I just found this forum, what a site ! I need help too. I'm in the process of having a dam built and would like some advice on how much structure should I leave for the fish ? If you have time, feel free to check out the web page I've created for this project : www.geocities.com/russeldean2002 It will be about 23 feet deep in the center pit, the water will back up and fill approx 8-10 acres. Right now I'm cutting down literally tons of trees, there's no way I can haul it all out. I still have about a month before the dozer comes back in, what's the right way to proceed ? How much should I save for habitat, any specific way I should do it ? Also, I can easily separate and burn specific types of trees if they pose a problem...any advice as to how much and where, are there key areas to target, i.e. creek bed dropoffs ? Thx in advance, I can't wait to ask all my other questions as I go forward !

Whee are you building the pond and what kind of trees are you cutting down?

Dave, it's in Eastland County, TX. The trees are Post Oak, Cedar, Tallow's, and Mesquite. The Dam area will be shell/clay, is sinking structure around the dam area a bad idea ?

The general consensus is that any structure below 6 to 10 ft. is wasted due to thermocline. Below that depth, the water doesn't hold enough dissolved oxygen to be useable to fish. As far as structure goes, the dam shouldn't be any different than any other shoreline. I don't know anything about shell/clay. What is that? If it is in a sea shell area, will it be too porous to hold water?

I had a terrible experience with post oak. I used fresh post oak as structure and it released its tannin causing the water to be lethal. Killed everything I put in there and I had to pump it dry. That ain't fun in West Texas. I don't think cedar is a problem. Don't know about tallow and mesquite. Test it by cutting a fresh piece of each and putting them in separate buckets of non-chlorinated water. If the water discolors in a week or so, you have a foreign substance. I wouldn't use it. Try the oak also. It is an eye opener.

Thanks a lot ! I'll get some water ready and try some samples out. Any chance you can hop over to the "water chemistry" section and answer my question there about ash ? haha.
p.s. this site is awesome ! I've read a ton of important stuff already, and there's so many more posts to go !

I didn't respond on the ash out of ignorance. However, I don't think I would PERSONALLY want anything suspended in the water. I would burn the junk elsewhere.

I have never heard of having water quality problems because of burned material on the pond bottom. If buring is the most reasonable way to get weeds and small brush out of the pond I say burn away. otherwise you will have that stuff clogging up your trolling motor for years to come. I would make sure I left the cedar trees, bass love them. Hardwood trees will last longer than soft woods obviously. I have seen guys go crazy with structure, so crazy if defeats the purpose. I use structure to attract fish to a certain area. Structure and habitat are important to a fishery but understanding balance between predator and prey, proper stocking and management/fertilizer/feeding techniques are more important in southern ponds. I can take you to some lakes that are virtually void of struture that have very nice fish populations. As I have learned from Dave Willis cover is critical for bass in northern ponds. so the amount of aquatic weeds and structure you have is much more important up north.

I would probably place several (2-3) nice brush piles/blow downs per acre. concentrate on putting them around drop offs and points in the lake. use the natural lake features and enhance them with trees. also think about adding some gravel beds- bluegill love to spawn on them

for a 10 acre pond try to keep structure around at the 6-8 foot mark be sure to place plenty of structure here, or maybe slightly deeper. larger bass will move down deep in summer months and sit right above the thermocline. having some trees in this area will help locate those hawgs. i would not worry about putting trees in the deep 23 foot water.

mark deep structure will cheap duck decoys. they are tough, last a long time and will attract a few ducks in the fall.