Going to add 50 or so SMB, and maybe a handful of HSB.
The SMB this fall. Not sure when on the HSB.
I have very little vegetation now. (The pond just finally filled this summer, construction completed last fall.) I'm over run with FHM, and BF tadpoles. I mean they are everywhere.
I've got three big cedar trees sunk in the shallow end. Four artificial trees near those. I've got several (6 or 7) gravel beds and rocky strips around the edges.
This spring, we stocked 150 RES and some GS, at the same time, we also stocked 1,200 YP. The FHM went in the year before. I have not actually seen any of the 1200 YP. But when the feeder goes off in the morning, there are some bigger splashes. 90% of the feeding though is still FHM. If I do still have 1200 YP, and they spawn next year, I'm going to need something to help thin the fry, right?
I also put in 50 crayfish this spring, and a few hundred grass shrimp earlier this summer.
I was telling the guy at the hatchery (that sold me the HBG) the same stocking sequence I just explained. He just kept warning me. He said I need to harvest some.. Well, nothing is big enough to harvest yet, but when they are, I won't have any trouble harvesting any.. (If I can catch anything.. Ha)
Thanks again for all the info.
Jeff
Don't worry, you will have NO problem catching the HBG. They're the most aggressive biters in my pond. They bite so fast it makes it hard to catch a BG or YP. I have been removing their offspring with minnow traps for several weeks and plan to remove and fillet all I can catch this weekend. Hopefully I will have the population way down by winter.
