Thank you for reporting your observations. It's great that they are thriving in the conditions of this pond that you have described. FWIW, the choice of WM in this shallow vegetated pond is a really good match, IMHO.

If the fish you are seeing in the shallows are between 3"-4", these are probably from last years crop. Not seeing large numbers of them is probably better than seeing large numbers. If the growth of last years crop was near maximum (3"-4") then probably your initial stockers did too. WM, do begin spawning a little later than BG. Around 70F. I earlier put together a climate model for your county when you first reported stocking WM. That model puts the initial spawn each year at the 15th of June. Given the vegetation and shallow depth, your pond may warm to that temperature sooner ... IDK. But June is spawning season for WM in your neck of the woods. In addition to your FHM hatchings, you might also observe WM YOY, which if they got off good spawn, could be abundant now. Their lengths will depend on their swim up date and the supply of food. There is a good chance they grew at maximum rates of growth due to predation by their parents. Using Saturdays as swim up references, the lengths at maximum rates of growth would be as follows:


Swim up dates:

6-4-26________ 13mm
6-11-26_______ 11mm
6-18-26_______ 9 mm

So any WM surviving from these swim up dates would range between 1/3" to a little over 1/2" in length. Not knowing the difference between the appearance of small FHM and small WM when viewed from above, I can't tell you what to look for to distinguish these two inhabitants. But a few small samples taken with a long handled small mesh net may give you an idea of those populations of small fish.

WM grow slow enough at maximum rates of growth to be vulnerable to predation by their parents for much longer than smaller mouthed species like BG. The fecundity per unit weight of females is reported to be very comparable to BG. Still there isn't as much known about WM, for example, contributions to year class from additional spawning after the initial wave. But the slower growth and large gape of the species seem to help it from overpopulating as much as BG and other species of sunfish. This may explain why some report that the species has not been observed to stunt as frequently as other species. Anyways, I am very interested in the progress of your pond ... even given the challenging conditions you describe. Hopefully, the pond will seal better with time providing better conditions. Looking forward to your future updates.

It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers