Griff, do you have the black clay like Greenville, or is it sand/red clay mix like Sulphur Springs? I would definitely spend my money up front with a good dirt guy, to make sure you have good watershed and soil that can hold water, and replenish as needed.
If the water shed is limited, then I would think about going deeper to hold as much runoff as is possible during the Spring rains.
One thing to think about is that the land may best dictate the location of the pond, and that may not be the place you would pick.
But, if you can hold water, and can get the banks sloped correctly and get vegetation growing to protect those banks as soon as possible, the the maintenance part of the pond should primarily revolve around put and take of fish. That can still be time consuming but managing with a lure and line is far more fun than managing with herbicides and shovels.
I know the drawing below looks like an Etch A Sketch, but this is what I decided to do with my CNBG pond last Fall. I had it dug far deeper than needed, to make sure the volume stayed during droughts, and had about 30' at the top sloped for spawning areas. So, unless we get absolutely no rain, I have enough water to keep the fish happy.
