I have reclaimed in December, a small woodland pond fed by springs. It is mostly shaded and thus the water is cold. I’m in northwest R.I.
It is about 100’ X 100’ in size and 10-12’ deep.
Essentially it was mucked out by an excavator after pumping out all the water possible, and dug down until we hit a gravel base.
I stocked it with about 50 Golden Shiners, 30 brown bullhead and 6 yellow perch.
My goal is to catch shiners for bait, and catch yellow perch and bullhead for the table.
Since it is a new pond there is virtually nothing for these fish to eat at this time.
Around here bullhead usually bury in the mud and hibernate in winter.
I caught the perch ice fishing and believe 4 are females and two are males, so I’m hoping they will spawn in the spring.
The perch were adults 8”-10” with the females full of roe.
I know largemouth are advised to balance the populations, but that’s not what I want.
Yellow perch can only eat a shiner up to bait size, so I’m hoping they will somewhat control the shiner population, while I’ll be able to catch the larger shiners for bait.

I realize the bullhead which I caught last October and kept in a tank until stocked, may eat the other fish’s eggs but I’d like to catch some of the bullhead to eat. The bullhead are 6”-8”

I’m also considering putting a few rainbow trout in as it is spring fed and the water should be cold enough in summer.
Currently the water hasn’t completely settled, still small amounts of organic matter suspended in the water column.

Any advice would be appreciated!

What can I feed these fish to get them through the winter alive?

Denny R.

Those YP will eat the bullhead fry like crazy this spring - bh fry will stay in very tight bait ball schools. Also the bh will most definitely eat the yp fry

Keep an eye out for the YP ribbons after ice out.

Bullhead and YP have comparable mouth sizes - you will need to have a very large forage base to keep both growing to potential. BH also can be feed trained very, very quick and easily.

Hybrid stripped bass or smallmouth bass might be a great option if you can establish a good sustainable population of bh and yp over the next couple of years. Walleye too

Not to be a party pooper here but it's been my experience when dealing with BH you usually end up with a very turbid water body which inhibits the sight feeders, makes them considerably less efficient as a predator.
I hope you prove me wrong but I'm not sure YP can keep up with the BH.

You will need underwater vegetation or dense brush for the YP to lay their eggs on so they will hatch. If they scatter them on the bottom, they may get covered in sediment and not hatch. You may want to throw in some Fathead minnows for the YP to eat. Once the pond comes alive with organics like phytoplankton when it warms up there should be plenty in there for the shiners to eat. I agree about the bullheads, depending on how many are there, they may muddy the water and cause problems.

I would just keep an eye on the fish population now, not stocking any apex predators until you see how things are going. Predators that wouldn't reproduce would be best, as the pond is roughly 1/4 acre and not very big.