Here is a point of view from Wisconsin. I am not a pro but I spend a lot of time studying these things. I stocked my pond with LMB, Yellow Perch and Bluegill. I had great growth rates the first summer. I had a bad winterkill the first winter under the advice of a pro, that's why I study for myself now. All that survived was the Yellow Perch giving me essentially a Perch only pond. The problems that followed were an invasion of Bulheads, tons of frogs beyond belief, and tons of other nusiance critters that the perch didn't control because they stay in the deep water. I have restocked 40 bass and they have eliminated a lot of the problems in the last few weeks. All I can tell you is that life would be much easier right now if I had some Bass in the pond last year to keep the critters under control. I have a big mess now. I have caught over 200 Bullheads in the last week that were spawned last sumer. The bass would have eaten them, the Perch didn't. Just something to think about.
