I'm in the decision making process for stocking a 10 year old pond (0.6 ac in southern Indiana, runoff fed) that was never stocked. I've already started the fathead minnows and want to purchase the bluegills soon, but this site has made me leary about hybrid bluegills.
I'd like to have good bass and bluegill fishing, but don't see the pond producing trophy bass. If we can have catchable numbers of 15" bass, that would be okay. But I'd like to get some trophy bluegills eventually for both sport and food. I don't think I will introduce catfish because I don't particularly care for them, either catching or eating.
The pond seems to have a good food chain going: lots of aquatic insects, different species of frogs, plants, snakes, crawfish, leeches, etc.
Based on the above, should I stock with hybrids or pure bluegills? If pure, does anyone know where in the southern Indiana vicinity to get them? Seems like all the hatchery trucks that pass through have only hybrids. Thanks for the help!
