Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat gravel question

I have BG, YP, SMB, FHM, and RES in a pond I had redug and made larger this year. It has a yellow clay bottom with some wood structure added. I would like to add some gravel to the shallower parts 2 to 4 feet deep to provide nesting beds for the SMB. Not sure if perch use them or not. What size gravel works best? Pea gravel seems like it would move around a lot or should I go up one size to road gravel? Thanks.

The link below is from the archives in regards to SMB beds.

I think I have heard Bill Cody talk about YP using wooden branches to lay their eggs on. Not sure if gravel is needed in this process.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92626#Post92626

Good work fish n chips, great link with tons of info in the links.

I copied one pic that I took from the thread of an actual SMB nesting in Lac la Croix Canada. It shows just about perfect conditions as there is large wood just out of the pic

Gravel is not used by YP for spawning. Gravel, sand, stones and small rocks are favorable spawning substrates for the nest building sunfishes.