I am having land cleared now for building a pond. It will be 2+ ac., apx 22 ft. deep, located where 2 hollows come togeather both with springs. The dam will be in a steep hollow & only apx 100 ft across the top.
I know from extensive reading this forum most people want LMB/BG. That's great but I've always wanted to be able to fish for BIG trout & SMB so that's what I intend to stock.
I hope to creat a selfsustaining pop of fish so here's my idea:
Install a pump (thinking 750gpm) .. pull water from the deepest water in spring & pump to 3 shaded waterfalls (one in one hollow with a smaller spring and two in the main spring hollow). Waterfalls will be fashioned with areas for trout spawning. I will create an underwater creek (Idea from Lakedoctor on this forum) filling with sand & gravel leading from the spring entrance around one side of the pond in 3-4 ft of water for SMB spawning also.
During the hottest part of the summer I will pull water from the surface .. run down the waterfalls to cool & increase DO. Pipes feeding the waterfalls will be buried under the pond for added cooling.
Am I wasting my time/money? Does anyone think this could work or is it folly.
How can I find a local profesional pondmiester?
Any help & input is greatly apreciated,
Ric

You may or may not have success in getting the trout to spawn even with your simulated 'streams'. The SMB will spawn with little difficulty. My biggest conern would be the expense of purchasing and operating a pump capable of 750 gpm. Given that your pond will be spring fed you might have a good starting point in regards to water temperature right off the bat and certainly making sure that your 'streams' etc are in shaded areas will go a long ways to helping. Mixing the water column too much may or may not be a problem for you, there may be enough natural turnover that you have little in the way of a thermocline.

Thanks Pottsy for your reply, I've been running this around in my head & really need someone elses critical thinking. The initial cost of the pump as well as building the pond is comming from the logging. The springs are too small to support spawing without help. I only intended to operate the pump during the spawn & in the summer when the water temps get high. I didn't think I would be mixing waters if I pull off the top in the summer. I have trout in a 3/4 ac pond upstream which survive the summers but the surface temp gets in the mid 90's. I will be draining the smaller pond to make repairs.
I know this is out of left field & has the possibility/probability? of not working but have come to greatly respect the opnions & ideas on this forum so really wanted the input.
Ric

Just out of curiousity, how deep is the 3/4 acre pond? Those surface temps are pretty high for trout survival, do they show any stress or do you have any die-off? Now will the bottom pond be fed with outflow from the top one and if so is it overflow water or drawn from the bottom? My concern about mixing the water cloumn would be more from the 750 gpm running down your waterfalls/streams then from the springs... I am not sure how much cooling you can expect from the trip through the shaded area... do you plan tyo build a pool of some kind at the top? How long of a run through the woods do you expect?

The 3/4 ac pond is 12' deep & at present is running over the spillway (that's what I have to repair). Water temps below the thermocline don't exceed 70 deg. & closer to the bottom are 58 in the hottest part of summer so I haven't seen the trout stressed.
I will get some cooling just from the waterfall thru evaporation. I'm not sure how long to make the streams but they could be 100 to 200'. The longer they are the more maintanence I'll have.
Yes I will be building a large pool at the base of the falls.
Ric