Good evening everyone and I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving.

During this time off over the holiday I have spent many hours on YouTube watching the Pond Boss videos and have a few questions. In his videos he discusses the requirements for a pond to be productive which includes having "Healthy Water". I had the water tested about 3 years ago and I cannot seem to locate my results but I recall that lime was recommended. The fishery guy that surveys my pond and supplies my fish recommended that I not lime the pond because of the amount of flow through that I have so I have not. I asked him recently about fertilization and he strongly discouraged that as well. I have owned the pond for almost 4 years and do not think that I have ever seen a plankton bloom. Is this common or am I just missing something? I have a water clarity of around 40" and the water usually has a brown tint to it most of the year. I have been working on developing this pond into a possible trophy bass pond with fish in the double digit range. The pond is 5 acres and has a constant flow. The pond is always full. Maximum depth is around 9' with the majority of the pond being 5' to 6' deep.

Here's what I have done thus far:

2 Texas feeders feeding the forage. Been feeding 3 times a day for 2+ years and I have an abundance of all sizes of BG and shiners.
The milfoil was chemically removed last summer.
I have added lots of structure in deep and shallow water.
I have been removing all LMB 14" and under. I had the shocker boat remove around 60 LMB a couple months ago.
The fishery guy has recommended improving the genetics of the bass because of the poor growth habits of the current bass. He is adding 50 F1 bass 6"+ tomorrow.
I added 800 4 to 5 inch BG in the spring of 2021
This past year I have added around 3000 BG (all sizes)


Question 1. What time of the year should I have the water tested again?
Question 2. Is liming a pond with such a flow through a waste of money?
Question 3. Why have I not witnessed a plankton bloom?
Question 4. Can a pond with flow through not be fertilized?
Question 5. What am I missing?

Thanks,

Dean