I have a new 2 acre pond in central KY. It ended up being deeper than I was hoping. Has a lot of water 15+ ft deep with max depth around 22 ft. I will aerate the pond but was wondering how effective sinking habitat in the deep water is. Also should I try suspending cover out there? Thanks

Ideally you want most habitat 6ft and less. Small fish usually do not frequent deep water where predators are most abundant. If you want refuge for small fish place habitat shallow. As fish attractors for anglers the structure can be deeper. If you aerate bottom to top larger fish will use all depths.

Something else to consider is winter time. You may want at least some deep cover for the smaller fish as they move to deeper warmer water during the winter. Or depending on your goals if you want all the smallest fish wiped out over winter you might not want deep cover for them.

I have often thought about a floating type cover from deep water but have never attempted it. A lot of different plastics float. If a person had it weighted to the bottom via a rope I think he could let floating type cover float up to whatever level he made the rope. The flotation would have to be adequate to allow for FA or other growth that might tend to sink it over time.

I have often thought of taking a bunch of plastic poultry plassons (drinkers for turkeys that I have surplus from my turkey farm days) tied together with jumbo Zip ties (like used on HVAC ducting) and using a couple of concrete blocks for weights placing them out in deep water and let them float up to desired depth via a rope. I actually did a single one of these as a test and it floats fine but I have never done a "bouquet" of them (a large enough bunch to make good cover).

The fallacy about deep water being unused only applies to summer in water with O2. In fall , spring and winter fish use deep water as well. Structure from 2 to 20 ft. will produce at those times of year. Suggest you have 1 or 2 structures from 3 ft to the bottom using the following method.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post487146

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input.

every winter I fish a backwater with depths of 26+ feet...there are brush piles all over in ranges of 8-22 foot of water. Fish will hold on those brush piles from fall, through winter and into spring. They serve as protective cover for small BG and bait fish but also ambush cover for HSB and crappie.

I added some mid to deep water transition cover last winter to my pond that is used year round by fish