At this point in time your current plan appears good to my thinking and experience. This assumes you will get the ordered fish in a good timely manner with no delays. From what I have seen for growth of SBS, those 5"-7"ers if stocked in early to mid- May should grow at least 2" some maybe 3" by Fall and range in sizes from 7"- 9+". Be aware that not every fish of a species will grow at the same rate. Some individuals of each spawn or litter are slower growers of runts. Hopefully you don't get many of those slow growers from your supplier - it is a gamble of the fish business. Try to pay attention the the size range of the SBS that you receive. Return back to this thread and report the growth of the SBS and progress of the pond fishery in early October.
If you want good habitat cover for the small fish, plan to have pretty long lengthy areas of dense brush like structure. It can be numerous 2"-3" dia small tree trunks with the trunk bases anchored to shore. Then when structure provides too much cover or it needs to be replaced just pull out the tree tops or replace when smallest branches rot up after 2-4 years.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/24/25 06:48 PM.
