First off, I am so happy to have found this place. I just moved to cocke county Tennessee in the foothills of the smokies. I have 10 acres of wooded hills and holler, and I will be damning up the holler to make a roughly 2 acre empoundment which I plan on keeping hybrid crappie, red ear sunfish, and hybrid striped bass. The b.o.w. will not be dug out in a oval or rectangular but rather will use the contour of the hills on 3 sides and be at a max depth of approx 25'. It will be contoured on the bottom with mounds, drop-offs, channels etc. I'm not looking for a hole in the ground, I want a fishery offering everything these species need to thrive as I'm recreating an ecosystem.

I plan on adding a minnow forage base this fall consisting of

Fatheads 30#
Golden shiners 30#

In hopes to get a spawn off before stocking the panfish in the spring. Followed by the Hybrid stripers in the fall..

I've been a lurker here for quite awhile and have read up on all this forum has to offer about crappies; the hell it can become, or the blessings of trophy slabs.. My fiance and I live off grid and homestead so we are on the property 99% of the time and absolutely have no issues with fishing everyday to remove fish and/or rectify any issues that may arise.

At this time we do not plan on using an auto feeder, but it is something that can be added later if desired.

I will be looking for great source of appropriate plant life if anyone cares to send a link my way, it would be much obliged

Anyways. Please feel free to give advice... Good or bad.. but I just wanted to introduce myself. Pictures will be coming eventually once this project gets underway

Sounds like a really cool place, and pond in the making. Have you planned out the outflow and emergency spillway? Bottom siphon? How steep are you sloping the banks? Are you setting dock legs or pier pilings before it fills? And do you have any estimate of how much run off inflow you'll have? Or is there already a creek feeding it?

Welcome to the Pond Boss forum! The more details you give, the more specific feedback you'll get.

And lastly, we love pictures!

Thank you for the response Dr.

The contractor and I discussed the grade extensively because we are using the hills and their slope 60-70% of the shore line grade will be at a 1.0/1.5-1 ratio.. with that said where my dry run(s) x9 will feed the pond will be at a much less steep of grade. More like 4-1.. and that is where I will be putting in the pea gravel for panfish beds. I will have dual spillways on both far ends of the dam.

As far as a dock goes... The jury is still out. There will timber pilings all over as well as (6) 12x12x8 fish cribs.

I own 10 acres 8 of which feeds my basin as does approx 60 acres surounding this section of property. My "hill" where the homestead is on is the highest area within 15 miles and my holler dips down to just about the lowest area around. My property goes from 2100' at the highest to 1100' in the basin of the holler

I should also add 1 of the dry runs is constantly moist there is underwound water roughly 3-4' down all year including the dead heat of summer. I am hoping this keeps a constant flow through the pond year around. (So I guess that isn't nessacarily a "dry"run

Getting back to a bottom siphon I have thought about that as well. And still may add one before we get started on this project.