I for one will be interested in how you think it works out for you. I've got predators in my tiny 1/20th acre forage pond now so just putting in FHM's might not do much good. But what you are doing might just work.
Something you might consider after you get it going is to put a couple of minnow traps in your pond to see if you can capture any of your recruitment minnows. Shallow water, a foot or two deep, is what I have my best luck capturing minnows in a trap. Somewhere in my old forage pond thread I have pictures and a discussion of minnow traps.
In my opinion the Gee's traps are some of the best. As the fish you are trying to capture get a little bigger, a person can enlarge the opening from the standard 1" to 1.5 or so. Be advised though, doing so probably makes it illegal to use in public waters. And captured fish tend to wander back out easier so more frequent content checks are needed.
Edit: Some minnow trap info:
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=521163&page=1About half way down the following page some discussion and pictures of different traps I have used.
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=498329&page=2
