Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations New stocked pond - now what?

Hello, First of all, when I was builidng my pond I had some issues that worried me and I am extremeley grateful to everyone on these forums that helped me relax and take a "wait and see" approach. The dam was finished in the fall, 2010. It's turned out beautifully. It's holding up very well vs. other ponds in this drought. So thank you all.

My question now is fish management. I have a three acre pond. I put in 1000 blue gill and 200 LMB and a whole lot of fathead minnows in March, 2011. The fish were 1" to 3" long. I now have LMB that are 14 to 18" long (they will bend your pole nearly 180 degrees - very strong) and some nice keeper size BG. I can tell the BG are reproducing as there are a lot of baby sized BG along with the larger ones. I am not sure about the LMB - I have't seen any small ones yet. It seems like i've read where they can take two to three years before they start reproducing.

I have been shocked at how quickly they have grown - all my fish seem extremely healthy. I would like to keep things balanced out. I guess my question is: when and what do I start harvesting? Can I start keeping my BG if I want to eat some? Should I start keeping my LMB or wait another year or so? Also, I still see a lot of minnows, but they arn't as numerous as they used to to be, should I add more minnows?

Thanks for any advice! I love where things are now and I don't want to screw it up.