In all seriousness, thanks to everyone that is contributing to this thread and giving me such a good education!
TGW1,
Thanks for making the case for larger ponds. I knew there had to be good arguments in that direction also - or everyone in Texas would just have rows of small "tanks" full of trophy bass.
In your experience, do you think an "artificial lure only" rule would work while growing a few trophies? Let the wise ones get bigger and more hook shy to artificial baits. When the few trophy fish are ready for some harvesting, let the kids fish the pond with live bait.
Has live bait worked in your ponds when the big ones would no longer strike the favored artificial baits that had been used to cull their dumber siblings?
