Nice pics, ewest! Good thing your RES really brighten up that red ear flap during the spawn to help our ease of identification.

For ponds lacking hard clay, does putting down some landscape fabric (weed barrier) before placing the coarse material somewhat help reduce the muckiness?

Has anyone tried gently flushing the beds in the early spring with your trolling motor outwash to suspend the finest muck and leave the proper bedding material? Seems like not that much extra effort when you were doing a work day in the boat anyway. (Assuming that is would actually be beneficial.)