Steve, there are many discussions here about the benefits of aeration, system design, run times etc. Every pond is different and there is not one absolute rule for every situation, especially with our "unique" climate and long season of ice. I had about 200 days of ice cover on my pond last year, no aeration for most of it and no fish kill. With your pond being new and not subject to nutrient loading and oxygen depleting bottom muck, you may not need any aeration for the first few years. The density of fish will also play a role in the overall b.o.d., (biological oxygen demand).
You will find many posts here from Bill Cody and others regarding aeration, Bill originally gave me suggestions when I was at your stage of pond building and it's saved me a lot of hassle and guesswork.
A windmill aerator may not be your best choice for your small pond. I have a small 1/8th cfm diaphragm style (Gast) 110 volt compresssor located at my house with 1/2" black poly water line running to my pond, connected to a diffusor suspended about a foot off the bottom. There are many styles of diffusors available, I have a Koenders 8" diameter airstone, you can get from UFA. Not the most efficient but has worked for me. Your compressor can be quite a distance from your pond (hundreds of feet) without significant air flow loss. The electric compressor will allow you to set the run times and duration vs a windmill that may be aerating when you don't want it to. I shut down my aerator completely at first ice and do not restart until spring ice off, usually mid to end of May. For my pond, winter snow removal has been key to fish survival, not aeration. Removal of snow allows light penetration which promotes oxygen producing plants/planktons to do their job. Lack of sunlight will also kill off such plants, etc which decompose and consume oxygen in the process. Since I don't aerate in winter, and I remove snow it allows for safe ice fishing and skating as well.
I re-start aeration slowly in spring, maybe 2-3 hours per day, eventually increasing to about 12 hour intervals. During summer with hotter temps, I only run the system when air temps are lower than water temps to avoid over heating the water. Run only at night or cold rainy days. Trout do not survive well over 70f water temps for very long.
Other than snow removal and some small maintainance, fish feeding, weed removal, etc, it is fairly self sufficient. Once your pond is built you will find you do not need an excuse to spend time there anyway.
As for your last question, we just moved up here in November and have rented the land/house to a couple. The young fella is an avid flyfisherman and I gave him full use of the pond, with his promise of upkeep, feeding etc.
My boys and I sure do miss it, spent a lot of time down at the pond. We didn't sell the place as my wife and I would like to retire there. We have rented a farm up here with 160 acres and it has two dugouts on it which I have been thinking of doing something with. The owner has used them for watering Buffalo and I now have a couple of moose hanging out there. I'll see what they look like when ice is off.
Post back if you have more questions, sorry I am not as technical or experienced as others here, but I am also still learning.
Cheers, John
