Hello, This is my first time posting on here although I have been reading the vast amounts of information on the site for several years now. I manage a 1.25 acre pond for my neighbors who very generously allow me to stock and manage it however I would like. I will not go into specifics about it here but I will say it has lmb, smb, cc, hbg, gsf, gc, bg, les, wcp, bcp, wb, freshwater drum and some type of redhorse sucker. The smallmouth, suckers, drum and white bass are not present in high numbers as they are just bonus fish I have added over time. In the summer the pond will get about 60-70% covered in weeds. It has a maximum depth of around 13 feet. The water clarity is good ranging between 2-3 feet in the spring and summer to up to around 8 feet in the winter. It is fed mostly from runoff from a subdivision as well as a wet weather spring.

Good to have another Missourian...welcome from West Central Mo!

Welcome fellow Miserian!

That sounds like a fun pond.

Welcome SWMO - we love photos, post some when time allows, and glad you found us!

Alright, here is some info on the fishery, the bass are to the best of my knowledge extremely overpopulated despite me and the neighbor removing 150+ bass under ten inches in the last three years. That has allowed the bluegills to grow to massive sizes with the biggest I have caught being over a pound and a half. But the numbers of sunfish are still even with stocking 50+ adult sunfish ( longear, green, bluegill ) in the last two years. The catfish numbers are low although there are two or three channel cats over 20#s in there. The biggest I have caught in there was 28 pounds. The crappie average around 11 inches with the biggest I have caught around 14. There appears to be almost no crappie reproduction in the pond, my guess would be due to the high bass numbers.

Here are a couple pics

A few more

If giant BG are what you seek, you've done well! Sounds like part of the issue for the LMB may be excessive weed cover (60-70% at times) making it hard for them to find prey.

Ideally I would like it where I could go out and catch a 2+ pound bass with some regularity. The bluegills are nice but they are just a side effect I had never planned on, they just kind of happened. About the weeds, should I stock more grass carp, I put in 6 two years ago but have not seen them so I am am not sure if they made it or not. How about common carp, I love to carp fish so if they get overpopulated its not a big deal so long as the weeds are gone.

Unless you raise Rice, leave the carp out. Direct result will be kill sight feeders (BASS) ability to feed effectively.
White Amur (Triploid Grass carp) is ok.
I think you're headed in the right direction on culling some Bass but with good conditions you may have to cull some intermediate BG and other sunfish as well. Maybe leave some of the bigger gills and pull some smaller fish to remove some biomass-both bass and sunfish.

I missed your opening post on this and I see some other issues here.
To be blunt, I think you have too many different species present to see many numbers of large LMB..
SMB, WB, GSF, WCP & BCP are all going to fill a void that leaves very little preferable forage for LMB to really excel.
your high numbers of preferable sized BG are being cropped by--EVERYTHING--..
Not saying you can't raise some big LMB but with that many species present covering every shallow, deep, vegetated and open spot in the water column, I don't see there being an abundance of the right size forage to grow big LMB as it is. It's a very unique mix of species but that's a lot for 1.25 acres to handle.

Well, I had suspected that might also have been playing a role in the issue. I suspect the big catfish are the biggest issue. But I like diversity and that would trump the need for big bass. I am thinking of trying to get some Kentucky (spotted) bass next as well as adding more sunfish. The only things I would 100% never stock would be gar, flathead catfish, blue catfish and the northern fish that would not live.

Welcome to the forum from a SE Kansan.

.13JPG above is a really nice looking HBG.

Those big CC are probably working on everything.

Are your SMB seeing any recruitment or are the ones you catch (like the one in the picture) from ones you stocked? I have heard that SMB do not recruit very well when in ponds with LMB. My SMB have been putting out the babies like crazy, but they are in a pond with only SMB and RES except for a few I have transferred to my main pond. I don't expect any recruitment in my main pond where they are in competition with LMB, but I would be pleased if they do.

Those longear are sure pretty fish. Too bad they don't get to about two pounds like a BG will.

I have not seen any recruitment from the smallmouth.