Hi all,
My well established pond is doing fine, and will need to be harvested a little more aggressively next year for bass as they are new. My goal is to have a sustainable population of healthy fish to catch and observe while still using the pond for an occasional swim.
Along a little less than half the shoreline, primarily on the uphill side, I have let cattails have their way. They lend a very natural look to the pond I enjoy, and the redwing blackbirds love them. They extend about 3’ out from the shoreline where the water gets too deep for them.
What I have observed is the smaller YOY fish don’t seem to hang around them much, seemingly preferring the shallows in more open areas. However, the cattails are so think, it is hard to observe what is going on in there. Thus the question.
I need to consider some other cover and structure in the pond for larger forage and bass as most of what I placed years ago have dissolved away. I am curious on how cattails may contribute.

Side notes on cattails: they seem to do a good job of slowing waters and capturing debris from runoff events before it enters the main pond. Also the birds and frogs love the cover. I am sure they also help control excess nutrients from feeding the fish, as I have not had other plants explode in vigor since introducing bass and feeding them regularly.

I don’t let them expand beyond their current boundaries, which is fairly easy to do from the water,