Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Supplemental Forage Stocking Question

I don’t know what the right answer to the question is Bstone but when it comes to growing big fat LMB and HSB I think the standard rule of thumb is less predator fish with a higher forage base.

We have a little smaller pond than you, stocked a lower Qty of LMB and zero HSB in 2024. We have seen some variation in the fish we’ve caught so far with a few being exceptional (compared to others in the pond) and some underperforming even though the RWs are still 103-108% for the lower performing fish.

What we chose to do was both supplement forage and cull what seemed to be the lowest performers. My novice opinion is that fish lagging behind the best fish in the pond will continue to lag behind the best fish in the pond throughout their lifetime. They do fillet well and taste great from my personal experience.

I’ll defer to the others on what and how much to stock. If I had a choice between GSH and FHM I’d lean toward GSH. The FHM will likely not get a chance to spawn at this point but anything remaining on the GSH current or supplemental stocking likely would next spring. More bang for the $$$ if they live long enough to both feed the LMB and spawn providing more forage to the pond as a result. FHM and GSH in my neck of the woods are nearly the same price per lb.