Alright so I think I opened my mouth and ruined my plans...

We built our 3 acre pond in Arkansas about a year and a half ago and I've had big plans for a cool water species fishery from the very beginning. It is a dug pond with no real dam/levee and one side is about 18ft deep. We had planned to use night time aeration in the summer to keep the water temps in an acceptable range. We were going to try and raise YP, SMB, HSB, with HBG and RES more than likely and possible WE someday. Sounded like a unique and fun fishery to me!

Well I was getting ready to try and get some YP and I came across a sheet that had been published in 2002 called approved species for aquaculture in Arkansas. It had all of my species listed except YP which was basically the most important one in my mind. Well I thought the list must be outdated and maybe they have since added YP, I mean Vive heard of people catching them in Arkansas, just rarely. Well a few emails and phone calls with the AGFC later and I now know that they are not approved and it would be nearly impossible for me to get approved to have them and even then sourcing them from an approved fishery would be very difficult.

So, back to the drawing board. At this point I'm thinking I'll probably abandon the cool water species because the YP were the ones I was most looking forward to. What recommendations do you guys have? I had originally wanted to stay away from LMB as they seem to overpopulate and stunt in most of the ponds Vive fished around here. I do realize most of those ponds are not really managed and that could have a positive effect if done correctly.

I guess some important information would be my goals for the pond. I like catching fish! They don't all need to be trophies and I would sacrifice trophies for consistent catches. I also like to eat fish so something that is good for eating would be ideal. I suppose those are my main goals, consistent action and edible fish. I am considering having a combination of Hybrid Crappie and Hybrid or regular BG as my primary focus/forage species. I would still like to do the HSB as they seem versatile and fun. In your opinion would the HSB be able to keep the Hybrid crappie and HBG in check? What other recommendations do you have?

I am a little discouraged that I wont be able to do the YP as I have really been looking forward to them. I kind of feel like if I hadn't said anything I probably could have just had Rainman bring me some and been fine but now knowing that I'm not allowed I just wouldn't feel right about it. Any ideas you guys have are welcome, only thing in the pond so far is FHM.