Just had a quick question regarding stocking bluegill and fathead minnows. Will BG wipe out the FHM like the bass will? Is there any benefit to stocking FHM early with the BG? I do have two fish feeders and 50lbs of feed is a lot cheaper than 50lbs of FHM so I'm thinking there's no real point to stocking them simultaneously if the BG will just wipe them out before I introduce the bass. I'm assuming BG will likely feed on smaller baby FHM but might leave the larger ones alone?
Minnows are essential to maximize growth of LMB during their first year. BG grow so danged fast that they grow right past the ability of YOY LMB. IMHO, BG slow the growth of 0 year LMB. It is not until after reaching 12" in length that BG become very important to LMB. I've looked at this from many angles in terms of timing and have studied extensively optimizing consumption and maximizing forage production. I done this with literally thousands of theoretical ponds playing out in daily simulation. By far, the very best scenario is with GSH where the population is first established with fry and in very large numbers. Under this scenario, the GSH grow rapidly but would begin stalling at a length that depends on density and feed/capacity. An appropriate number of LMB of the appropriate size to optimally consume them at the LMB stocking date will place enough predation on the GSH (along with appropriate feed balance) such that GSH will grow proportionally the same as the LMB. What this does, is keep the GSH population entirely consumable by the LMB at optimum sizes. It depends on the LMB stocking rate, but the forage can supply them for just one season OR for multiple years from that initial start of GSH fry. In part, how long the initial stocking of fry can support the LMB population without reproducing, depends on mortality not consumed by LMB. But mostly, it depends on the number of LMB that are large enough to consume them and their limit of growth enforced by climate (temperature).
Point is, the LMB really don't need the BG for quite some time. The GSH are sufficient for a minimum of 18 months in a well-balanced system. In truth, they would be better than BG if they would recruit consistently in the right numbers and if they would inhibit LMB reproduction as well as BG. But BG are essential and good LMB trophy water needs them, to help counteract the LMBs reproductive potential, and to recruit forage consistently for large LMB. So I often wonder about the timing of forage and predator introductions whether better recipes can be concocted. One I may eventually try is the stocking of GSH fry followed by a stocking of LMB advanced fingerlings that are appropriately sized so the current samples of GSH are optimally sized (even slightly smaller than optimum) for them. At the time of stocking the LMB, I would also stock brood sized BG. They would be large enough to never be on the menu of LMB but needn't be any larger than that. The stocking number should be high enough that they would not overproduce young but low enough that they would grow well and recruit lots of forage to replace the GSH as their population diminishes. In most new waters without good macrophyte coverage, the BG will eventually dominate and essentially replace the GSH.
I wouldn't recommend GSH to you because you have seemed (from prior posts) to have a focus on BG and their growth.
Also, I have doubts that pre-stocking minnow forage will be most conducive to your focus of growing large panfish. Mainly because the LMB are going to focus on any minnows (like FHM) until they are gone. That is fine for the LMB but really for the goal of growing large BG you would want to force your LMB to consume BG instead to inhibit recruitment. Also, I have doubts that delaying the stocking of LMB has any benefits for growing large BG.
