Mark, I can give you some good info on your new pond. At a half acre, you really won't be able to do much as far as stocking cold water species.
The good news is that you can still stock quite a variety of fish.
Ex. LMB, HSB, BG, HBG, REAR, CAT, MINN, SHIN, & Amur. The numbers vary depending upon what species you stock. We can discuss this!
Your pond is certainly too small to stock Crappie. Make sure you introduce a lot of structure into your pond ie: pallets, x-mas trees, cedar trees, and rock piles. You should have 4-6 clusters of structure. 85% of that should be in 4-6 ft. of water.
The spring and the fall are the best times of the year to stock fish. The reason being, there is little to no acclimation needed.
If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me.
