I think your silt fencing will work, but I would probably earn a veto from my wife on that project for aesthetic reasons.

I have lots of acres of tallgrass prairie on our property. That stuff is pretty good at trapping surface water flows and is also drought resistant. In our drought years it goes dormant, and then when it gets rain the next spring it comes back nearly 100%. Even when it is dormant, it still acts like a silt fence!

Do you know the NRCS agent for your county? I bet he could recommend some native prairie grass seed blends for your area. You would only need to plant a few strips perpendicular to the slope of the land to create some effective "silt fencing". They may even have a program to pay 50% of your costs for "erosion control" or some similar goal.



Are you catching catfish of all sizes? If so, they are effectively spawning in your pond. I would keep catching them, AND try removing any spawning habitat that may be in your pond. Such as old tires, concrete pipes, or basically anything that makes a cavity.

Good luck on your algae battle. Literally, almost everyone else on the forum fights that same battle for at least part of the year.