Regarding the question about stocking crayfish, I generally believe that any fish that can fit a crawdad in it's mouth will eat one, but I have no true knowledge of the level of benefit for Yellow Perch.
Some folks may be able to discuss any potential negative effects of crawdads if they overpopulate and don't have a viable predator to keep them in check.
My initial thoughts are stock a bunch early in the process and then see how things go.
Regarding the Golden Shiners, I might wait a year before introducing them. Maybe 2 years. When you do want to introduce them, I would use the Anderson Fish Farms Golden Shiner Fry method. For a few hundred bucks, you get 250k of GS fry early in the given year, like April. Even with healthy existing fish populations, you'll still get heavy GS recruitment.
Thank you Suni! What reason do I want to wait to stock the GS? I am trying to get as much of a forage base for my YP as i can. Do the older bigger GS compete with the YP if they don't have a predator like the WE?
