Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Fish Selection

Pumpkinseed sunfish are much harder to locate compared to redear sunfish(RES) throughout the US. In Michigan, RES are hard to find for a seller plus RES are known to have limited survival in harsh MI winters. You can initially stock yellow perch(YP) and then after they spawn once, maybe that fall, add your largemouth bass fingerling.

YP will never bother swimmers with LMB present because the LMB keep YP densities pretty low density to a point you 1. either have to harvest lots of bass and or 2. periodically restock more larger sized(5"-7") YP. YP-bass is actually a better combo in MI than BG-LMB. You could stock BG-YP with LMB. YP would help a little to reduce recruitment of BG especially in winter when YP are active and small BG are pretty inactive. An unproven but possible option is YP-HBG-LMB. Adult HBG tend to be known to nibble on swimmers.

I doubt very much if anyone in central and southern US and Texas will ever find pumpkinseed sunfish. Texans and others in central and southern US should be using redear sunfish for snail control and for a sunfish that is not real prolific.