Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose I messed up - no minnows

I have a beautiful 1 acre pond in southern Michigan. When I bought the house three years ago I started feeding the fish and all thazt would come up are "stunted bluegill" by the hundreds. This last spring I threw in 100 LMB and 100 striper hybrid bass and 300 hybrid bluegills and 150 channel cats. I am now feeding them Purina fish chow. They seem to be growing excellently. I did not however throw in any minnows. I was thinking the existing bluegill population would provide excellent forage base however after reading mor about stocking the pond on the internet I am having second thoughts about not putting minnows in.

Is it to late? Would I hust be tossing in expensive bass food or is there a chance I could still augment my forage base successfully. The bluegill numbers appear to be going down.

Eric, the minnows wouldn't last long. I'm no expert by any means but in that size pond with the exsisting bluegill population you may be a little overstocked. Your bluegills should spawn 3 to 4 times a year starting at 3 to 4 inches in length. I have had at least 2 spawns since my original stocking on Jan 31 of this year. Another forage species may be in order but I couldn't recommend on that. Hopefully someone with more experience with the other forage species will respond. Good luck.
Bill