I've enjoyed reading this forum and decided to become a member of it. I just completed the digging of two ponds yesterday on my land in Austin, TX. I mention where I live as water is a concern. I should have enough run off to maintain my ponds, but with the droughts we've been experiencing, who really knows. I've just got to have faith that the water will be there.

Since I am starting from scratch, I was hoping for any input ay of you might be able to give me regarding getting these ponds going successfully.

Pond 1 is about 1.5 acres and is about 8 feet deep. I would like for this to be a traditional fishing pond with HBG, Red Ear, LMB, and Channel Catfish.

Pond 2 is about .5 acres and I would love for it to be a crappie pond. A place where I can pull out a few nice eaters every now and then. I have read several threads here on the debate about crappie ponds, but they were old, about 2006. I was wondering how they turned out?

Both ponds are dry dirt bottoms as of right now and I plan to move in some cedar brush for structure and would like to build a pier on the larger of the two.

Anyway, any advice would be appreciated!