AF..first thank you for your service. Secondly I lean towards a professional...but like you say it's often semantics...the guy I use is a "professional" local guy that builds roads and ponds full-time...vs "I think I might can build ya a pond" type local...my guy has a great reputation and tons of local past projects that prospective clients can go look at. So you should get several bids and do some background research on the ones you like...the right one will most likely know what the local regulation do's and don'ts are. It might be expensive..$10K-$25K, but I doubt regulation-wise it will be a big deal, especially in Clemson or Gamecock country!

Fishing has never been about the fish....