Heres my situation, I hope some of you guys can put your two copper pieces in and tell me how to proceed.

My family just picked up a nice piece of land in the upper new york region with a sweet 1.7 acre pond on it. There are a few cats in there i have observed but nothing worth catching. The pond is fed via "underground spring (thats what they all say) 2 small brooks avergaing 75-100 gallons per minute but they dry out during a hot summer and sometimes are basically providing 10-15 gallons per minute during a summer rain, it is surrounded by State Woodland so the temp of the pond is relatively cool, The pond is about 10-15 years old teeming with life, but also teeming with big pines, thick trees on the levys which surounds about 60 percent of the pond exterior, the other 20 percent of the border is at the bottom of a small steep hill which clearly provides a basic underground water source and runoff. The soil seems to be mostly clay and my observations of the run off area show that the pond is not losing water from any of the levys despite the fact they are densly stacked with smaller trees.

My problem is there is a wetland thick bush area in the middle of the pond that was never dredged out when the pond was formed because the bulldozer operator didnt properly dig out the pond on his first attempt. Basically i was told as he started digging out the back area of the pond the water started coming in and he had to abort...basically what i am left with is two pond (one being 5 feet deep inthe center, and the other being 12 feet deep int he center however each side getting separated during the summer months. I wonder if it is due to all the trees in surrounding the pond which i am told are taking 100-150 gallons a day each. I have stocked the pond with fingerling trout (about 300) just to see if they can survive on summer season (its supposed to be cold and deep enough) and about 3000 fatheads just in case some trout do make it through the summer and I can continue stocking trout. I like bass but am a troutman at heart but am sadly realizing I will have to make it a bass pond if i dont figure out a solution to why the water is drying out.

I dont want to cut all the trees as they provide good shade, but at the same time is it possible that the trees are the main reason i am losing inches per week. It gets to the point that the two ponds seperate and i dont have good access to fly fish the deeper section. (Dont laugh but the first fish i caugt was a 1 and half inch minnow that somehow landed a midgefly i cast in an effort to see how big the trout were getting..)

I also dont want to add the expense of pumping well water into the pond, just to keep it deep enough though i am realizing i might not have an alternative

My dream is to dredge out the middle area and turn the pond into a good 3 acres big and make it at least 20 feet deep with proper aeration so that I can grow big trout in it that will live for more than 3 years... Is it possible to dig deeper to keep the water deep enough to support trout and expand the surface area to 3 acres if i am already having trouble with 1.7.

Please help )