JWD1 did you ever put any fish in your pond? I am entering my 11th year of my single species Yellow Perch pond and have had pretty good luck keeping it going IMHO. I excavated in 2008, pond was filling in August, heck it rained the entire time we worked and we ran pumps the whole time to be able to work in mud not water. I added FHM late August a few days after I shut the pumps off, the water was still murky. I added 300 perch fingerlings the next spring late April with the intent to not have a spawn the first year. I began hand feeding them and they soon conditioned as well as Pavlov's dog and started to grow. The next year we were catching 9-10 inchers, the following year 12-14's were showing up, as well as lots of 5-6 inch fish so I knew I had reproduction taking place. I too learned a great deal from this site, and it's members, Bill "Dr. Perch" Cody helped me out a lot. The layout of my pond allows for ample natural vegetation and weedy areas and I am proud to claim that I still have Fatheads in my pond after 10 years of perch domination. As per common reasoning, this is only because of the vegetation and feeding program, I am sure. My pond ended up 11 foot deep at it's deepest area when full pool, it is .85 acres calculated surface area.

It can be done, it will not fit the mold of many other ponds, I think I had some accidental success as the sides of my pond are finished different than most folks typically would want and it provides some bait fish habitat. I have some cattails, coon tail, rip rap, some gentle slopes, some underwater benches, pallets, fish structures, and I also have muskrats. I also have a sustainable bull frog population since there are no bass here.