Ozark, if you are a subscriber which I hope you are as the magazine is a great source that has much more in depth and thoroughly researched articles in it... Check out the articles from last year written by Bill Cody on SMB. You can also research information on here on SMB habitat. Particularly spawning bed construction. If you can afford and find a source of it, I would strongly recommend you obtain as much rock/concrete chunk as you can find/afford. Use it to line steep areas to prevent erosion, create some rock piles, etc. All your primary predators, the SMB, WE and HSB all like rocky structure. Don't get too carried away with the pallets and cedar trees. You don't want too much cover for your BG to take cover in and not be preyed on.

As soon as you see the water starting to clear up and remain fairly clear, I would also look into getting grass shrimp and papershell crayfish for your pond. I would stock them early than later to give them a jump on the predators. However, the grass shrimp in particular are sensitive to muddy water, so wait for the water to clear before stocking them. Grass shrimp really are a great addition to a pond's food chain. The rocky cover you will add will really help the crayfish and the grass shrimp as well. Make sure you obtain papershell crayfish as they are in my opinion the best species for your area. Check to make sure they are legal to stock in your state as well as the grass shrimp. The grass shrimp are commonly known as Mississippi grass shrimp. Fattig's Fish farm sells them and TJ who is a member on here usually puts together a group order to get a better price on them. Check with him to see if he is doing that again this spring or next. If not, you can call up Fattig's on your own and order some.

With the final pond being approximately 2.5 acres, I would go with this stocking plan. However, make sure it is REALLY 2.5 acre and not 1.5 or 2... Here is my opinion on stocking numbers and timing.

This spring:
5 pounds of GSH 2"-4"
10 pounds of FHM

Whenever the water clears and remains clear:
50-10 lake chubsuckers(LCS) Contact Todd Overton and see when he can ship them. I was able to get 50 from him and they shipped to me in VA from TX with no issues.
Up to 500 Mississippi grass shrimp, sometimes we call them PK shrimp on here. They ain't cheap, so if you have to stock less, that is fine particularly if you can get them in well before you stock any predators. The earlier the better...
5-10 pounds of papershell crayfish

At a minimum, give your forage at least 1 year to be in the pond without predation by SMB, WE or HSB. For this to have a chance to work you really need to have your pond overflowing with forage. It's tough to be patient, but it pays off. I waited 2 years after stocking my forage and will finally be stocking my newest project with predators this spring.

So, say you stock your pond with FHM and GSH this spring that would be 2011.

By 2012, I hope the pond has cleared up and you can now stock the LCS, the papershells and the grass shrimp. You can also stock the RES this year as well and I would stock them in the fall with the others in the spring. I would stock 250 fish in the 2"-4" range.

In 2013, I would stock(this would most likely need to be a fall stocking to find the fish listed at the correct sizes):
100 SMB 2"-4" or a little bigger(say 6") if you can find them.
50 HSB 2"-4" or up to 6".
25 WE 2"-4" or a little bigger if you can find them.
300 YP 2"-4"

In 2014, I would stock(again in the fall):
Another 100 SMB 2"-4" or a little bigger(say 5"-6") if you can find them.
50 HSB, preferably larger than 4", a fall stocking would be fine to find 8"-10" YOY fish.
25 WE preferably in the 6" range.
If you see signs of YP reproduction in the spring of 2014, via netting, trapping, fish or visual observation, then you will not need to stock more. If your fish, didn't get large enough to reproduce, I'd stock another 300 YP in the fall of 20114.

In 2015, I would stock:
50 HSB, you'll need larger stockers from here on out or you'll loose many to predation by the fish already in the pond. I would shoot for HSB in the 8"+ range now and eventually 10"-12"+ fish would be ideal. This means you're gonna need to purchase fish in the fall who have been fed and treated well, so they are in the 8"-10" range by their first fall. Otherwise you'll be ending up with stunted growth fish older than a year and you don't want them...
25 WE, again the larger the better to prevent losing them to predation.

From 2016 on, you will want to stock approximately 50 HSB and 25 WE per year, the bigger the better, again to avoid losing newly stocked fish to predation. You can consider every other year stocking if you wish and this may be a good idea, particularly if you are seeing forage shortages. By stocking fish every year, you'll increase the number of year classes you have to add to a mixed size range of each species that cannot naturally reproduce in your pond.

Your first SMB went into the pond in 2013, and let's say they went in as 4" fish that fall. By the fall of 2014, under the good conditions we hope your pond has, they should be 8" with maybe a few pushing 10". Your SMB should spawn the spring of 2015. It is the spring of 2015 that I would then stock the BG. I would stock 400 5"+ fish. These fish will be large enough to avoid predation. These fish should grow quickly by feeding on pellets and the natural food chain. They'll spawn well but by now, your predators have gotten to a size where they can control their reproduction. The problem is many ponds the BG get ahead of the predators, even ponds with LMB. Your pond lacks LMB, so there is an even greater chance of this happening. With this stocking plan, I am hoping this won't be the case. Again, your predators for the first couple years will have to rely solely on the GSH and FHM. Your HSB will be feeding heavily on pellets as well. If you source pellet trained SMB, all the better as they will be able to utilize the pellets too. When the BG go in, the predators are gonna be getting size to them and will be able to handle the spiny BG as their mouths will be large enough to effectively prey on them and continue to pray on YOY fish even after they've put some size on. By the fall of 2015, those originally stocked SMB should be pushing 12" with some closing in on 15". By the fall of 2016, you'll have a good number of fish over 16" and many over 12". Your HSB should be pushing 20"+ by now and some of your walleye should be over 15" as well. It is then I would consider stocking crappie. Keep in mind all the risks crappie involve and strongly weigh them... The BG are gonna be a trick enough to manage with just the smaller sized mouths of your 3 main predators. All other species in the pond are easily manipulated for the most part, but IMO the BG and BC are going to be real tricks. If after thoroughly reading the downsides of stocking the BC and still really want them, stock them in the spring or fall of 2017. By then, there will be plenty of big mouthed predators to hopefully keep them in line. You most likely will need to work on them yourself through angling, netting, traps, etc... Larger fyke/hoop traps are very effective at capturing fish. You can pull the net in, remove those fish species and sizes you want and return other species and sizes back to the pond. This trap will also allow you to keep track of growth progress you are making with all your species. They aren't cheap, but 1 or 2 would be well worth the investment for what you are trying to do.

A few last points. First, this is all highly experimental! So keep that in mind. There is high risk for failure. It will require good documentation, record keeping, and lots of watching and most likely some tweaking... Second, find fish can be a challenge. Some species are easier to find than others. Finding the species, type and size of a certain fish can be tough. Call hatcheries, get order made early and let them know what you need and when you need it so you can make sure those fish will be available. Sometimes, it's just not possible and you'll have to adapt.

If you can located banded killifish, bluntnose minnows or satinfish shiners, these would also be excellent additions for your forage fish community and I would strongly recommend them. However, they are rarely available commercially. If you can find them, grab them though.

Be patient and I think you can produce an unusual but high quality fishery if all the card fall right!