In most cases you're as good as the body of water you are fishing on.

Couldn't have said it any better!

every so often I grab a sixpack and walk to a huge private pont not far from my parents house. tons of huge bass and pickerel in there. its nice to have a few beers and catch some fish just for fun snd fun alone

plsnning on teachin the daughter how to fish on that pond this summer

I fish a private gravel pit close to my area its not managed though. I don't find it to be easier fishing. It's still just as challenging if not more than some of the public lakes that I fish. Will admit average size is bigger, but that's about the only difference. Don't consider it cheating at all just get out and do what you love. Don't worry about the heat you catch from jealous friends.

Is fishing a stocked private pond cheating?  No.  Is it apt to represent the same challenge as consistently pulling 'big' fish out of a heavily pressured lake under adverse conditions?  No, of course not.  Would someone impress me as an angler with the the DD fish they winched out of a private, stocked pond?  Dunno, but I'm likely to be more impressed with someone who does it from waters that pit them (after a fashion) with other anglers.

 

What makes this such a great sport/hobby is that there are so many different ways to have fun...  Anyone giving you lip about fun-fishing a private pond is just jealous or so hyper-elitest/competitive that I probably don't want to be on the water with them.

Is it cheatin? 

If you use dynamite. 

I've been a member of a private club for over thirty years and the catching is just as tough there as on the public lakes I frequent.  The fish aren't stocked and they get a ton of pressure from the members and their guests throughout the season.  They do stock trout and cats and they are fun to catch also, but I don't think it's sportsmanlike to brag about the numbers or size of those.  I will, and have, over my PB bass of 7.3lb and my best outing of 34 bass taken from there though. It's kind of like going to a madam's house and bragging about the looker you got to nail vs. working at getting some there for free.