Many different opinions. Nobody is really wrong, it depends on what your goals and preferences are. Some like cats, but personally I would not want them in my pond. Some don't like Crappie but I do and have them in my 6.19 acre Southern Michigan pond.

The pond is 11 years old and was never really stocked. The Bluegills just appeared from somewhere. After several years approximately 75 to 100 Bass were transplanted from a number of other locations. Approx. 25 to 30 Crappie from another pond were put in a couple years after the Bass. The only fish that were actually "stocked" were 150 6 to 8 inch Wallyeye in October of 1997.
Very few people fish the pond but all Crappie are catch and filet, all Bluegill under 9 inches are kept, all Bass under 14 inches are kept and all Wallyeye are released.

This past winter we pulled 3 Crappie over 17 inches thru the ice. The Walleye are all over 24 inches and the Bass are up to 8 1/2 pounds.
The guys in the South have different types of fish to chose from as do we in the North and everybody has different goals so I don't think you can really say "never" as far as fish stocking goes.

There are several "nevers" that do hold true for almost everybody with a pond......such as never let Comerants get established on your pond, never let Muskrats dig into your dam, never let a leaky dam go unattended. (Potsy--never let Beavers.....)

Dan

Mistakes are proof that you are trying.


Dan