What you have in mind, and what I call my "forage pond" or my "grow-out pond" may be very different.
My grow-out/forage pond started as a settling pond for settling debris and leaves from water leaving my upper pond on its way to my lower pond. I also have several smaller similar tiny ponds for each of my main fishing ponds.
The pond I refer to as my forage/grow-out pond is tear-drop shaped. It is about 25 feet wide at the "dam" and drain. It is rather shallow and only about 4 feet wide where most of the water enters. It holds about 4 feet of water at the deep end when at full pool. It is usually at full pool from sometime in October to sometime in June.
From about the end of June until about the end of September (unless we have a tropical storm or hurricane) it has about 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 feet of water. I clean out the leaves and debris every year about this time with my back hoe. It is scheduled to get cleaned out next week. I relocate the fish that are in it, to a different forage pond so they don't die because of all the suspended detritus from the excavation. Each time I clean it, I expand it a little more.
Currently this pond has a pretty good crop of fathead minnows and a number of growing redear sunfish in the 3-4 inch range. I transferred about half of the RES to my main pond several weeks ago when a group was about 3-4 inches in length.
At my mountain location, we get a fair amount of winter snow and regular rains even during the dry summer season. I've found this to be a really good size and depth for a grow-out and forage pond.
I have a number of ways to harvest it. Usually I lower it to a maximum of about 30 inches of water. I've found that the most effective collector is a one-person 4'W x 3'H seine. I can sweep from the wider and deeper end to the shallow and narrow upper end and get most of what lives in this small pond.
I realize this certainly is not perfect for everyone. It is one more idea. It works very well for me.
Ken
