TyW � several questions here. Let me see if I can help with some of this.
Assuming that you go with LMB and BLG, you certainly can add fathead minnows the same time as you stock the LMB. The fatheads will spawn several times throughout that first summer, and will provide good prey for the LMB. Fatheads are tough little fish, and can survive turbidity. However, I would not stock them until I stocked the LMB, because if the fatheads have a year to expand and fill the pond, they�ll decimate the zooplankton and insects that the little LMB will need to get started.
You can expect the fatheads to disappear within a couple of years in your pond � the LMB are just too effective predators for the fatheads to persist much longer than that.
You can add golden shiners as well. They will not hurt the bluegills. In many cases, we just haven�t been able to get the golden shiners to persist with reasonable LMB densities. So, no reason to worry about them reaching such a high abundance that they would hurt the bluegills. Introducing some early should let them have a chance, but I can�t guarantee that they�ll be there several years from now. The general belief on golden shiners is that they have to have a reasonable amount of refuge in the form of the submergent aquatic vegetation. If you pond has any clarity at all, those plants will grow.
I�m not sure what to tell you about stocking. I�m always tempted to stock fish as soon as possible just because I am impatient, and want to get started. How much trees, brush, and grasses will be flooded in your new pond? Sometimes, we get a winterkill the first winter because all this organic material is decomposing, and the bacteria use all of the dissolved oxygen. If you aren�t afraid of winterkill, and you don�t have a lot of clay in your soils, then I would expect your water to clear up quickly after they finish construction, and I would be impatient and stock! Maybe some of the people who manage ponds for a living will comment, and we�ll see if they agree with me.
Dave
