I built a 1/4 pond in western WA in 2000, 14 feet deep. I stocked it with 50 BG and 50 LMB after a state permit. (That was the only two species other than trout they would allow.)
After 5 years, I had beautiful fish. BG the size of a dinner plate and lots of nice LMB. I threw all the bass back in the pond. Then they all suddenly disappeared. I put in a game camera and found a dozen poachers. (My neighbors, but also strangers coming right out of the woods, like marauding Vikings).
I filled the pond with alder saplings. The BG loved this and I did see a few small bass. The camera showed I solved the poaching problem, so I removed the saplings after two years.
This year, the pond has thousands of bullfrog tadpoles. I don't see a single bass and the BG fry have been cut in half.
I usually gig every frog I can find, but you can't get them all. I can go buy another 50 LMB, but I assume they will be suffer from the big frogs, and that might be futile. Moving bigger LMB from another pond is illegal.
Any advice? I hate to poison the pond and start all over.
Thanks,
