Thank you again. No trees near the pond but runoff from a neighbor's tilled field will bring in nutrients. The pond will be about an acre so it may take a while to bring up the minnow forage population. The crayfish are everywhere, so they will be no problem. We have lots of burrows around our existing pond, shallow duck ponds, and wetlands. We have bluntnose in the stream that runs through our place, so I should be able to catch some easily. My worry is putting in the wrong fish, but if the stripe is distinctive, I should have no problem. I knwo they are in ther because my son had one in a fish tank that got to be about 6 inches long and was quite easy to identify at that size. I only plan to add about ten SMB initially due to cost, and then let them breed. Thank you for the tip on the multiple small stone beds. This makes good sense and I will do this. I will keep a natural edge to this pond, like my other one, so the reeds and other plants should provide cover. Not aerating risks a fish kill, but I will try anyway. I have a 5' duck pond full of warmouth and BG, and some nice size LMB, and I do not know how they survive, but so far no fish kill after 3 years. I can only fish it in early spring due to weed growth, but I did not expect it to have any fish because it was built as a wetland and was not supposed to hold water according to the FWS. That is why I had it made so deep. The fish got in during a flood.
