Yeah, that is the hard part. If you want the bass to get bigger, you have to remove them anyway. Even if you don't eat them. Nobody wants to do that unless it's a wall hanger because it feels like wasting them. So the balance will never be restored toward big bass unless it's drained or poisoned and started over.

Fortunately, there are still some big bass in there (my PB) and it's kinda fun catchings all those dinks until one day you get a big one! I'm hoping to one day cach one of those 15-20lb grass carp i see lurking...

Unfortunatley, due to all the fertilizer from the runoff of sprinkler water i have determined it is unsafe to eat fish from there. (and have been told as well) I have also found that i can catch them with a spinnerbait. I have also caught a good few with a 2in crankbait XD and believe it or not, a popper even had a bluegill blowup.

First top water fish I ever caught was actually a bluegill on a popper.  I saw 3 or 4 bass just hanging out so i casted past them, and the bluegill hit right after the bait moved past them. 

In Florida, the key to fast growth is an abundant bait food chain.  In the panhandle, I recently stocked a 1/2 acre pond with 1,000 Bluegill, 100 Redear, 1,000 Fathead minnows, some Golden Shiners, and it already a gazillion Gambusia minnows naturally.  After 3 or 4 months, I stocked 20 Florida LM Bass.  (Not Hybrids, just Florida Bass).  I fed the natural Gambusia minnows before stocking.  I fed bait fish after stocking.  In 7 months I have Bluegill > 7 inches.  I caught my first 3 bass this week.  They were stocked 4 months ago as 2-4 inch fingerlings.  They were all 14 inches (1 1/2 lbs.).  The key is the abundant bait fish and feeding the baitfish.  I hear Bass hitting baitfish all day long.  It is constant.  It is such a small pond.  We are not supposed to be able to do this as well as we have.  I can't wait to see them in another year.  Next summer we will start taking out large Bluegills and Redears.  The next year, the issue will be overpopulation of Bass, so we will start aggressively harvesting any Bass under 2 lbs.  Those over  2 lbs. are likely females and will be left to get bigger.  Under 2 lbs. likely males and need to go away.  Throughout,  feed and aeration is the key along with huge baitfish populations.  In the heat of the summer, I fed $100/month.  Slowing down a lot in the fall. 11/16/2021

How fast do they grow?  Not fast enough.

My fish grow exponentially from the time I catch them to the time I get to tell someone about them.

Remember only the females grow faster and larger, about 2X to 3X then males. Big bass were fingerlings the 1st summer and need to get a good start long before they are juvenile 12” bass. Growth starts early, a 12” bass can’t eat a 5” Bluegill gill, 3” maybe. The pond needs a well balanced ecosystem with lots of everything for all sizes of bass.

Tom

GA DNR shocked a bass two years ago

that was 8lbs and shocked it again last year at 13. 5 lbs of growth in one year, granted that place is completely set up for bass growth.