I'm told different things everytime I talk to someone. I agree that bluegill control will be my concern. The aquaculturist I got the fish from told me I should just establish bluegill for forage this year and add predators ( smallmouth and perch next year.) He also said I should stock a 5:1 bluegill to predator ratio. This didn't sound right since i dont have LMB so I asked to get more perch than he suggested. He also said my smallmouth won't reproduce so I'm concerned with that now. I'm hoping I can get smallmouth since he said they are hard to come by. I don't want to add LMB, so thinking about getting a few HSB which he advised against saying they would clean everthing out. In which case I could just catch them and take them out if that did happen in my opinion. The weed cover I'm referring to and that is in the pic may be temporary once they are under water I'm guessing that will kill a lot off, I just don't know. I will probably contact TJ if he doesn't chime in but what is stocked is stocked. I probably just should of talked to only him but this guy had most of the fish and was pretty adamant to do things a certain way. Last resort I can always add LMB later prob losing my perch ending up with what I have in all our smaller ponds. I still feel I can manage the pond somewhat, I love to fish and move fish to ponds that need them and so does family so if there are to many bluegill or perch I will catch them and eat or move them. I'm not looking for a pond that just 100% manages itself, that's what I love doing. I was just hoping to have a pond I can catch fish I don't have everywhere.
