Thanks guys for the advice.
The pond's #1 goal is big smallmouth bass. They want to catch big smallmouths.

It is going to be a fun project. We are draining the lake down, and sept 18 ken russel from the illinois dnr is coming with his electrofishing boat to salvage some nice fish from the pond.

Then he is going to apply rotenone to take care of the rest. We are bringing in truckloads of rip rap and recycled concrete, and are going to reshape the pond bottom.

Then filler up and stock with forage. I think they will restock forage every year if they have to. They want trophy smallmouths. They have many 15-17" smallmouths in the pond already, but can't get them any bigger on a diet of just green sunfish.

The pond owners have 1600 acres of strip mine lakes ranging from 1-40 acres. Their place would rank near the top of anybodies coolest places on earth list.

They have alot of water, and grow big fish of almost every species, but they dont have a clue about the potential they have with a little bit of "basic pond management"

I will keep you updated on the status of the project.
The Hybrid Striped Bass Pond is the next one on the list.