Jason,
My pond may be a little north of yours, but not much. I have RES, YP, and SMB in my pond. The RES have not bothered any swimmers yet. This coming spring will be my first with fish (besides FHM) in the pond, so fist with spawning RES. I think the water will still be too cold to swim in, by the time they complete spawning.
I've had BG bite me, my wife, and the kids while swimming at Tablerock Lake in Southern Mo. I was not going to put BG in my pond no matter what. We swam in our pond quite a bit last year while the YP were getting up to 9" in size. Never touched one while swimming. The FHM will come up and check you out, in large schools, but it does not bother me. I suspect with the addition of the SMB and a few HSB I won't have as many FHM this coming summer.
For what it's worth, I also run a feeder, not a lot, just a few seconds a day. I don't think it has lowered water quality very much. There probably is a bit more algae in the water, but it does not impact swimming. Believe me, my wife would not be in there swimming if there were any water or fish issues. I had to remove one water snake, and one snapping turtle to get her in the water.
We have left the catfish out for now. I have the fish in for grandkids amusement, and I love eating them. We've found the YP to be delicious.
Last edited by SetterGuy; 01/18/16 01:29 PM.
