Thanks for the advice Dave.It's very helpful. I worry about perch stocking due to the potential for a population explosion if the walleyes don't take -- which I guess would make establishing walleyes thru subsequent stocking pretty tough (with fry out of the question).

Russ: Yes, I think it will freeze out periodically due to low oxygen levels. We have had "open winters" recently with very little snow cover but every now and then we get a tough winter and lots of the white stuff. We actually also have over 20 natural ponds on site -- most in the 3-8 ft deep category (1-15 acres), some with 12-14 foot dugout holes. None of them have fish/minnows in them and as a result are excellent for waterfowl production and rearing due to the high number of inverts. One concern I have about stocking fatheads is the chance for them to be transported to our other ponds (by waterfowl movement)and crashing the invert populations, so I was leaning toward a perch stocking for forage on the big lake. If they got into the other ponds they would nearly certainly winter kill each year. In general our acreage is managed for waterfowl production, so I need to protect the inverts in our other waters.