Thanks for coming back and updating us!
One thing I may have started. When we were communicating about fellow pond boss member and SMB spawning guru Ron C from Michigan I missed that his last name was Crismon and not Crimson. I see in the above posts it is still Crimson and I wanted others to catch the difference. Hopefully Ron C comes back and keeps us posted on the great things he does at his ponds. I know he dug some more ponds this fall I believe for forage so we'll have to see how things go for him this spring.
He would be a good place to get fish which would be a bit closer to you than Laggis.
If you find a way to get pumpkinseed for sure get them. Outside of catching them in a few local lakes I don't know another place around SW or Central MI that advertises that they sell them.
If you find a source for RES let me know please! I tried to get RES established but only could source a small number and although they were recaught the next summer they never were seen after that so they may have not survived the next winter.
Where I am RES are not likely to overwinter very well but there are several good MI DNR papers where lakes in central lower MI had successful stocking of RES and they survived. With more mild winters lately I'd love to try again. I almost feel like our winter is over here and they say the Great Lakes have peaked on ice and it will be less ice form here on out which seems impossible but so it goes.
I started with 100 stockers from Laggis and they were great YP with good genetics and they survived very well in my small pond.
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