We did a SMB RES only lake in spring 2019. It was a new five acre lake that we wanted to make unique with SMB. We stocked 5000 RES and 250 SMB (3-5 inch). We fed Optimal since the initial stocking and RES came to food easily. Today we catch SMB over 14 inches, have had several success SMB reproductions and have some nice RES.

We are keeping the pond catch and release. I have a concern when we should start removing a few fish. Our removal will mean taking them to another lake to live with LMB.