Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Flat Head Minnow or Baby Sunfish

HI I am new to this forum I just found it a few weeks ago and fund it to be great resource.

I purchased my camp in North Eastern Penn late fall of 2021, it has a pond that is over 60 years old. The pond is just over 2 acre max depth 12 feet. The previous owner said fishing was good but winter freeze a couple years ago hit the pond hard.

In April of 22 I stocked 200 bass (6-8”), 25 catfish (8-10”) and a few trout just to see if they will survive the summers.
1) The fishing has been spotty but I seem to be catching 2-3 BG for every Bass I catch.
2)The BG are all in the 3-5” size and the Bass are 6-8” (I think the Bass are the ones I stocked).
3)I have also caught some yellow perch earlier in season

My question is should I stock for winter either
20lbs of flathead minnows or 1000 2-3” sunfish

Welcome to Pond Boss posting. What are your goals for the pond? In order to make improvements you have to know with certainty the situation at hand. You really need to know what is in the pond first. For example, if there are LMB in the pond then stocking a few FH will be a waste of money. If it is mostly empty due to winter kill, then what to do depends on what is left alive at present. If there are BG in the pond but no predators, then you don't want to add more BG as that may lead to BG stunting. So, an analysis of the size structure and numbers/types of fish is key.

Do you have AC electricity at your camp?

Having some aeration operating during the winter could help you avoid the NEXT winter kill.

I think it is much easier to invest in your pond management goals if you have confidence those expensive fish won't all die during the next rough winter.