Chris, I am in the same dilemma, "To hybrid or not to hybrid." I will not be stocking until next year. I am allowing the FHM, crawdads, and vegetation to get established first which gives me some time to make the decision. It's seems like a real buggar to figure out which way to go. I will likely not have aeration for the first year. I tend to lean more to having large BG/HBG than going for great big LMB/HSB.

My amateur take on the hybrid pros/cons subject is something like...

Hybrid Pros: Less concern for overpopulations and typically come pellet trained. If you are an occasional fisher and more of a catch and release guy like me, overpopulation becomes more of a concern. I will not find my pond as enjoyable if I feel like I have to go fishing all the time to remove/cull certain size classes to manage the BOW. Which would mean a lot more fish cleaning and/or sacrifices to the coons.

Hybrid Cons: Probably need a strong supplemental feeding program as spawning is reduced. You need to monitor for declines in populations and counter act with ladder stocking. HSB do not take kindly to being caught during the heat of the summer and often die from the stress. I appears that the genetics of future HBG generations get muddy as time passes.

I personally am leaning towards HBG/RES/LMB/HSB and maybe a couple albino cats just for fun at feeding time to see something different.

I think my biggest obstacle is convincing myself that I will be willing to hand feed the fish regularly or buck up and buy the expensive/reliable auto feeder.

I also feel like the HSB will be able to grow larger as their mouth gap is not near as big as the LMG. With a large BG pond goal, it is said to be important to cull any LMB at or around the 14" mark so that they don't eat the larger BG/HBG. The HSB should be able to get much larger than the 14" length since their mouths are smaller. This allows for the bass fisherman in me to satisfied knowing there could be some BIG fish to catch occasionally.

Now with that said, RC seems to be getting all the stars to align in his pond. BIG BG LMB and HSB...Go RC!

Fish on!,
Noel