Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose F1s and coppernose in Indiana

I have a new 2 acre pond built with a maximum depth of about 20 feet sitting in the northern half of Indiana. I would love to stock coppernose bluegill and the F1 hybrid(florida x northern) strain of largemouth in my pond, but unfortunately I have read that this may not be possible. Can anyone give me any ideas of what I should or shouldn't do.

I'm also in northern Indiana and you will have a complete mortality of the coppernose this far north once pond temps drop in the fall and winter. It would be a waste of time and money. In fact, I would be even leary of getting southern regular bluegills up here as you may find they will not be as adaptable as the natives.

As far as F1's someone else will have to answer that. I do know Floridas will not make it up here either.

I have a friend that raises fish in PA and he has found different levels of adaptability in even northern strain largemouths depending on how far south he gets them.

If you do things correctly, you can easily grow 5 to 7 lb northern strain LMB and 8'-9.5" bgills. These are very nice fish even in the southern US.

I would recommend using native stock bluegill, but I know the F1's did great in a pond in Lexington, KY.

that is true, 5-7lb largemouths are nice fish, but I(like many others that visit this forum) are more interested in fish in the 8-10lb range. Not a lot, but i want to have at least a few fish in my pond this size. I hope that the F1s can provide the needed genes to pack the lbs on my bass.