Noel, that's exactly what I've been thinking... Without YP, I doubt if we would ever grow any really large SMB, say 5-6 lb, but I think the BOW could hold more overall pounds of SMB. IMO, I suspect that could look like a fairly large number of 2-3 lb fish, and maybe the occasional 4lber, but they'd probably hit a wall at that size due to size of forage available. In this scenario, I also suspect that we'd have too good of SMB recruitment, so we'd probably have to harvest small SMB heavily.
This is all theoretical, but it's interesting to me to think out how different stocking numbers might play out, to hopefully avoid a situation where my predators absolutely decimate the forage base quickly, or where we can only support 5 adult SMB because I have so many intermediate predators, or just a big fish kill a couple years in. Just for the record, I am considering still stocking some YP, but maybe in lower numbers than what you usually see on these forums.
I've been only mentioning GSH as forage so far just to keep the thought experiment simpler/cleaner, but the other part of my original reason for the thread was looking for another longer-term forage species, so I definitely agree on the "variety of reproducing forage fish" point. That's an important point, because even if I only stock an apex predator, they could wipe out the forage if it's based on only one species.
I'm sold on the value of aeration and feeding, but this is my parents' property, so I'm coordinating this project with them and my brother. I'm also trying to start my own business so my purse strings are extra tight these days, otherwise I'd just money whip it and cover the aeration expense myself. Aeration could come back into play in a few years, if they see we're having some success with the pond and if the money situation loosens up a bit.
