Josh:
I'm in the middle of Ohio. One of my ponds has SMB, YP, a few CC, and a very healthy, larger than I want (in numbers, but growing impressive in size) population of BGxRES. The latter were not stocked as Specklebelly Sunfish, but are rather the result of adding about 4 dozen male only BG to a breeding population of RES in 2008-2011. There may still be some pure RES left in the pond, but I can't swear to it, as the BGxRES (now in Fx generations that have an interesting mix of characteristics) are much more aggressive wrt taking feed and being caught.
I find BGxRES to be wonderful IF you have the predators or time to control their numbers. My SMB/large YP/CC predation is not sufficient to keep the BGxRES numbers where I want them, so I remove about 500 BGxRES by angling every year from this 1/2 acre pond. (Roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of these are eating sized - 6 1/2" to 9"; I return all BGxRES 9" and larger, with a current BGxRES record of 13.25" and just over 2 1/2 pounds.)
If you stock minnows for forage, SMB and YP, you could always add Northern-hardy RES or PS later if they become available. RES don't naturally occur North of the Wabash; IIRC the area of MI where they can survive "most years" is limited to the lower half of the LP and near the lakes.
P.S. Always listen to Bill Cody (especially wrt YP). I've found I agree with him 90% of the time, and I'm wrong a lot of the other 10%.
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