I can definitely think of a lot worse things to do with my time then fish for SMB in order to keep populations in line. I'm sure my 13 yr old would love that job and the thought of getting a little income off the extra fish to offset expenses sounds great! At $10-20 a fish it makes it really difficult to justify eating them for dinner. Sounds like if you keep it in state it wouldn't be too big of a hassle to sell fish, but wow they really make you jump through hoops to sell out of state.

I really appreciate hearing about the real world experience you've had with the YP. It makes me feel a lot better about sticking to the original plan to include them in the pond.
Besides now that I won't be eating the SMB I'll need something for the dinner table and the perch are pretty hard to beat in that aspect!

I really like the put and take WE idea! I assume this would come down the road at least 5-6years out? So in this scenario you would stock say 1lb fish and harvest them later the same year or stock smaller fish and harvest the next season after they put on the size? I can only imagine having 5lb SMB, 14" perch, and 20" walleye in my own private waters! Now that sounds pretty awesome! Hopefully I can get it all put together and make it happen. With the info and advice I've gained on this site I feel like I'm at least starting out on the right track.

Getting back to building the forage base. I've got 30 LCS ordered to stock the pond and they range in size from some 3-4" (8-10 fish) and the rest being 1-2" fish. These fish will be my brood stock and will be going in very soon. Do you think I'm safe stocking the YP the end of May and the SMB this fall? It's difficult for me to wait til the following year but I will if necessary...
I also am stocking crayfish and wonder if it would be best to wait and stock Smallies later?

My original thoughts were that I would be okay to stock the SMB this fall since I'm stocking them at such a low rate (60 fish in 3 acres) and they will be pellet fed.

How about RES stocking? Is it okay to stock like 500-600 now or in another month or so?