ChuckC: here is an idea for your smaller lake. A friend of mine has a very small lake with 6-8 species in it. There is no reproduction what so ever. Also, he does not depend on forage raised in his lake. In his case, he has a small lake with all of the fathead minniows he could ever use. This isn't any different than having all the fish eating pellets.
He has LMB, SMB, white bass, rock bass, white crappie, black crappie, bluegill, HBG, walleye and yellow perch. He adjusts his lake accourding to what he likes to fish. This is not a self-sustaining lake. From my perspective, who cares. It has fish in it that are fun to catch and that's all I care about.
