I was thinking 200 bass fry, 200 channel cats, 600-1000 bluegill? I am not sure how many minnows but the hatchery had a recommendation based on the pond size and the type and number predators I was putting in. Because I wanted to put the bass in right away, was why I was wondering if changing the ratios could be helpful to counter balance putting the bass in early?
Other thoughts would be to put less bass in and/or a lot more minnows?
How would it be if I skipped the bass and just went with catfish, minnows and bluegill without ever putting bass in it? Would the bluegill reproduce and grow in a way that would allow me to harvest plenty or would they stunt and overpopulate or suffer some other undesirable outcome?
I am also wondering if I was able to get fish in the Fall or the next Spring, if I could do something to help ease the issue I could have by putting some bass in early? Something like putting in more minnows at that time?
I do realize that the best course of action is to wait on the bass and under normal circumstances I would. My intention for my pond is to use it for a food supply. The reason I worry about next Fall is that I have an ominous feeling that we could find our nation under considerable stress from a variety of potential hypothetical scenarios such that my ability to get fish may be diminished or lost. I want to plan ahead for that just in case. Right now I'm trying to dot my eyes and cross my T's so I can use my property to be a little more helpful to our most important needs as a family.
Thank you all for your responses so far.
It depends on what fish you want to be bigger. If you want larger bass, I'd ditch the cats, stock 3"-4" LMB in July (or 5"-7" LMB now) when this years crop was available (now since it's early Spring the LMB should be 5"-7" since they were held over from last year and fed all winter), and stock the larger BG if at all possible to get a jump on having them reproduce in the pond. If you stock 1"-2.5" BG this Spring, them *might* spawn in Sept/Oct, but if you stocked 2.5"-4" BG or larger they will spawn this year. I'd also add 25%-30% RES to the panfish numbers. They will control snails, which are part of black spot disease, plus yellow and white grub life cycle. Keep snails out or at the very least minimized then you won't have those issues. If stocking Fathead Minnows, make durn sure that they are not wild caught fish, and that if they are, they are clean - no GSF, no bullheads, etc. in with them.
FHM will only feed LMB up to about 9" in length, then the bass will start looking for bigger food to ear.
If it was my pond, I'd stock 1,000 BG and 250-300 RES per surface acre along with 50-75 LMB per acre. Put all the minnows in you can afford, all the bigger fish will eat them, and the ones that they can't will be the brood stock - then the fish in there will eat the minnow offspring.
The more food you put in there for the bass, the faster they will grow. We have seen 3"-4" bass stocked in late April be 10"-12" by late September.
If you just went with Catfish and skipped the bass, I'd be worried that the BG in the pond would overpopulate and stunt in 4-6 years. You'd still have the larger stockers, but the offspring would suffer from lack of food.
If you wanted to stock the minnows, BG/RES this year and put the LMB in this Fall or next Spring, that would be an option that would leave the forage base grow.
Like others have said, I would start a supplemental feeding program shortly after the fish were stocked. That way they will grow a LOT faster. If you stop feeding them later they will still forage for food, but their growth rate will be a lot slower.
