie are so scarce and have remained so for the 15 years we've been here. There are no "forage minnows" of any sort in the pond.
