Good stuff! I am quite settled into one of the facts that the BG population is simply over crowded, since that is all I am losing right now. I mean, when the feeder goes off (Spring thru Fall), am + pm, it looks like a Hollywood African Pirahna feeding frenzy, seriously. An area 100' in diameter boils up. Along come the Merganzers in the dead of winter and from what I can observe by their success, the poor fish have GOT to be stressing, bad. A good point made was, if I don't fish it out, Mother Nature will ajust the numbers for me. I was warned here (PB) that an "all BG pond" was not a good idea, and they were right. I thought it would be fished more. The plans of mice and men... I introduced about 150 small, medium and large LMB last summer, and 150 small CC, but too little, too late no doubt. As long as I'm not losing Bass or CC, I guess I'm doing OK. I'd leave the Merganzers alone except for the fact that they might get into those small cats eventually, and persnally, that would be my biggest food loss. Words do not express my appreciation for all of you PB folks in here. PB has been, for me anyway, equivelant to an "Online College Course" in fish/pond biology. I am calling to re-new my sub early and also get another pond-owner friend a sub to PB magazine. (-: