Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Golden shiner forage pond

I’ve got a 1/2 acre pond that’s ready to stock. I want to use it as a forage pond for my 5 acre trophy bass pond. The trophy pond is currently stocked LMB,BG, and Threadfin shad. I’m wanting to raise golden shiners or some other supplental forage in the 1/2 acre pond and cast net some out as needed and haul back to the trophy pond. I’m mainly wanting to feed the 5 lbs and up weight range. There’s plenty of BG and threadfin shad in the pond but not much for feeding those really big bass except when I stock crawfish or trout.

Are golden shiners fairy easy to raise and transport? Or can y’all think of anything else that would fit the need?

I'm not sure you'd get more return out of GSH than TFS, and if there's numerous available BG I'd think the bigger LMB should be eating well. LMB is not my area of expertise but getting GSH to 10" is going to take some time. They are easy to raise...relatively easy to get and you can always pellet feed to enhance growth.
And welcome aboard!

you mention some other type of forage so I would suggest Tilapia might work for you if they are legal in Ga. They can produce large amount of forage and grow pretty fast from fry to lets say 4 to 6" in just a short time. My personal experience with them is when they are stocked where there are no predators they will climb in numbers pretty fast. And not only will the lmb feed on the Tp when you add them to the pond but will really chow down on them in the late fall as the water temps drop. If sufficient numbers are added to your big pond they should take some of the pressure of the bg letting your numbers of bg grow.