Are you enjoying retirement? I retired in Sept. The projects seem to be endless. Your pond sounds like my sand pit 5 years ago. It was just there happening on it's own when we had a fish kill in August (five years ago). A big FA bloom and die off. The DO went into the toilet, and so did a lot of the fish. It was then I assessed that the pond needed management (nature has it's moods and swings and intervention was needed to meet my expectations). We put in an aeration system, I started treating with copper sulfate and Cutrine, and we started feeding the fish. See my comment in Water Chemistry about copper sulfate (It's good stuff for ponds managed for aesthetics only).

The reason your fish are stunted is they don't have enough to eat. Too many fish for natures offerings. My BG at that time were about 2", and a ton of them. I would catch a bunch and use them for bait. Well five years later they are table fare. The pond faired well over the winter. I lost two cc which were about 25". The water finally warmed up to where the fish started feeding. I know the advice is to not start feeding until the water temp is 60+, so just a half a coffee can to check things out. Wow, they were hungry with wt about 45.

I know, I'm rambling. I'm very pleased with my results, however. I've got some cc over 30", LMB over 20", and most bg over 8". The water is pretty clear (5'), the fishing is exciting, and I enjoy an occasional harvest. All I can say is what worked for me and share the experience. Note that if you start feeding pellets and your BG are stunted, they will not be able to eat the pellets. I use Aqua Max Omni which is the floating type. The cc will eat it but in the early phases BG will only be able to lip a soaked nugget. To solve this problem, crush some nuggets. Oh, the LMB need something. They will hammer the very small BG, but need something else. I buy a gallon of FHM a couple of time a year to help them a long. I know, time and money.

I hear the question on this forum, "what are your objectives?" I'm very happy with being able to achieve mine... Good luck and good fishing.