Back to Rocky Habitat.
"""maybe a few of them start a foot shallower down to current depth in the pics."
Are you saying "shallow" in terms of closer to shore as it slopes up? For the one on the right (shallower location) it's already within a few feet of shore.
Always remember shallow water is a type of refuge and security of small fish especially when other habitat is lacking. Bigger predators cannot get into the shallowest 1"-2" deep water. This is why minnows often hang out in the beach areas.
IMO ponds for fisheries cannot have to many rocks. I love rocky habitat. Rocks and logs are natural good shoreline habitat in many lakes. Thus I like to see rock piles extend from 3ft to 6ft deep up the shore to the waters edge. Although some pond owners might not like this type of pattern. When using rocky habitat, I like to see one entire shoreline have rocks. This makes lots hard surface structural areas for invertebrate colonization. One pond that I am helping with is impressive and extreme. It has all of the entire shoreline lined with rip-rap down to 6 - 7ft deep he used 6"-12" and 12"-18" rocks. Plus he created two impressive corner areas that have 30-40 ft long areas with 24"-30" big rocks down to 8 ft deep. Smallmouth love this rocky shoreline. Lots of rocks mean lots of habitat that helps produce lots of natural foods and refugia for small fish.
One thing you might try is pile your rocks onto some pallets as one to two layers or rocks held up off the bottom by the pallet/s. This would have a similar configuration of your current rocks piled on the narrow building blocks in your pictures. Small fish could get underneath the rock pile until the pallets rot and decompose - what maybe in 10 -15 years and then sludge/muck fills in underneath the pallets. Brush rows as various sizes of trees or tree tops on each end of long rocky areas would be beneficial.
Pond liner and crayfish. This is an unknown to me. To be on the safe side I think I would not stock crays if I had a pond liner. Some crayfish species might try and dig into the liner while other species would not try to dig through it. If you have a stream within around 0.5 mile of the pond, I think you would get some rainy night natural migration of crays into the pond from the stream. With good rocky and tree top habitats you should be able to get a decent fishery without crayfish.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/10/25 04:57 PM.
