Hey, all. I hired a guy to expand our small cattle pond to use for fishing. The land was low and wet all the time so we figured this would turn a liability into an asset. I think the guy under-bid the contract because he abruptly ended the job short on my expectations. We were aiming for 2-3 acres and it ended up 1.25. The average depth was to be 6-8', but we are far from that. One channel of the pond barely touches 6' in one spot and the rest is 2-4' and one decent sized section is only 1' deep. He said he stopped because he was hitting shale and was afraid he would poke a hole in the bottom. I'm not sure I believe that because the area that was a foot deep was never touched by the bulldozer.

Is a pond this shallow going to properly support a fish population? My goal is BG and LMB. Originally I wanted CC too, but I'm not sure it'll be a great fishery for LMB given the size if I introduce CC as well.

A secondary issue... the contractor thought he was being nice by breaking the dam from the old pond once the expanded area of the new pond was complete, saving any of the existing fish. Unfortunately, there were white crappie in the old pond, so now I'm also battling them from taking over.

That said, I'm now wondering if it would be best to drain, dig deeper, and start over with the fish population.

Thanks in advance for any advice. If it helps, I'm in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Your gut is correct. A shallow pond will also be a PITA control the weeds and algae in. Wherever the sun can reach the bottom, they will grow.

A pond fills in over time, and being that shallow it won't be long before it needs to be re-done.

I'd treat with Rotenone to kill all the fish, drain and get 'er done correctly.

You need to know what is down there. If you have shale at 6' going deeper could be difficult and cause leaks. But as esshup noted shallow ponds can be hard to manage. Not only what he noted but also shallow ponds tend to have more DO (dissolved oxygen problems) ie fish kills. A few core holes outside of the pond may help you make a wise choice.