Size of the lake vs size of the fish

[HarveysMinnow]

Many of us have heard the saying, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog." What that has to do with Bass fishing I'm not sure, but maybe there's a slight analogy to something I've wondered about over the years:

I have fished a lot in a farm pond of about 1.5 acres. Never in all that time have I caught any Bass larger than about 4 lb. To my knowledge, neither has anyone else. This has led me to wonder, does the size of the lake/pond set a limit to the size of the Bass? There have always been plenty of 1.5 - 2 pounders, and maybe they all get only enough to eat to sustain them at that general size, and unless one of them gets lucky and eats more than his share, I'm thinking they will never become real lunkers.

Many of us have seen the growth explosion of 'goldfish', if they are taken from an indoor aquarium and freed into a small pond. The aquarium was an obvious growth inhibitor for them. Does anyone else have an opinion on whether the size of their environment might effect the ultimate size of the Bass?

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