Fishhead,
I can't address your stocking rate as I'm no expert and just report on what has worked for me. I do know redears are not the prolific spawners that bluegills are.
Fish eating birds are part of a continuous cyle of which snails are also part of that cycle. if you break the cycle you can reduce or eliminate the parasites.
Here's a good link to go to better understand it:
http://aquanic.org/publicat/state/il-in/faq/grubs.htm As far as catfish I personally would not have them in my ponds. They do nothing for me and they can compete with more favorable gamefish IMHO. I'd rather have the biomass in other species. However to each his own.
