Good morning Mike. Good to see you posting again. I, for one, am curious about how your pond has done for the last two years. I grew up in se Pa. so this thread is sort of close to home.
I sense that you're thinking dumping a slug of up to 170 trout into your pond would be a shock to the system. Ha ha. I can just hear the bass and bluegills muttering, "There goes the neighborhood. Dang slimeys."
Have you considered hauling the trout yourself? If your hatchery will sell smaller quantities, then perhaps a thing to try is to buy 10 or 20. Introduce them and see how they do. Then, if they are ok after a week or two, go back and get however many you really want.
I've transported, without any mortality, as few as 1 or 2, and up to 20 in tall trash cans and coolers of various sizes. My drives have been 1 to 1 1/2 hours. No aeration but with bottles of my pond's water frozen and floating in the containers. When I've gotten home, I open the water bottles to start the acclimation of the fish to my pond's water.
You'll get some more ideas from other forum members soon. Please keep us posted about your plans and implementation.
