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I have looked on line and tried to learn as much as possible about digging a pond (a lot from these forums). Recently I had a company come in and dig my pond. It is approximately 130' by 180'. After it was completed the pond was measured by me and a family member that has a transit. The contract stated an 18' depth. After measuring it came up to 15'. The contractor came back and basically dug a trench along the east side that is 3 to 4 feet wide and about 50' long. The extra clay was brought up and pushed the east bank out further still keeping a 3:1 slope. That is part of the reason it is just a trench. The backhoe could only reach so far. The contract stated 30% of the pond was supposed to 18' deep. I want to have a bass, bluegill, channel mix. It was my thought to throw some rainbows in for some extra enjoyment. I am wondering if the "trench" he dug will be sufficient to keep the trout longer and/or all year for a cooler area that they can live. Any suggestions would be helpful. The idea is that he had to tear up my lawn (recently seeded) to correct the depth. It should be known that the water wasn't drained for the additional digging. I took a bobber with weights on the bottom to see how far down the depth is. Also the pond is only half full (dug in June 2011). This secondary work was done under water. Are there going to be any issues with that?

Krazykreez, welcome to pond boss. I do not enough have any trout knowledge as I am from the south and trout are not popular here. The only way to get the extra depth correctly would be to drain and let it dry out and then go in and fix it.

I second the drain and fix. Depending on the soil type and how dense it is, the trench might fill in pretty quickly.

Just adding to the bank won't necessiarly make the pond deeper if the water never gets up to the new topsoil level.

A pond that I recently measured had a trench dug thru the center of it, 1 to 2 buckets wide and 3'-4' deep. It was completely filled in (no trench was measureable) even tho I saw it being dug (no water) after less than a year of having water in the pond. This was very sandy soil tho.

If you can get a small boat in there with an electric trolling motor, you can put a depth finder transducer on the trolling motor and get a good depth reading that way.

I guess that was one of my concerns before I pay them the remaining balance. I don't want to worry about the trench filling up. I want to clarify the placement of the clay being brought up on the east side. The clay was scraped out but the east bank was stretched further into the water. It wasn't actually raised. So basically there is a 3:1 slope going to the trench (which is 3 - 4 feet wide) and the other side of the trench has about a 3 – 4 foot drop. Even if the clay will hold, is that trench good enough for trout to survive?
The other thing is I had breaker installed around the pond for some weed control. The left over breaker was dumped in a 5 to 6 foot depression. Will that breaker be used for bass and bluegill spawning or should I be putting some pea gravel in also. Or is that too deep?

Typically BG (at least around here) will spawn in 12" to 36" of water depending on water clarity and bottom substrate. I don't know what "breaker" is. Here, they spawn on sand, but really like pea gravel better. LMB here will spawn from 2' to 4' deep depending on water clarity and bottom. In this area, they prefer bottom substrate similar to what BG prefer (or is it the other way around)?

Water depth isn't the only thing that trout need to stay alive, they need cooler water (below 70 deg F) and O2 in that cooler water. Here, unaerated ponds will set up a thermocline around 8' deep or so. The cooler water is below that, but the cooler water below the thermocline is normally defficient in O2 as well.

The breaker is actually a 3" - 5" clean limestone. There is an area of the pond that gradually slopes from water level to 6 feet deep. I will go ahead and put some pea gravel over in that area towards the top. As for that breaker that I mentioned earlier, will that be a good place to keep in mind for future bass fishing? Aren't bass attracted to a rocky substrate?
With the trench, I decided I will have them come back and complete the specified area that was supposed to be 18' deep. The DNR was contacted and he thought that the current trenched area will accumulate sediment faster than any other portion of the pond. He also mentioned about the oxygen level as asshup did.
There are about 3 different areas that trickle (leak) water into the pond. Since it has been so hot up here, they have stopped. Hopefully an aerator will help in the future. I also have my well that has been fed into the pond thru a separate water line. Everyone tells me that I don't have to worry about running out of water but you can't help but think about the possibility. Any thoughts on running the well into a pond?

The LMB definately like to look around rocky areas for food, especially if you stock some some crayfish in there before the LMB.

I'm glad to hear that you're having the contractor come back. Ultimately it's you and not him that has to live with the pond.

I'm running about 25 gpm into my pond now becaues I don't want it to drop low in the heat. I didn't have any clay, and it's dug in a sandy area that has a high water table. I have seen 5' to 6' water fluctuations from Spring to Winter without running the well.