I finaly got around to installing some spawning habitat for my bluegill. I bought two 4-5' diameter splash pools at babies R us for $5 each and I cut a 55 gal plastic barrell in half. I put about 6" of pea gravel in each and sank them in about 4' of water at 2 different locations. I am little worried about the visibility. It is down to about 6". Does this effect the spawning?

Also, I expected to see many more minnows in the lake (3/4 ac). They didn't have much spawning habitat last year, but this year there is lot of plant growth out 1-2 ft from the edges, where they could attach their eggs to the bottom of the leaves. The top layer of the water was very warm and comfortable to swim in. I didn't put any bass in the pond, but I suspect that my neighbor put couple of his stunted bass in there as a favor.

Maybe you need to put a few stunted rattlesnakes in your neighbors garden

I might be abble to give you 800 stunted rabbits you could stock for him. See how he likes it.

I will add 4 stunted teenagers...If you like

He meant well. He told me that he can give me some of the bass and I could tell that he expected me to be excited. When I told him that I am actually trying to manage the pond, he looked kind of guilty. Later that weekend there was some pretty good jumping in the pond. I didn't see the fish themselves, but it sounded and looked (waves) like someone threw a fist size rock in the water. I am thinking they should be about frying size now.

I am still hoping someone will chime in on the subject of visibility on spawning depth... Anyone? Anyone?