Paul is my brother and we are jointly working on this trout pond mentioned in this thread. . . Let me join the discussion and fill in the blanks. . .
The 1/3 pond in Michigan is in West Branch, MI, about an hour north of Bay City / Saginaw area or 130 miles north of the Detroit area - little more than half way up the lower peninsula.
Temps in West Branch do reach the high 80's and occasionally the low 90's, though nights tend to drop 20-25 degrees in the summer.
The question about plants had more to do with created more O2 / D.O. We both recall my Grandfather possibly planting some kind of "weed bed" back in the 60's when this was first built (though at only 6-8 ft. deep. Also, the artesian well (actually delivers 15+ gpm) and drops about 2+ ft. out the end of a 2" pvc pipe hanging about 4 ft. over the pond.
