Lou,
Your approach sounds very fair. However, I worry a lot about fishing pressure and the effects it has on the fishing experience. This is the most difficult issue of pond ownership, to me. A complicating factor is that for most of us, pond resources are limited and most often do not support unlimited fishing access. We only have so much water and fish and both are easily overwhelmed by too much fishing pressure�either invited or uninvited.
I'm a big believer in fish conditioning, i.e. that fishing pressure conditions all fish to the use of artificials. Since my first choice is fishing with artificials, fishing pressure is a very big deal on my ponds. The only way I have found to deal with the issue of fishing pressure and still accommodate family, friends, and neighbors is to have multiple ponds.
As a result, we have a small kid�s pond, which is open to just about any kid wishing to fish. We have a slightly larger native LMB pond, which is within sight of the road and open to neighbors who ask permission to fish. The largest pond, located behind the house, is reserved for immediate family only. Then, to accommodate my own desire for really super high quality artificial-based fishing, there are/will be �performance� ponds�only one of which has been built thus far. This pond and those that follow are off-limits to everyone until the fishery is well established. I limit my own fishing in this performance pond to twice per year. Eventually, as other performance ponds are built and the fishery is well established, close friends will also fish them, but on a very limited, controlled basis. Those that fish these ponds will experience a quality of fishing that can�t be found in many places�that�s the objective, at least.
Old age and limited resources may overcome this approach, but it is nonetheless a journey, which I enjoy immensely.
