Welcome Jeff! I'm from the SW Grand Rapids area and can tell you up front that all you need to know is either on the forum, or in the archives. Bill has sent me on a great path when my pond was new and I continually thank him for it!
Feel free to PM me if you have questions or browse the forums and ask away.
I'm not an expert and still learning. I went the route of adding forage the first year (and the second year) I'm trying to expand the forage base and so far have FHM, GSH, Crayfish, lake chubsuckers, and in the warm weather months have been dabbling with tilapia for algae control.
I don't know the pros and cons of adding forage after HBG are in the pond but like Bill says, if you like to feed or have a feeder that will do fine with a diet of pellets.
I'd love to share SMB with you as I'll be ready for them this fall and maybe we can meet somewhere if you end up getting them from Laggis. My perch are from there and they are healthy, vigorous, and grew like crazy once they were in my pond. If you can get some I highly recommend it. You won't need many, maybe 50-75 depending if you plan to let them procreate or if you catch and consume.
I would say you could add larger FHM and GSH if you wanted to and the HBG wouldn't be able to eat the larger ones. But if you put perch in first it may be hard to establish a forage base unless you get very big shiners or have a separate grow out pond.
I also recommend considering the invertebrate backbone of your forage base. I know you can get gammarus species scuds for a week or so yet before they go 'out of season' (search on the forum about these), and other people are experimenting with various freshwater shrimp, different kinds of shiners, crayfish, snails, etc.
Welcome aboard!
