Mark: I’ve thought about getting some signs made. I’ve actually considered having a sign made that says to the effect “the local health authority has determined eating fish from this water may be hazardous to your health”. I’m the local health authority (seriously) and I’d be mad enough to endanger their health if I caught them so it would technically be accurate… Doubt if I actually do that though…

TyW33: I’ve never even seen a yellow perch and don’t know if they could live around here. Although I would prefer a variety and the more exotic fish like smallmouth, walleye, and hybrid striped bass; I may wind up going ahead with stocking some largemouth in it to help control the bluegill. I may stock the LMB later and at a lower than normally recommended rate to give the smallmouth and others a bit of a competitive advantage for however long that would last. I don’t know. I guess it is good that I still have about a year to think about it.

A friend of mine (who has his masters in biology) called me today to retract his previous advice of just stocking bluegill, redear, and bass then managing just for the bluegill. He had talked with a fisheries consultant about my pond. That person told him that crappie would probably be fine in my sized pond as long as I gave the other fish (bass, bluegill, etc.) a couple years’ head start.

I’m beginning to think this lake construction / fish management stuff is 2/3rd science, 1/3rd art, and 3/5 magic or something. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn! ;-)

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