I am expecting to have a 1-1/4 acre pond by summer and thinking about a stocking plan, and could use some advice/insight. My wife wants primarily a sunset/water lilly pond and I am hoping for a place my 7 grandchildren, six of them boys, can fish and swim. We are not looking for trophy fish but would like some good eating.

This is a somewhat northern pond and we typically get 10-15 below and 7-12” of ice on the small lakes near us but the water will probably be too warm for trout as we will only be 9-10’ deep. My thoughts are to stock:

this summer GS, Pumpkin seed, YP
next spring SMB

Are there prior posts on this exact combination? I know that shiners are nest raiders and will eventually get too large for either the YP or the SMB to eat. I hope this will help keep the pond from getting overcrowded with large preditors. The PS are easy to catch and will be great for young beginners, as well as the benefit of eating snails and such. I plan on having spawning beds for the PS and SMB and the lilies plus eel grass, if we can get it to transplant, will be there for GS and YP.

I would also like advice on adding paper shell crayfish; pluses or minuses in northern waters.

I plan to harvest as needed, and especially YP and SMB for dinner, but do not want this pond to require a lot of management. I also plan to aerate at some pont.

Your advice, previous posts, etc. are appreciated.