Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Finally pulled the trigger!

Well its been a few years since my initial post. I finally just decided to do it and I contacted my builder back in April. He completed the pond on June 14th. It's too bad pond wasn't completed before May because we received 11 inches of rain that month. I have been fortunate though, the pond is approximately half full already and I have 1000 FHM doing their thing. I did not have time to get all my structure in before the rain and had to place my giant satellite dish in the bottom with 30" of water.

My pond is approximately 1/2 acre and located in western IL area. Pond will also be 12' deep. My question is should I add BG and RES this fall with CC or wait a whole year before adding CC and LMB. The local USDA office has some excellent pricing on BG and RES. They would be available in late September. Or should I wait until the spring and add the BG and RES then? I was also wondering if the suspended clay would eventually settle?

I'm also having issues resizing my pictures, otherwise I would have several attached.

This forum is an excellent resource and I appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks, 5444

5444, the forum is fixed, can you repost the picture from your post above?
The 'wake' you see in the pond is not a turtle. Concern you may have a predator already (LMB?) You should soak a minnow trap, or make your own, or try to set up a seine net in the shallows and catch some minnows. Put the biggest minnow under a bobber and catch that cruising predator and let us know what it is! IF you have LMB already then your plan for stocking crayfish may be able to change a bit early.

SetterGuy, my pond is near Macomb, IL and I did leave out the HBG. Although I did add Pumpkinseeds. Hopefully they do not turn into a problem too. I also added about 60-80 golden shiners a few weeks ago, they were the bigger 4'' plus so hopefully they will pull off a spawn. I'm acquiring the walleye from Keystone Hatchery; they are located in Richmond, IL.
I started aerating last night for the first time and found 3-4 dead shiners this morning. It was only shiners and thought that was strange. I had some family over the last few days and the kids were fishing off the dock catching perch. One perch had the tail of a FHM sticking out of its mouth. I'm glad I listened to the experts here on the forum too, their wisdom is priceless.

TJ was instrumental in helping with my weeping dam issue. I can't thank him enough.

Steve, yes