Rod, that's a tough question because this pond does not have super clear water, hence I didn't know of any species (BG, YP, SMB) having successful spawns.
I have now seen that BG did pull off a spawn, and SMB did also, but I can't say how that would have helped create forages fish for all the other mouths.
Sunil, what are your thoughts on the water clarity? Is it green water or muddy? You mentioned 8" of clarity earlier this summer and there was a fish kill last year and so was just curious about the water quality. If the clarity is from bloom, I would try to dig down to the source of the nutrients.
FHM are good forage and the consumption of their energy should have been split between maintenance and growth. The standing weight of fish consuming them must have been great enough that most of the energy was used for maintenance where that converted to growth was small enough that you didn't notice the gain.
