faw, as many people on this forum know, we have a high diversity in our 4-acre lake. We have 20 species in fact. Meadowlark is talking about all kinds of exotic species but you don't need to do that to add diversity.

One key to this is to add non-breeding species. HSB are an example of this. Another is to not insist on having species just because they are good to eat. Remove those restraints and look at all of the species that are available to us.

Depending on the part of the country a person is from, here are some possibilities. Spotted bass, SMB, pickeral, shovelnose sturgeon, goldeye/mooneye, skipjack herring, various shad species, golden shiners, carp, various suckers (I personally like shorthead redhorse), freshwater drum, pure white bass, many different sunfish species such as red-ear sunfish, red-breast sunfish, pumpkinseed, spotted sunfish, rock bass, warmouth, roanoke bass, and sacramento perch.

Certainly not all of these species will work in every situation but enough of them will to offer many possibilities.

Norm Kopecky