I'm in SW MI and my pond in mid summer with evaporation is likely 8' max. I aerate in the late spring, summer and early fall at night only to try to keep the water cooled down. So far I have caught a few 12" YP that are probably 4 years old now. Never had a single YP mortality and our kids are not always so gentle when they handle them after catching them and releasing them. They seem pretty hardy.
Of course the original stockers will be 5 years old later this year and hopefully more of them will pass the 12" mark. We'll see if they can do well this summer or not. I don't have the option of making any deeper areas for them...
