Ed,

I'm weighing in a little late but hope I can offer a few thoughts to help you and your friend out.

A few comments from reading the thread:

1) there was mention of rocky and gravel areas in the pond. Be very cautious during construction to make sure all areas are first covered with good quality clay(two feet is my minimum)...otherwise you may be plagued with leaks and the heartbreak that brings with it.

2) Some really good reading material on fish in southern ponds exists at http://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm

It's worth while spending some time there.

3) do not use dog food or any other cheap food substitue. They can hurt much more than help by providing only filler and not nutrition for your fish. It just does not make sense to spend thousands on a pond and then save $5 on a sack of feed. Buy high protein floating feed generally at or above 32%.

4) the comments on grass carp may be somewhat overstated. Grass carp do what their genetics are programmed to do...eat vegetation. If you stock too many, you will have little or no vegetation and problems. If you stock right, you can have your "cake and eat it too". Right depends on your pond and its fertility. Start out with low stocking rates...no more than 2 per acre. Increase only if you need more vegetation control. Do not wait until you have a vegetation problem to stock them. It takes 15 to 20 per acre to get problem vegetation under control, and can all be prevented by stocking before the problem gets out of hand. I rotate out my grass carp every three years...after that time they get fat and lazy.

5) green sunfish: I wouldn't loose any sleep about them. You probably will have some, but if you have a good predator base, they will not cause a problem.

6) crappie: high management fish, odds are against you being successful with them...some have, yes, but most have not.

7) F1 LMB: This is a great choice for Southern ponds as the primary predator. They are a cross between the Florida strain and native LMB strain. I love them in ponds because they provide the growth of Floridas with the aggressiveness of natives. I have seen absolutely no evidence of hybrid depression, none at all. Over the years, you can add native genetics to the mix and maybe a few Floridas to spice things up. the F1 LMB is a great pond fish for Southern ponds. Stock them at 100 per acre if you want lots of bass/action and 50 per acre if you want larger fish or somewhere in between. First get your forage base established, well established before introducing the predator.

8 ) BG: I like to stock copper nosed BG, but their range is very similar to Florida LMB so you may be too far north for them. Check around your area to see if anyone has successfully grown them. I stock 800 Bg per acre and 200 RES per acre. That 80/20 ratio seems to work for me.

9) SMB: can't offer any help in that regard....we are to far south for them, but I would love to have them

10) rainbows: Even if you can't have a year around rainbow fishery, you can have a put and take with rainbows and provide your predators some great forage in the process. I stock them in my East Texas ponds for winter forage.

11) Tilapia: I don't know if they are legal in your area, but if they are seriously consider stocking them each spring. They genereate tremendous amounts of forage for your predators when they need it the most, as well as eat filamentious algae and other unwanted vegetation.

I love fly fishing in ponds...nothing much better than building the pond, stocking it, raising the fish, and catching them on the fly. Good luck!