Definitely a good idea to shy away from the HBG and stick with pure strain CNBG. CNBG will do great in your part of the country, so I would definitely stock them, but you can consider mixing some regular of northern strain BG with them...
As soon as your pond gets water in it, start building the food chain! It seems to me that you are more interested in growing some nice LMB over BG so I would strongly recommend you stock FHM and GSH shortly after you get water in your pond. Allow them to breed and fill your pond up with bass food. You can also consider stocking papershell or another species of crayfish to your pond as well. Build your LMB from the forage up!
