Hi all,

I have decided to ask here rather than just go on instinct this time. All I know is the old "it depends" is really confusing me in my pond, but here goes:

This is our 1/2 acre 10+ foot average pond. Goal is to restore the predator prey relationship for light fishing and swimming.

When we first stocked the pond, 6 years ago (I think) we started with the FHM the first year until their numbers were high, then later we stocked:

Walleye, Yellow Perch, and Black Crappie all at once, and same relative size. Oh, and 4 pesky Koi.

Everything seemed OK, but the few WE we caught were pencil thin, and obviously not thriving as they looked like toothpicks with eyeballs. They seemed to be competing too heavily with the YP and BCP for the same forage and losing. I later regretted not ladder-stocking since all the mouths were the same size going in. The FHM didn't last long, and the perch were too large for the stocked WE.

The YP thrived in the past 5 years, in fact most of the original stockers were at least 11" this year, and many on the 13"+ range. We decided this past summer to have a full-out fish fry and pulled 16 big ones out plus one decent BCP. No WE were caught despite extensive fishing and targeting. The idea was to make room for future perch and take the pressure off the forage. We planned on tossing the WE back in if caught, but nothing. The estimate is there is ~15 large perch left based on feeding and observations, and zillions of smaller ones.

So this spring, it is clear the YP are thriving based on all of the ribbons and small perch everywhere, but we have found many dead and obviously starving young BCP floating up or being devoured by the snapping turtles. We have had quite a stretch (6 mo) of ice and cold weather, and I believe the perch are much better adapted to the cold water and simply out-competing everything else. The BCP are dwindling to very low numbers, and we have only caught tiny paper-thin fish.

So the fish supplier appears correct: The BCP are difficult to maintain in our northern ponds. Spring has to be just right for a successful spawn.

Our water is sparkling clear, and I believe fairly low levels of nutrients. It doesn't appear to be very productive, and honestly I don't want it to be, since we like swimming in it without picking algae out of our teeth. So we are not planning on fertilizing and don't really want to struggle against nature and balance if we did.

The goal at this point is to restore balance between top predators and prey/forage to keep starving fish to a minimum and keep perch numbers in check. So here are my thoughts:

Idea 1:
Stock larger WE (10 or so) plus a load of FHM. Knowing the FHM may be mostly devoured. I would put in some pallets for breeding as most of the rocks I originally set are clogged with chara. This would be the original species mix.

Idea 2:
Stock some Small Mouth bass instead, along with pumpkin seed sunfish and FHM. I don't want bluegills as they are terrible nippers when it comes to swimming. The pumpkin seeds are easy to catch for fun, good fighters, are easy to observe, and would hopefully be easier forage for the bass. I hear they nip also, but don't get so large that it hurts.

The problem with idea 2, is the pond bottom is clay with some stones here and there, but no really good gravel beds for bass nesting. Perhaps a good thing?

I don't plan on buying many predator fish except for the FHM. Just enough to put a little pressure on the massive numbers of perch that I see in the pond, reduce starvation, and in the right numbers to prevent chaos.

Any insights would be appreciated.

Thanks!