crimsondave, thanks for returning to the forum. Both your posts from 2015, and this one are exciting to read. You've got quite a nice writing style, clearly conveying your thoughts and questions and adding the spice of anecdotes.

Sorry no one answered your last question 5 years ago. It was relative to catching out most of the no longer wanted LMB in a pond.

My quest to change the overload of LMB in our 1/4 acre pond started about that time (2015). These bass are northerns, mind you, not Floridas. By pounding the waters over the course of 3 summers, I lowered our bass population to the point that we're now getting sufficient BG, GSF, and YP recruitment. It is now unusual to catch or see a bass. Yes, it may now be time to let the bass numbers climb. The perch and sunfish numbers are not excessive; their sizes and quality are the best we've seen in our 10 years here.

I hope this can help a little. Granted, our pond is much smaller than yours; our bass are not the hard to catch Floridas.

I have found that circle hooks will work as they are designed when I have the rod in hand and tighten the line soon after a bass or trout takes the bait. If I've laid the rod down in order to attend to something else, often I'll find a gut hooked perch, bluegill, trout, bass, etc. on the line.

I can't offer and advice on how many bass to remove. Certainly, fishing the pond quite a number of times this year and keeping length and weight records can help you with your harvest decisions.