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I didn't know GSH were such shallow bank spawners.

That is why I posted that info. Not a lot of people know his tidbit of GSH spawning habit.

If one is creative and resourceful he should be able to find a good substitute to the commercial spawning mats. I have read where shag carpet works good for GSH spawning. IF money is an issue check with some carpet installers and tell them you will pay for used throw away shag carpet. Otherwise just by spawning mat material. Even buying new cheap shag carpet 3ft to 4ft wide from a Big Box store roll might be cheaper than buying commercial spawning mats. I would look into both options before "pulling the trigger".

Your stocking plan looks okay to me. SMB in the 1st fall should work really well since there will be a full summer season of minnow, RES and maybe YP breeding and recruitment. You will be very surprised how many small fish will be present the first fall if you follow your plan. Okay - add several WE in years 2 to 3 if small fish are still obviously abundant. If you feed pellets and or some crushed, ground pellets minnow abundance should be very obvious. Minnows will quickly learn where ground feed in distributed.