I have come to the conclusion that pond design might increase the 10% to a larger amount. Fish will orient on structure where they can find food and/or safety. I believe a meandering ridge that runs from one end of the pond to the other with appropriately placed structure will scatter the fish. Put it in about 6 or 8 ft. of water adjacent to deep water. Then place smaller brushpiles adjacent in shallower water to hold forage fish. This will create a fish highway with good stopover points. It also scatters and increases holding spots for forage fish.
Of course, this might not hold true for open water fish like white bass or HSB. But they also seem to orient on underwater humps and ridges.
I've been thinking about this concept for awhile and trying to relate fish settlement with human and animal settlement. If you look at early human settlement, it seemed to mostly happen along rivers or near water. This is structure for us and was a visible landmark to orient on. It also offered a lot of what we need in terms of food and access. Most life orients on structure. Until we got too crowded, very few towns were settled out in the open in some random spot. There has usually been some sort of structural attractant.
I think fish, like us, are seldom anywhere by themselves at a purely random spot. All life goes to structure with others of its kind. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule and I just might be full of BS.
