Pond Frog,
No offense on the incompetent government statements, I hear it even from my family. Luckily for me, I work for the US Gov so I wasn't involved with the Lake Davis fiasco and I actually get paid for working on Fridays. My office is at the Sacramento NWR and I work on many of the clubs in the Lambertville area. What a small world.
As for the pond stocking, I'm most likely looking for fingerling size (1"-3") fish to keep the costs down. If I could get some slightly bigger (4"-6") at a reasonable rate then I'd go that route.
I've read a few places that it's okay to stock predatory and prey fish together as long as they're similar size. I'm not sure if this is true or not. Someone else may have an different opinion.
I'd like to get them in as soon as possible, however the pond is pretty muddy from the rain/run-off and it doesn't have much in the way of insects or plants for that matter. I had it halfway done last year when it ended up filling with rain water. Sometime in the early to mid-Spring the pond came alive with tree frog tadpoles and invertabrates. I'm expecting similar results this year.
The stocking rate that I'm considering is:
F1 Largemouths- 125
Florida Largemouths- 25
Redear Sunfish- 300
Coppernose Bluegill- 700
Channel Catfish- 75
Fathead Minnows- 1,000
