Hi all,

New member here, great forum. I've read MANY of the posts and tried to learn what I can.

I have a farm in south central Virginia, about an hour south of Roanoke. We're just now building a one acre pond that's fed by a stream, which is fed by multiple streams. Not the Mississippi, but a constantly flowing stream.

The pond will start shallow at the mouth and stay only 2-3 feet deep for the first 40-50 yards, then going down to 11' deep near the dam.

We're sort of modern day homesteaders so I'm not really interested in trophy stuff. Rather, interested in, A) a good, dependable source of food, and B) recreation, particularly since I have a 4 year old.

While I love to catch bass and catfish, I'm thinking I'd really like to optimize the pond for bluegill, and I'd like them to get sizeable over the next few years. Having said that, I'm not exactly sure on what mixture of species I should include, and how many to start with.

I'm assuming fat head minnows, bluegills and, perhaps, some large mouth bass, but is that the right mix? Should I add all those, or anything else? And, if so, how many?

I'll feed for the first year to get everything started, but after that I really want a natural pond.

Thanks for any guidance and input.