I'm going to try and take the responses and questions in order:
- The pond has steep banks quickly dropping to 6' and is 11' at the deepest. I'd estimate 5% of the pond is 1-3' and there is little thick cover, except for the 1-2 scrub cedar trees I stuck along shore to provide cover.
- BG size appears to jump from large (I'm guessing the survivors of the orignal 150 stocking of 4-5" BG) to those that are ~5" and smaller. There appears to be an even distribution in sizes below the 5" based on observation, fishing, and minnow trap catches. Hopefully that answers the "how many" question from a proportional count perspective.
- Yes, I was looking at stocking new LMB to add to the gene pool. The most recent Pond Boss Magazine had an article on just that topic. I'm just at the considering stage.
- A lot to unpack on jpsdad's post. Completely onboard that the small pond can only carry a handful of bigger bass. I'm also want to work with the pond and not against it. I'll keep trying a few things to see if I can have a healthy BG population and get a few bass up to bigger sizes. If I end up with a pond with 1-2lbs BG and few bass that ain't a bad thing. I do find the idea of getting a few pellet trained LMB and potentially feeding then chunked BG intriguing.
I'm also fishing other waters and if I have the chance to relocate a 2-3+lbs LMB to the pond that would be fun. That LMB would truly become the pond boss.
