We bought a house last year with a .75 acre spring fed pond. I'm new to PM but as a biology major I at least knew to survey the resident population. I found BG and some RES were stocked when the pond was built three years ago. There was no sign of any predators aside from a heron and monster snapping turtle. Last year I stocked 60 (5-7" LMB) and 25 CC. The BG spawned and thrived last summer, but my bass didn't grow much despite plenty of YOY BG. There are a lot of bigger BG in the pond, but I am concerned about appropriate sized food for my bass and CC.
Two weeks ago I put in 200 FHM, but after seeing how little fish that actually was I am thinking I need more of something. Should I add more small BG, more FHM, something else or let the scenario play out? Considering the BG were unchecked for several years the bass should be bigger, right?
Pond is healthy and we plan on switching over to feed in a couple weeks here for the CC and BG to help the LMB grow. I did some fishing/sampling today and did catch a hungry, but skinny 8.5" LMB, so they did survive the winter and did more growing than I thought.
Thanks in advance, I am very impressed with PB and it's well informed members.
