Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait BG nesting bed depth and water clarity

I have not ever seen fish spawn in in a pond or lake that didn't have sunlight reaching the bottom. I would add pea gravel from that 6/-7' depth to within 12" depth of the high water mark. I have seen BG/RES still on beds where their backs were almost out of the water.

I would start looking into ways to minimize the suspended clay particles. 1) Get dense grass/clover established around the pond. 2) Do a jar test, and if it's not mechanical means that is keeping the clay suspended, think really hard about doing an alum treatment to get the clay to precipitate out of the water.