Kelly, I continue to appreciate your help and hopefully I can respond to your comments. I am about 100 miles from the pond so I found a couple of pictures that will help get the lilypad variety issue worked. One is primarily just the large lilipads and the second shows the large lilypads and some smaller lilypad looking plants which distribute themselves to most areas typically near shore. Their growth can be retarded with Rodeo or 2-4-D.
[img:center]http://s265.photobucket.com/user/mullyden/media/Lilypad%20Pics.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5[/img]
[img:center]http://s265.photobucket.com/user/mullyde...?sort=3&o=0[/img]

Coontail vs. Milfoil - The vegetation that has choked the pond is shown on that first pic posted. I called it coontail because that is what a neighbor called it. I have been using both notations because the thread has coontail in the description. I have to take your judgement as to the plant id because I don't have any knowledge in this area (or most others!) All the stuff looks like the picture so from now on I will refer to it as milfoil. The part that somewhat confuses me is that the stuff I have does not appear to be anchored to the bottom as one of the pond rakes will clean it out to the pond bottom without any noticeable resistance. Also I have not seen it grow above the water surface. I am in Baton Rouge and the pond is about 100 mi away and I will for sure get an in hand pic as soon as I get back up there.
I have attached two additional pics showing how I calculated the area of the pond. The larger 3.7 acres includes the swampy tree area and the 2.5 acres does not include the tree area. The pics outline the areas. I hope we can assume assume the pond "starts" beyond the swamp but if not we'll have to deal with it I guess.
[img:center]http://s265.photobucket.com/user/mullyde...?sort=3&o=2[/img]
[img:center]http://s265.photobucket.com/user/mullyde...?sort=3&o=1[/img]
The imagery you describe is pretty consistent with the stories I have been told. In about 2006 or 2007 the prior owner filled in a path through the dam that the owner prior to that created. Bass/bluegill were stocked then. The owner that cut the dam had plans to do some revamp. Neighbors tell me that the pond was there 25 years ago because they remember swimming in it.
The pond is extremely clear. I had a total of 16 tons of ag lime spread (from shore) in the last few years.
Whatcha think?