Hello all, I'm still around although my fish growing days are over. My little pond has been fish-less for over six years now, you can only fight nature for so long and resistance is eventually futile.
Too many extremes in my neck of the woods for small ponds. After about five years of trout stocking I experienced numerous summer kill events, followed by winter kills after fall stocking attempts. Three feet of ice for many months in winter, plus a couple of weeks of heat wave in August does not support trout (in my pond).
For anyone interested, if I was to start over, here is what I would do: Minimum one surface acre in size, dig to 25 feet deep over most of the pond, think about it, then dig another five feet with side slopes as steep as allowable. Install summer bottom diffused aeration system and surface agitator for continuos winter run, keeping significant ice-free area all winter.
No regrets either way, I now have a nice little wild life refuge and moose swimming hole.
