Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New Old Pond v3

I've been pouring over forums and websites to come up with my plan for stocking. We removed all the trees and stumps from last years mud puddle back in August due to the rebuild. When I stocked minnows in the fall of 2020 (20lbs of fatheads and 10lbs of shiners) they spawned like crazy in just 3-4 feet of water. It was sad to see 4-5" shiners what seemed like thousands of fatheads a year later flopping around in the mud when we pumped it dry for the rebuild.

My ultimate goal is to create a trophy LM pond. It will two years this coming April before we get it filled back up. Even with a surface area of 1/2 acre and 5 feet of depth, I'm waiting until spring to add forage as I don't think it makes sense at this point in the year. We have really good water clarity and I already have algae growing in the shallow edges.

To start stocking, I was looking at 50lbs of shiners, 50lbs of shiners and 1250 4-6" bluegill for 75 5-7"LM.

No other fish other than a possible grass carp or two will be added.

I'm starting with 12" + LM (how many is my?) and thinking of bumping the shiners and fatheads to 75lbs along with added brood shiners in addition to the 1250BG.