My 1st post...but not my first read, the content here is incredible and much appreciated. I feel a kinship for you folks already!

My Deal:

Our family is just days away from moving into a home on a small lake (7 acres?) that has been untouched and unknown to anyone till about two years ago, when a primitive trail was built to it for the first time. It's located about 20 minutes from Duluth, MN.



Unofficially dubbed Lake Julianna; after our daughters- Juliette and Annabelle. This piece of water is a total mystery to us. I am trying to figure out what steps ought to be taken, and in what order, to create the best "table fair" fish habitat possible (trout, walleye, crappie perhaps).

Here is what we know: It is fed via a small creek from a 300 acre marsh about a mile away from us. The difference between high and low water levels varied by 24 inches from last fall to early this summer. The summer depth ranging from 6-10 feet and the fall depth being 4-8 feet. The lake bottom, while a bit soft, is not muck; and the water clarity seems to be pretty decent. It has no foul odors and no algae bloom that I could detect last year.

There is an abundent minnow population evident everywhere you look, but in 10 hours of test fishing that I've done this year I have caught zip (nor have I confirmed any jumping fish). In addition, an otter family, a beaver clan, a heron, and a nesting loon all call our little lake home(though I dragged a giant dead beaver out of the pond a couple of weeks ago, and have had no beaver sightings since).

My dilemma: I currently have limited financial resources (building this house has crushed the checking account into an oblivion). But we want to get the aquaculture moving as fast and cost effectively as possible. So before I just start dumping fish into the lake; is their perhaps an outline, or orderly steps I should be taking to maximize my return on investment while getting a fishable body of water off the ground as quickly as possible? I'd sure appreciate any of your thoughts on this new adventure!!

Thanks all!!

(Yer gonna be seein' a lot me round these parts)