Hello, Mr. Willy. I'm afraid that I can't help very much!! I used to work some with the hybrids in the large public waters in Kansas, but have done almost nothing with them since moving to South Dakota quite a few years ago. The SD state agency just does not use them.
Now, if we can get Norm Kopecky's attention, he might tell us a little. He did get permission to stock some in his pond near Sioux Falls. However, I'm not sure he's had them long enough to be of much help. However, he can at least tell us if his fish are on pelleted food. Hopefully, he'll spot this. If not, I'll e-mail him and ask him to chime in.
I'm assuming that you just want the hybrids for diversity in your pond fishery? I'm pretty convinced that largemouths are more effective predators for controlling bluegills (predation) than the "open-water" hybrids. There's been some pretty convincing research on that. So, if you just want some for fun, I think that I'd stock a relatively low number, and see if they will take feed. I would not add any structure for them, and I would not add any other fish as long as you feed them.
If you have adult largemouth bass, you're going to need to buy some advanced sizes of hybrids for stocking, and those will most likely be on pelleted food anyhow (they train very easily). Last year, Norm got us some 6-inchers that we stocked into a 7-acre gravel pit that had mature largemouth bass and walleyes. We have never seen a single survivor from that stocking. So, if you have 15-20 inch largemouths in your pond, you better be looking for 10-12 inch hybrids for stocking?? At that size, and seeing how you will be experimenting, I think that I'd keep the stocking rate down. Maybe 20/acre?? Just sort of arm-chairing that.
Let's see what some of the southern folks say about the size of hybrid to stock, and how many to stock. I'll be interested in your long-term results!
Dave
