Bill, I would agree with you and others who have observed that Friz probably won't be able to achieve his goals, with a pond that small, without supplemental feeding, or at the very least fertilization (and I know the latter can cause problems with winter kill at that latitude). I also agree that a LMB/BG stocking combination would require less management than others, and would provide more food for the table. If Friz got one of the Texas Hunter feeders that has a 215-lb. capacity of floating fish food, he could conceivably fill it once a month and still feed the fish several times a day during peak periods, and during slower feeding periods he would only have to fill it once every couple months. And of course at his latitude I'm guessing he would only be feeding eight or so months out of the year anyway, so that's five or six instances a year of management work, not a lot by my estimation. I would make both ponds LMB/BG to get the most production; he could put a feeder on one and fertilize one, ceasing the fertilization the first of August so by the time ice arrives the plankton bloom (possibly? I know this would happen in TN but I don't live in IN and haven't seen his pond to know how fertile it is, what the soil is like, etc.) will have dissipated enough to lessen the chance of a winter kill, or just put feeders on both. Beginning the second year, I would keep maybe ten pounds of bass a year, and 100 pounds of bluegill a year, per pond - if feeding or fertilizing, as obviously those numbers would go down greatly without management and the concomitant increased carrying capacity. That comes to 220 pounds of fish per year, which is a lot of fish meals.
