The more the water temps drop below 55F the less the fish will feed. BG stop feeding at the surface at about 53-55F and YP stop surface feeding at about 50-53F. New pellet trained fish often take 1-3 weeks to acclimate to the pond before pellet feeding resumes. If natural foods are in the pond then resumption of pellet feeding is often slower. It depends. Don't add lots of food that floats to shore and goes to waste. this will also cause more filamentous algae growth.
YP at 4"-6" were hatched this spring and should provide at least a few egg ribbons in 2013 when the water gets to 50-54F. Provide a few tree branches along shore for them to lay eggs on. Then you will see the eggs in shallow water.
It won't hurt to add a few larger YP before the spring 2013 spawn. Remember these larger wild YP will not eat pellets and will need minnows as food. Minnows can be added any time this fall or next spring. Add minnows before you add wild adult YP. Add about 1/3 - 1/2 lb of minnows for each new adult YP that you stock, 3-4 adult YP for every one lb of minnows. So 20 adult YP then add 5-10 lbs of minnows. Add some minnows (8-10 lbs) in June 2013 if you don't see minnows in shallow water nor coming to eat pellets. You want a minnow spawn in 2013 and beyond.
Adding the BG increases the need for LMB to control the BG. LMB will tend to eat YP more than BG, thus limiting the number of new YP that are recruited each year. Don't be suprised if you don't see new young YP after the LM bass spawn once.
Smallmouth and walleye have a very hard time controlling BG without extra manual thinning of small 2"-4" BG. Why did you decide to add BG? That wasn't in your original plan.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=23518&Number=296041#Post296041Stocked YP and BG should grow fast and well on pellets. Did you see what the name brand of pellets that the North Shore Fish Farm used? How far north from the fish farm did you live?
