on a pond or lake with low water levels, is there a seed that i could scatter along the bare mud banks that would grow into some good fish habitat once the water levels come back up?

there are grass carp already stocked, i really don't know what they would eat and what they wouldn't eat. i'd want something they would leave alone.

I've seen it suggested to at first plant some rye or wheat on those shorelines to solidify the soil. It's cheap, very prolific, and best of all, grows quickly. Natural vegetation will take over after the annual plant dies off. I don't know what kind of vegetation you could plant that the GC wouldn't target. And not sure if you'd want that really. If it became prolific might be difficult to control with the GC help.

We planted wheat around the banks of our pond to hold the banks in place.

what about reeds? can you grow reeds from seed?

I know that sedges can be grown from seed, I'll bet reeds too.

I thought that reeds were not a very desirable plant to have? What did I miss?

Peepaw, there are native reeds that don't grow fast and invasive reeds that will choke out a pond in the blink of an eye.

If your water level is low, I would plant cypress trees. In fact, that is what I did. As long as it is shallow enough for the leaves to remain above the water, they will live, and as they grow they will become great fish structure.