Hey Cajun, welcome and nice first post. I'm not well educated about such things as you are referring to but my personal belief is that NOW is the time to make it deeper if you think you might want to. Sounds as if your dirt man is more than reasonable and for a small investment I think you may be happier if you were to have him hollow/scrape out an area of say 50'X50" another 3-4'. I was going to dig my pond 10' but was persuaded to go 12' to compensate for fill in. I wish I'd gone 15' due to my pond being a good 4' below full pool during the hot summer months and a leak. Also with deeper water and possibly aeration you will have options for different fish if you should so choose down the road. There is a fellow in Arizona raising SMB. You may be the first person in Louisiana to have Walleye. Also, no matter what you end up raising, get a really thick forage base established. I know it's hard to be patient but it sure beats doing it over after not doing it right. Best of luck to you and keep reading what the people in the know on here have to say. Bob-O

Do nature a favor, spay/neuter your pets and any weird friends or relatives.