Hello- I just bought a property in Jacksboro Texas. It has a half acre pond on that is at the top of a hill. I went back 10 years on sat images and it seemed to be always full (not sure how because there is less than an acre of watershed, maybe a spring?). It is a circle with a wide shelf about 3 feet deep, and it goes deeper (not sure how deep) in the center. There are cattails around the shelf and the water always looks pretty clear.

The dam side is a 15 ft steep drop that looks very man made. There are two ponds below it on the next properties. There are 3 old fence posts in the pond that I am guessing housed a fish feeder, and there is a large grate at the spill way that looks like it was ment to keep fish in.

I have thrown a line with a worm on it for a couple of hours and got one 3.5 inch GSF. I see a bunch of tiny GSF swimming but no indication of anything larger. My guess is that they had it stocked at some point, had a fish kill and GSF took over? I could also just really suck at fishing.

I really dont want to drain the pond because I don't know how it filled up and I dont want to poison the fish population if I can avoid it. I was thinking about driving up north to get some mature CNBG and RES, followed by some mature LMB in the fall. My hope is they will out compete/eat the GSF and I can make a health habitat. I dont have real goals beyond occasional fishing/harvesting. Just want a good habitat with good fish.

Is my thinking out of line? Any advice would be much appreciated!!