I am definitely rooting for you to catch some double-digit LMB from your pond.
I am pretty sure you will get there with a little more time.
I even think adding the gizzard shad would help you get there if you perfectly timed their introduction. At some point your 5# bass would just be sucking up gizzard shad during the summer and turning into 10# bass.
However, your pond would then always contain gizzard shad! That would certainly affect the carrying capacity for all of the other species you enjoy. I am cautious enough that I wouldn't cross that bridge until I was sure that it had to be crossed. (But I suspect that I am both too cautious and too leery of gizzard shad!)
You could always ask from some more input from your "better half". Any chance she will be the first one to land a 10# LMB?
Hopefully some of the Texas gizzard shad experts will chime in.
Either way, I am definitely going to keep tabs on your experiment!
I don’t have gizzard shad or regular shad , I have caught several 10#+ LMB from my 6 acre pond that was dug in 2013….I didn’t stock LMB cause I didn’t want them. Wanted crappie, stocked them and somehow they got here anyway. The BCP spawned the first year and from what I can tell that was the only time . Was catching lots of 6” BCP but the LMB have since decimated the population to where it’s hard to catch any….. wondering if that’s the reason for the large LMB. Got lots of 6-7-8# LMB also
