My bass have hit a wall on growth it seems and im coming to the conclusion it is the lake of ambush place where they can just hang out and let the food come to them vs what most are doing now, which is circling the pond burning calories looking for and chasing their food. So this year im focusing on more shallow water brush. The christmas trees I will continue to place in deep water summer/winter time hang outs but I have been making cedar limb brush piles to place around the pond in the 4-5ft zone to offer cover closer to shore and place groups of 2 every 10 to 20 ft around 3/4 of the pond so there will be no lack of hiding places for predator or prey. Thinking that way each bigger bass has their own place to call home.

In most ponds after 2 years post stocking (sometimes less) carrying capacity is reached. From then on it is about managing the food system through various management options. The biggest issue in a very large portion of waters (all ponds , lakes , rivers etc.) is the lack of enough food. Most of these are unmanaged or have low management efforts.

One way to increase food (forage) is to have the prey live a little longer (cover of the right type is a method of doing that) . Xmas trees near spawning areas is a proven method of increasing survival of yoy forage species. As they live a little longer they get bigger quickly and provide more food for predators.

Don't be afraid to put some cover in 1-2' water.. The little guys like the Littoral bank zone to begin with. If more of those survive, more grow to better proportions as they begin filling the void.

When my pond was two or three yrs old it was recommended that I add 5 brush piles along the shoreline in my 3+ acre pond so I built 9 lol. I really saw a boom in the bg population that year. And those feed my lmb.

Thank you very much guys! sounds like I am on the right track then!