When I built the main pond a spawning area was made in the SE corner. It ranged from about a foot deep with a mild slope out to about 4-5 feet. About half was covered with various size crushed limestone.
As far as I could tell, the fish never used the area for spawning the first year, but it did grow great FA.
But the second year it was covered with BG beds (I got some underwater video's with a go-pro of males on nests). The larger BG got in early and made the beds before the FA got established I assume. They kept most of the FA at bay till the first main spawn was over.
Third year I dug out the shallowest area near the bank (what I could reach with a TLB backhoe) to get rid of some of the worst FA producing area and the BG used the rest of the area left for spawning.
There is a whole lot more I don't know about FA and BG nesting than I do know.
