Hello Neighbor-
IMHO, CJBS advice is right on the mark, WRT having a very well established population of predators BEFORE you add BG/CNBG. I stocked SMB and BG in a 3 acre pond in the same year, following what was then the standard "forage first, then predators" consensus. I have had to function as an additional apex predator for some time to maintain the fishery I want [good SMB, large BG], but now the smallies have grown and recruited to the point that they're doing the vast majority of heavy lifting when it comes to control. I actually culled about 50 8-12" SMB last spring to allow more recruitment of bg into the 3-4" range, as there are a good number of 3-4lb smallies present, and at least a couple pushing 6lbs.
I wouldn't stress over stocking numbers for CNBG, but do put in fish above the predation threshold.
As Bill notes, your challenge going forward will be to balance everything, and keep it balanced. Again, IMHO, feeding can really play an important role in this. Once you've got a good predator population, if you see a surge in numbers of smaller BG, cut your feeding way back, put the predators to work; if it swings the other way, start feeding more heavily.
Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to PM me if you have any Tennessee specific questions I might be able to help with....
