Tom,
Good topic. This one will tax your planning skills. It forces you to carefully examine your objectives (all of them) and how best to meet them. Without providing my opinions, let me throw out some items to think about:
1) Will the 7+ acre pond “scratch your itch” for a LMB fishery? Take into account the discussions herein on LMB conditioning in catch and release ponds with fishing pressure. Assess whether or not it will meet your expectations.
2) Depending on the answer to 1) above and the size of the second pond, many options may be available including a second LMB pond to help take pressure off the other LMB pond, a grow-out pond for supplying forage and/or different LMB genetics for the other pond, etc.
3) Sounds like you may have a secondary objective…a fun pond for the kids and kids at heart catching GSF and/or hybrid BG. Does this secondary objective outrank the desire or need for additional LMB fishing? True, you can start over in a year, but that may not be as easy or even as desirable as it might seem. You loose a year and the kids and kids at heart loose what may have become a very fun thing for them.
4) HSB might enter your thinking for the second pond. They are certainly a fun fish, grow rapidly, and can serve as an alternate predator providing fishing diversity. Kids would be absolutely thrilled to catch a HSB as are kids at heart (oops that sounds like opinion). Stocked in sufficient numbers, they could make a good combo with BG , but again if starting over in a year may not be worth the cost or effort.
Just some thoughts from a slightly different angle.
