3Z, welcome to the show. You're about where most of us have been. The problem is that big predators need big food; not a lot of small food. A 5 pound bass needs a bunch of 7 to 8 inch or larger bluegills. I've not found that coppernose work a whole lot better or grow a lot bigger than Texas bluegills. Some might disagree with that statement but every pond is unique and different. Essentially, if you stock bluegills, you have to wait quite awhile to stock your whopper predators. And, they might not do too well if you change their environment.
The other problem is the catching. You can catch a big bass but they tend to realize that there are strings attached in small(non lake) waters and seldom bite but once. Seeing them and knowing that they are there but not catching them is about like kissing your sister. I've tried this more than once without a lot of success or enjoyment by the pond owner.
I might also rethink the GG. I assume they are Georgia Giants. Very few have found that they do any better than the non crosses. There's a lot of pond hype out there just like in anything else.
The general, tried and true, recipe for anything that's not a lake is to stock about 5+ pounds of fatheads per acre, 2,000 sunfish(BG or CNBG) with 20% mix of Redears. Skip the snails and fairy shrimp. The snails can be a problem and the shrimp around this area are an unknown. Come back a year later and add 50 F1 female bass that are about 6 inches long. They're going to get big. Stocking any larger bass is about like adopting teenagers. The results are really unpredictable and as stated by others, they often languish and never thrive.
A fun fish for the kids is channel cats. You can stock them at 6 to 8 inches. They readily take food and are a ball to watch feed. The downside is that the kids will name them and some have a tendency to never bite. Once the kids name them, it's about eating the family dog. They can wind up ruling the pond. I stocked 125 about 15 years ago and still have 2 left in a pond about the size that you're contemplating.
Have fun on the trip and pick a damn knowledgeable pond builder, not a good old boy who knows how to drive a dozer.
Last edited by Dave Davidson1; 09/05/14 05:55 AM.
