I agree for the size of the pond the cover is light. We also built a shelf/ledge into one corner around twenty yards long by twenty feet covered in deep pea gravel that will be around 5’-6’ deep when pond is full. We made a few of the SM spawning beds and added a few large rocks on it. Also have the beach area that is pretty big that starts out two feet deep then slopes down to five feet with a 2’ high stone sand barrier then drops off fast to 15’ that will hopefully supply more spawning space and cover.
Trying to manage it all with my wife’s input that swimming and family recreation is a priority over fishing in this pond. My goal is to try and balance it all and have both. Would love to be able to catch foot long perch and four pound smallies one day from it. Trying to build up the forage base as much as I can to help with that.
We do enjoy feeding the fish by hand but the esthetics are #1 with my wife looking out over the pond so an automatic feeder isn’t going to work. Hopefully I can find a good balance between her ideas of an awesome pond and mine.
You may be able to hide the feeder from sight with some bushes or tall grass. Even with the feeder every time I am at the pond I pull the top off the feeder, grab a handful of food and toss it in the pond. The fish get used to my footsteps coming to the pond and will make V's in the water swimming that way to get a free handout of food. The feeder really helps when I am not able to feed them. I have it set so it feeds 2x day, once in the early morning and again 1 hr before sunset.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/FhI0Y8l.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/jiyo0wy.jpg)
The YP grow well on good feed. I feed Optimal feed, a mix of Bluegill and Bass food.
