On our family farm their is a fairly large pond in the middle of the woods.Id say the pond is roughly an acre. Pond use to be in decent shape however my grandpa died about 15 years ago and the place has been left un-touched since.

There is a decent amount of algae in the pond and it is shallow in parts. My cousin and I seem to think in the dead center it is still about 4 1/2 feet deep.

There are 2 ducks still swimming in the water and we recently found a giant turtle which my uncle has confirmed has been in there since he was a little boy. So that means that the water has to be somewhat livable right? I am wondering what we can do to get this thing in shape to stock with fish and clear up the water other than draining the entire pond as we feel would be fairly costly for 18 year old kids and a major project. any responses would be greatly appreciated.

If it were me, I would verify the depth before stocking any fish. Be a shame to lose them the first winter because the pond was too shallow to allow survival. 4.5' depth is not enough.

is it possible that it could be deeper under all the algae that has accumulated over the years? If so, do you have any recommendations to remove the algae?

Hey Chevy, welcome to the right place for good info.
I'm no expert but seems to me a pond in the middle of the woods left unattended for so long is going to have a large build up of muck. Get a little boat or raft on it and poke around with a 8' pole.
You need to check with the older folks (wallets) of the family to see what would be possible as far as improvements.