Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Recommendations in SE Michigan

Yes, personally I would stock roughly equal number of YP and RES (if added at the same time via the same method).

The best answer to the second question I can give is "We don't know." Certainly I don't know.

There is a moderate amount of experience with the SMB/YP combo in ponds. (HEY, CODY!!!!) And people know how to manage things to make that pairing work. (HEY, CODY!!!!) Thoughtful contemplation by multiple minds wrt adding RES to the mix has yielded the belief that the RES shouldn't screw stuff up much, if any, since they don't act as a predator on juvenile or adult fish and do not have a propensity to overpopulate themselves.

Cody published articles on YP management in a now-defunct magazine titled (IIRC) Farm Pond Harvest. His YP management techniques include propping up or chopping down YP spawning success by adding spawning substrate after ice-off in the Spring (like tree branches or the Reel Weeds {tm} Dr. Dave Willis wrote about in a recent issue of PB Mag) and, if a reduced YP spawn is desired, removing the spawning substrate AFTER the egg masses are layed.

I'm putting the triple-threat SMB/YP/RES combo (and I'm not even wearing my swim fins) in just under a half acre; I figure I can tweak the populations as needed while I figure out how to make it work. Plus I'm looking to those a little ahead of me (like you and Brettski) for a little advance info.

That really doesn't help much, does it? (HEY, CODY!!!!)

P.S. Anyone with SMB/YP experience, please comment.