Rex, your situation and mine are similar. I dug a 1/4 acre hole last Sept. and it is about 85% full. I don't know how good my plan is, but this is it. Asap I will put in 4 lbs of FH. If I can get 6 egg filled YP or egg strands and 6 2yr old males, they go in also plus 25 RES. If I can't get the mature YP, I'll go with 35 fingrelings and the RES. I plan to feed once a day by hand and will aereate from 8 pm till 8am. Then around Sept I will add 40 3-4" SMB and 12 3-4" HSB. I will stop feeding when I introduce the predators. My hope is that by having a YP and several FH spawns the SMB and HSB will chubby up real quick before ice on. Next May I will start to cull out about 12-15 sub average SMB. If I see too many small YP during the summer, I'll add some 6-8" HSB. If this does'nt prove successfull after two yrs. I'll just add some large BG and LMB. Good luck with your pond. I think Theo is also starting a YP-SMB this year and maybe we can all compare notes. Bob-O
