We live in Atlanta. Third baby just arrived. Time for a bigger house in the burbs. They’re not abundant and they’re not cheap, but there exist small ponds in neighborhoods around where we’d be looking to move. I’m not talking about HOA owned and operated detention ponds. I mean 1-3 acre natural ponds surrounded by maybe eight or so homes. I am a real estate developer and feel fairly confident (perhaps naively) in my ability to trade assumption of all maintenance costs for recorded restrictive covenants running with the land that grant me sole stocking, management, and fishing rights.

Is the runoff and fertilizer going into these suburban ponds going to be problematic for spawning and recruitment? Is occasional consumption likely to pose health risks? Am I going to be just constantly fighting a losing fight trying to maintain control of and restricting fishing to the water despite the recorded covenants? Am I going to be able to establish any kind of meaningful population of respectable sized bluegill in a pond this size?