Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations The shortest path to trophy gamefish?

GW, I stocked GSH and FHM in April 2002, and didn't add other fish until May 2003 (BG, CC, RES) and June 2003 (LMB). There were a lot of forage fish after the year head start. I don't know how close to carrying capacity the GSH & FHM were, but the Shiners remained a major part of the Biomass for a couple of years before the bass got big enough to eat them and started reducing their numbers.

I think in a brand new pond, with a minimal amount of dead vegetation and organic waste, a one year forage fish head start is very safe from worry about water quality problems - maybe 2 years up North, with our shorter spawning season.

Remember predators need forage fish in the right size and sufficient numbers for optimum growth. FHM/GSH is a good combo for starting out bass, but LMB predation will knock out both species sooner (Fatheads) or later (Shiners), and even the Shiners won't match the size and/or numbers of "climax" forage species like BG and Shad.

For a Warmouth pond, FHM might provide all the forage size needed for the top predator. Whether they would remain for more than a couple of years would depend on WM numbers (controllable) and fecundity (an unknown to me).