Jeffb,
Welcome to Pond Boss....tons of good info and helpful folks here. All legitimate questions by Bill D. Whatever amount of BG that you end up with, I would suggest stocking them a year in advance of your Predators (LMB). I would suggest stocking some FHM in addition to your BG for your forage base as well. Give your forage base a chance to prosper before adding your LMB. It was also recommended to me to stock about 20% of my BG forage base as RES (red ear sunfish). They will handle any parasites that you may encounter in your pond. My BOW was slightly over 1/2 acre. I stocked 400 CNBG and 100 RES along with 10 lbs of FHM in the summer of 2014. I added LMB, CC, and BC the summer of 2015. My pond is very forage heavy. I can catch a BG most every cast, but the LMB aren't so keen on hitting an artificial lure with all the live bait in the water. As the catfish become larger, they seem to be a little more illusive as well. When they were smaller, I would see them around the pellet feeder, now approaching 3lbs., not so much any more. Good luck with your stocking. Lots of fun.
