I stocked 25 BG the October of 2003 then 200 BG, 25 HBG, 15 CC and 10lbs of fatheads in March of 2004. I fed all summer and had tons of forage, a minnow trap would catch dozens of little fish in just a few minutes so the fall of 2004 I stocked 25 4" LMB. Everything was growing great. Bass were 12" and fat by the fall of 2005. I stocked tilapia as soon as the water warmed enough and had successful spawns in 2006 and 2007. In late July of 2006 I discovered several schools of Gizzard shad so early that August, 6"-7" HSB were added to cut down their numbers and keep them in check. I have been feeding pellets by hand once per day since the beginning. In 2007 I added an aeration system and began to notice that my bass weren't looking as fat and my minnow trap wasn't filling as quickly as in previous years so I started feeding Aquamax Largemouth that fall. This year I've been culling all bass that aren't showing good weight and have removed all but two channel cats.
David U, your impression is right. In my case, I think the lack in growth is/was combination of several factors. I have limited structure, basically 6 pallet stacks that have now mostly collapsed and two bowling ball sputniks (like porcupine fish attractors)and my pond is shaped almost like a bowl except for 1/3 is sort of a spawning shelf. There is no weeds. I didn't remove any of the LMB offspring from my original stocking, except for a few that died from swallowing hooks, until this year so I really have no idea how many are in there. The 15 channel cats quickly grew into large predators and were competing with the LMB as were the HSB and I could maybe even give a little credit to the HBG that are now around 10". This fall and winter, I'm going to start harvesting eating size male bluegill to encourage more spawning.
