Lol, I hope you don't take this wrong... but I trust Snipe's id'ing skills about 100x more than yours too. (I really am joking).
That is why I made the post above to ignore my IDs. New posters don't know all of the backgrounds of the various members, old members do! (I was pretty sure you knew, but didn't want you giving my ID any weight.)
However, you actually could have FHMs in your watershed pond. Any little pond with FHMs above you in the watershed could have had them wash out through their overflow during one of the big rains this spring. They might even spawn in the creek pools and then the next rain event moves some down to your pond/lake.
Did you ever use the FishMap.org info that I have posted a few times in the past to check your watershed?
It is an awesome resource. I don't know your exact watershed, but I have checked my buddy's creek that lives out your way. I believe there are TEN different shiners in his watershed! (Although, certainly fewer than that exist at his particular creek location.)
If you look up the watershed for your place, it will list all of the species. You then need to google good images for your subject species and compare to your photos. If you then post a link to the name and image of that fish species, and our resident experts confirm that matches your photo, then I would call that a positive identification!
P.S. There are tons of wrong images of minnow species in Google Images, etc., so make sure you confirm with multiple, trustworthy sources.
