I don't have any land yet. I am currently in EMT school and I am trying to be a fireman. My goal once I achieve this is to purchase some land and build my own pond. I think my goal will come to fruition in the next one to two years so I am begining to educate myself on what kind of pond I want and how to get it. What I think I want is a balanced pond with channel cats, bluegill and largemouth bass. I would like to catch lots of fish but also be able to grow some larger fish. So what pond size should I have in mind? I doubt I will be able to build a large pond but is say ten acres better than five, fifteen better than ten, etc. Thanks!

Red, almost everyone would agree that bigger is better, but so are the costs involved in building and maintaining it. If you're starting from scratch, your options are wide open. When looking at property, keep 2 things in mind, Watershed Area and Dozer work. I would recommend a site where you could dam up a valley, it will save you a lot of $$$. Other items to consider are soil samples and access. You could easily build something that won't hold water well, test for clay. Also, if you have easy access, you're just inviting others in to catch your fish. Managing your fishery will be the best part, there are hundreds of posts here that will help with fish types, growth, and harvest !

build it as big as you can afford, and borrow if you have to! the bigger the better. also, think ahead about money saving items. for instance, i talked to my county and city and other gravel and dirt companies... i offered them cheap dirt they could turn around and sell, if they would excavate it. they were actually interested, but they couldn't move there equipment here for over 3 months, and i wanted it sooner, so i had to pay to excavate it. i did wind up selling some of the dirt to a guy building a horse arena. so, plan ahead so you won't be pressed for time, and you might find someone to pay for your dirt, and in return, you get a hole in the ground, and the dozer can focus on the dam and "clean up". i estimated if they would have excavated one particular are of my 7.5 acre lake, it would have saved me 12-15k. good luck.

Absolutly! get as big as your pockets can stand!! But as you stated You have not found the tract of land yet. I was once in your shoes about 6 years ago. I have found that good size lakes and ponds are tough!! very tough!

Couple of questions where in GA do you want this tract of land?
What size tract of land?
Have you look at alot of lakes with their acreage size given? What size do you want?
Lot of questions to be answered!!!

I can tell you right now! there is alot of cheap timberland on the market in North GA. You can get it real cheap in the "East Athens" area counties. Also from talking with DNR people, it is not very hard to a lake approved. But, here is the kicker for N Ga., Topography. Most of the tracts of land I have looked at in North Ga are very steep! This really makes it tough for building a good size lake, because the water backs up and becomes to deep before it tends to spread out to make good surface acreage. Now I am not saying you can't build a larg lake in north GA but it is tough find a good larg lake site.
The places I had the most luck was south or middel Georgia, just below the fall line, where the land laid a little flatter. Now when you go to dam up a creek or stream the water will spread out over the land better and you can pick up some surface acreage.
The first tract of land I bought took me 4 years to find, it was in middel GA 8.5 acre lake, loved it but it was too far to manage. So I sold it and stumbled on a tract in North Ga that I think will make a 10 or 12 acre lake. The key when look at land here in N Ga is to find hardwood bottoms because they tend to go flat for quite a ways. In these botoms there will be a creek channel. Visualize your site with the water coming out of that channel and filling in that botom.
One other point when looking at this timberland you will always find that the timber company leaves alot of good mature timber along creeks and streams. When you build your lake you can get a permit to harvest this timber along these SMZ's and it can really go a long way in paying for you lake!
Here again I bought my tract in N Ga. and supposed to getting the lake site survayed this week for the size, were hoping for over 10 acres.
Also have a lot of timber to sell where lake is going to go.

good luck!!