Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Good Control for Growing Big BG

Hello Pond Boss members. I have a BG problem and am now paying the dumb tax. My northern Ohio pond is a dug pond built during the summer of 2022 and slowly filled naturally with rainwater, plus runoff from barn and house spouting. Pond is triangular approximately 0.5ac acre with a perimeter of an 8-foot limestone rock shelf over a well compacted clay basin - maximum 16-17 feet deep. Beach is 80 feet wide at the narrow end of the triangle. Secchi disk clarity ranges from 5 – 7 feet. Bottom aeration will begin later in 2026.
Some chara is now growing in addition to some filamentous algae growths which both have been controlled each summer by Tilapia.
My Problem: As a gift for some quick angling and probably in error,,,, last spring (2025), I stocked ONLY pure BG of 100 @ 2-3" and 25 @ 4-5". I saw them making beds for spawning late last summer - 2025. Now I am concerned I have too many BG for my GOALS of a quality big BG pond.
Last fall and late summer by angling and trapping, I began harvesting some of the BG. I've harvested approximately 50 bluegill last fall, and 18 BG so far this 2026 spring by trapping with a Z trap and cloverleaf trap both have 0.5” mesh. All BG removed so far have been mainly 3.5"-5" long. I set two ¼ mesh minnow traps at various depths and all I have caught were large tadpoles. Smallest BG in all trapping was one 2” and most have been 4”-5” long. Recently an angler caught one 6.5"-7” BG; thus the stocked BG are growing.

Because I was not catching fingerling small BG in traps, I sampled just a portion of the beach with a 50ft long seine. I caught 30+ 1”-1.5” BG and three 4-5” BG. Numerous small BG are probably abundant in other shoreline areas as no bass predators are present.
Soon this Spring in early June, I expect BG spawn again, I want to introduce the best numbers and sizes of LMB to the pond for OPTIMUM control of what now seems to be over abundant BG and their lack of soon to be good growth rates. I would not rather have to feed fish pellets as it tends to create some excess fertility and FA problems.

Would you folks please provide some experienced PBoss opinions of what sizes and numbers of LMB to stock, to effectively reduce the now probably abundant BG population to then to grow mainly big BG WITHOUT the pellet feeding? Remember the water clarity so far has been 5-7ft indicating lower productivity. I can buy all sizes of LMB (2-4", 4-6", 6-8", 8"-10", 10-12" & even 12+" bass).

Please give your suggestions and or ideas for numbers and sizes of LMB to help get these BG thinned out for mainly having larger average sizes of BG. Thanks in advance for your expertise.