Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Too much structure???

I have read on this forum that it is ideal to have structure in about 15% of your pond (plus or minus 5%). I have also read that on a one acre pond 1 or 2 10'x15' brush piles is adequate.

Which is correct? If the 15% is correct, I would need 45 of the 10'x15' brushpiles. Works out to 6750 sqare feet divided by 43560 ft/acre = 15%.

I currently have 6 brush piles tbat measure 10'x15'. That works out to 2% of the one acre pond.

So what is correct, is the 1 or 2 10'x15' brushpiles per acre correct, or is the 15% correct (45 10'x15' brushpiles per acre)????

John it depends on the purpose for the structure/cover. Recall that lots of natural things like laydown trees , pond banks , points , plants , and the shape of the pond bottom are all structure. Sometimes the terms are confused and used to describe different topic ideas. Like up to 20% of the pond in plants , 10% of the pond holds 90% of the fish , 2-3 brush piles per acre or 10% of the pond in added structure. Those are just general thoughts. The answer is what do you want from the added structure/cover and what is best for your pond. It varies a lot from one pond to another based on shape (surface and bottom) , type of fish ,etc , but most of all your goals and your pond conditions.

I have not heard where anyone used those generalizations to do a square foot pond wide analysis. I can't imagine a one acre pond with 45 brush piles no matter the footage %. In most normal ponds 2-3 added brush piles (your size) per acre are enough for concentrating fish for angling and that many more in shallow water to help survival and growth of small fish are enough. This thread may help and take a look at the second thread which is the structure/cover archive thread.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000114;p=1

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000022