Find a plumber and get his left over pvc pipe. My brother has his own plumbing business, so my wife and I started as soon as the pond was complete, a 3 acre pond. As the water filled, we would start a new row of colored Christmas tree looking stands. As the water filled those we would start a new row, this way we had deep cover as well as shallow. Get all different sizes, colors, and lengths.
Take the 4" pipes (3-4') and drill 1" holes through. Then push 1" pipes (3-4') into those holes in the 4" pipes and glue with plumbing glue for pvc. Drill tiny two holes in 4" pipe, 2-3" from bottom and screw in 3" screws half way. Take your shovel and dig a hole as deep as the head of the shovel, then set the Christmas tree looking pvc pipe tree into it, pour a little quick crete, add very little water, and then cover with the wet soil you dug up making a mound at the base.
Use three 4" black pipe 5-6' long, or ( 5-6 1" yellow,green, gray rolled pipe 5-6' long), all with screws in base. Stick these in a shovel hole the same as above, but build a larger dirt base. You may have to use a tree branch or stick to prop them up off the ground at first, but as water comes they will float up like tree roots or like tree spouts. Awesome to see.
For protecting your minnows, go to a service station or tire store and get their old tires. Use about 10- 16 per location. Stand the upright in no particular order or size. Cover with 1" chicken wire, making sure the wire cover all the tires with some lying on the pond bottom. ( my wire was only 4' wide so I weaved 1/2" pvc pipe through the seams of wire to make them one piece) Stake the wire to the pond bottom (stake it good) with stakes at an angle. Over the stakes place two holed concrete blocks and then fill the holes in the blocks with quick crete. As an added touch I put about a dozen or more concrete blocks (sometimes called foundation blocks) on top of these minnow beds just to add more protection and character. These will allow the fatheads and rosey reds to enter this area and the bass can not. The minnows will lay their eggs inside the tires and hatch safely.
My dam is 560' long. Every 100 feet I used a pallet of concrete blocks or foundation blocks, to make a small rock line (about 3-4' wide) from just below the surface to the deeper water. Throw the blocks turned every which way and on top of each other about 3 blocks high.
I got lots more things, but one last one. Take 5 plastic garbage bags. Open one and place one bag inside that one, then open that one and place one inside that one and so on. Now with 5 inside each other lay flat on ground with a cotton string 4-5" from closed end of sacks. Ly the string under the stacks going from side to side. Place a large rock or brick inside the bags all the way to the closed end. Take a knife and shred the plastic bags from the cotton string to the openning of the bags. Pull the string around the bags with the rock inside the bags and tie. Now just drop into pond and in several days the cotton string will rot and opens into a plastic plant held in place by the brick that you can easily pull lures through.
