Hello, First off, I would like to thank you for all the valuable knowledge which I have learned because of this site. This is a learning process that has continued for me. My journey started with wanting to grow walleye in a small pond. This was going to be a large investment for me. After reading thousands of posts. I realized that I would have to think outside of the box and get alot information. Walleye is were it started but soon realized that it was about the pond in which walleye were going to live.
In the summer of 2016 I had a 1/3 acre pond built facing east close to the bottom of a 300 foot steep spring fed hill side. It is tucked away in the middle of 140 wooded acre hunting property which I purchased years ago.

I learned from you to grow walleye, I would need good water quality, temperature, oxygen, habitat and good sustainable forage supply. I had to make sure all those issues were going to be addressed or this was going to be a big disappointment.
1/3 acre pond 12 feet deep with very steep sides. Six 70 foot logs with root ball were placed like a crib at the bottom of the pond. I nailed(galvanized) sixty wood pallets on top of the logs. The first logs were 2 feet off the bottom. This would give the walleye a place to hide with different levels. The top of the large crib is 6feet under the surface of the water. The reason different levels is because of oxygen levels in which walleye need. Aeration, I learned about stratification, Well with no electric and not wanting to invest in other methods. I decided to sleeve the 8 inch stand pipe with a 12 inch that draws the water off the bottom of the pond. My cool water spring has run year round.

My pond only gets about 4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight a day. This has been a big help to keep the water temperature at a cool level. It has been enough to keep a good algae bloom and loads of zooplankton. The first year 2016, I put in a few hundred fathead minnows, pondweed and cabbage.

Spring of 2019 loaded with plants and fatheads now it was time for100 breeding golden shiners. 25 4" , 15 7" yellow perch, 50 local crayfish and 25 6" walleye.

This spring(2020) still thousands of fatheads and lots of yellow perch eggs ribbons. The school of shiners out in center of the pond. The walleye are 12" to 14", I know from Mr Cody not to expect them to grow large but I'm happy for now. I have seen several hundred May flies hatch off the pond , so I must have done something right. There is so much more, thank you all.