Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Why almost no flooded timber private lakes?

I have a rookie question.

Some of the best bass fishing lakes in the
world are flooded timber lakes.

So why is it that you rarely see private lakes that
are mostly flooded timber? Is it because most private
lakes have to be dug out holes which makes leaving trees
pretty difficult to do? I read where people say
"well I got all my timber cleared out/cut for the pond
that I am putting in". Then you see them a year later
dropping Christmas trees in where they cut all the timber.
Why not just leave the timber from the start? Again
"rookie question" so I know there are must be many valid
reasons people wouldn't want a private lake of mostly
flooded timber, but it seems at least some would want
at last half flooded heavy timber and it appears to me
that not 1 in a 100 private lakes are built that way.
Experts..why is that?

Experts may differ, but I don't want anything above the water level for cormorants to sit in to dry off and a bare tree trunk isn't much cover for fish.

Timber is valuable and xmas trees are not. Most people don't think about that in the planning process. Most ponds make use of the stumps and rootball piles to do the same thing. Bottom contours in the construction also work.

See the article in PB mag earlier this year in the Cutting Edge on aging ponds and reservoirs and why standing timber (like all new environmental enhancements) is productive but with age is not so much.

We left some standing timber in our ponds but also use xmas trees and other enhancements.