Hey Rain, welcome to the forum!

The "minnows" as you describe are generally not actually minnows(members of the Cyprinid family) but rather are just smaller usually young of year of sunfish, bass, crappies or what ever else is in any of the other ponds found upstream of yours. So the big question is, just what else washed into your new pond? We really don't know... So that is the challenge!

My advice, is to immediately stock an 800/200 BG/RES mixture per acre this spring. I would look at stocking larger than normal fingerlings as well. Leaning more towards the 4" size rather than the 2" size. The reasoning is, I am very concerned if you stock fingerlings closer to 2", they will not compete well with the already present "washed in" unknowns. Those unknowns are often GSF which have very large mouths and would love to eat baby BG and RES.

I would also immediately begin trapping and netting your pond to catch these "minnows". Photograph them and post at least a good mixture of different ones you catch on here for ID. We can let you know what they are so you have a better idea what you are dealing with. You may also want to try some angling with light line and small hooks to see if you can catch any fish. Larger "minnows" may have washed in and I would like to know what they are.

If you find you have GSF or other unwanted have washed into your pond, it will be IMO imperative to get LMB stocked into your pond immediately to begin controlling to reproduction of those unwanted species. If you wait a year or two, you may end up with a nearly uncontrollable mess. If you need to stock LMB early, I would try to stock a little larger than normal LMB, say LMB in the 6"-8" range. 50-75 per acre at that size should work well.

You can also stock GSH and FHM when you stock your sunfish this spring. However, if large numbers of unwanted species such as GSF or even small LMB have already washed into your pond, the stocking of these two may be a waste, especially for the FHM. Again, this is why it is imperative to immediately begin figuring out exactly what these unknown "minnows" are...

Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress...