Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Catfish and Trout

Let me throw out this idea and see what you all think. One of the great aspects of this site is the ability to learn from so many people and to learn without making all the mistakes a newbie like me would be prone to make.

As the "dream" pushes forward, one thing I have learned from my Pond Boss magazine is plans change and there are many options available on how to run your pond.

Originally I was looking at a .5 acre catfish pond which would sit above the main pond of WE, SMB and YP. As I read more and more about pond capacities and catfish, I am thinking that .5 acre is going to support more fish than I will eat. In my warped mind, to have too many fish in a body of water that are not being eaten is to under utilize that body of water. If you have read the "Catfish and what" thread, we explored other options for the .5 acre and other fish to complement the catfish but none were forth coming. HSB, RE are not allowed in WI. I am avoiding BG, LMB and others to avoid any fish moving from above to the lower main pond and upsetting the balance of the lower pond.

After re-reading Cecil's article and his several ponds set up at 1/10th acre BOW, Eric West's work using blocking nets to create hatchery options and and the articles in the magazine on mini-ponds, I was wondering if I could split the .5 acre pond with a blocking net into two parts and have catfish in one side and rainbow trout in the other.

1. The side with trout would be dug deeper, 10-12 feet with narrow sides to help with water heating up
Is this typically deep enough for trout

2. I have a well that could pump water as Cecil does for 4 months of the year to keep water cool.

3. A Vertex aerator will be installed
if this split is possible should the aerator be on the catfish side or trout side?

4. I will have a feeder installed to feed fish.
dumb question - would I or should I have a separate feeder and use separate types of food or is trout and catfish food close enough for my small limited operations?

5. Trout and Catfish will be stocked at low densities.
Question - is this good 50-100 fish to be stocked?

6. I will have several forage ponds producing FH, Golden shiners, Blunt-nose (I hope). These forage fish will help supplement the feeding. I will leave the Golden shiners out of the .5 pond.
question- Goldens are two quick for catfish and can grow too large or at least that is what I have read and understood. Does that apply to Trout also?

Finally, I am thinking about the blocking net for the following reasons:
- the .5 acre pond will be excavated as part of the barrow area
- To have two separate ponds, I would have to build a dividing wall between them
- I was hoping in this crazy plan to share aerator, feeder, food, drain pipe, overflow pipe between the two .25 acre ponds (save a little money)
- If the plan eventually proved to be stupid and not maintainable, I could just pull out the blocking net and go back to having a .5 acre catfish pond.

There it is-- any feedback or threads helping in the planing, decision process is appreciated.