To my understanding most panfish will be fine if they are suited to your area. I have seen a lot of talk about HSB also. The LMB were here when I bought the place although not in great quantities. I also had some BG but have also stocked BG twice. I may not have stocked twice if I had known what I was doing at the time - probably not the best plan for trying to grow large BG. I have thought about HSB but my pond is lacking a lot of cover for forage fish and I don't know how an open water fish will do. I don't think panfish are the best forage for HSB and I know the pond can support BG. We are stocking RES in October for variety and to keep the snail population in check - apparently snails can release bacteria and cause issues so while the RES will be fun to have they are being stocked for a specific purpose. CC take a bit of a beating on this forum but I stocked 100 in late May and plan on stocking another 100 next spring. They have grown fast and responded to feeding really well. They can become a problem but we plan to harvest everything we catch over 15" starting next spring and in fact have already harvested a few. There is no CC spawning habitat in my pond so that with harvesting should enable us to keep the population in check - time will tell.

Ultimately, I want my grandkids and grand nieces/nephews to catch fish when they wet a line and then be able to eat what they catch that day. They are all city kids so catching and eating is an exciting experience for them. Based on everything I have read here and researched this is the best plan I can come up with so the kids aren't just fishing but actually catching.

Long answer to a short question but I know it sometimes helps me to get a view into other folk's thought process. I am certainly not an expert but my strategy is informed by much of what I have learned on this forum.