Since RES do not produce very many offspring you could add 200 this early fall so they might spawn for you in 2020. Do not know of any current growers of pellet trained SMB. There are some farms in eastern OH that grow SMB. Do your homework and also check with Ohio Aquaculture group. I suggest waiting until the YP have spawned before adding predators. You should build a good forage base prior to predators. SMB can be hard to locate. Note your pellet raised YP might be skewed towards females if you only buy one size so buy mixed sizes when getting them to insure some smaller males in the group. Stock YP at 150-250/ac if eating pellets.
I would first focus on HSB and SMB both 20-25/ac and then keep WE as bonus fish low density 5-7/acre until you see how the forage fish handle the predation pressure. After 4-5 years when the SMB have spawned, you will then get a good estimate of numbers of forage fish to predator balance. Let body condition and growth of the predators be your guide.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/29/19 04:30 PM.
