Rowly, My pit is an old coal pit as are the others arond me. It's 5 acres and I just bought it in Jan. 2003. It has an avg. depth of 15 ft. and has been ultra clear until the weather got warm and I have just noticed a bloom in the last 3 weeks, visibility is now less than 3 feet according to my white spinnerbait! I could easily see the bottom when we first bought it in jan. 15 ft. plus. as far as carrying capacity I really don't know what you mean by that. I have coontail in over 80% of the water and the curly leaf is in the 2 shallow (small) coves. It was a pay lake for many years and the owner told me there was bass bluegill crappie catfish and carp in it. Have yet to see a cat but have seen all the others. To date the bass have been small but healthy. the bluegill are large but not many have been caught. The crappie are all 9"or better so there's a hell of a fish fry coming up!!!! I stocked 300 5" bluegill 3 weeks ago but don't know how they are doing as I've only seen a few since then. I've been trying to feed them but they're not responding yet, the carp found the feed though. I'm trying to remove a few carp, all the crappie and the large cats if there are any. I'm after a HOG BASS tank, Thats my goal. Oh, what did you mean about carrying capacity?