Bill, thanks for the response! I have read a ton of the articles you have wrote on SMB in ponds and in fact that is why have decided to give it a try...

I was planning to stock some of the smaller sized perch in the 3-5" range, but the guy at Shelby fish farm didn't recommend it saying he was concerned that the larger 6-8" perch may eat them. He told me to go with the 6-8" YP and to for go the larger size of 9+" YP as well... It would definitely be cheaper to use several of the 3-5" YP instead of all the larger size. What's your take on this? I thought since the YP would be feed trained and on food they wouldn't eat too many fish and that 3-5" fish seemed pretty large for a 6-8" YP to eat.

As far as spawning substrate goes for YP, does it have to be tree limbs? Would Fishiding plastic structures work for the egg strands? They make some with narrower strips that I thought might work well. Im trying to keep the wood out of the pond as much as possible, but I could always pull it back out if necessary.