Hello All!

We bought a property in Aledo, TX (30 min west of Fort Worth) a year ago. It has a small 2/10th acre pond in the backyard that does not hold water for long at all (can see rock shelf at base of dam). When we originally purchased the property the pond was pretty low on our priority list, but now our attention has turned to the weed infested frog pit that is an eye sore.

Our goals for the pond are:
Make it hold water or at least to the point where we can supplement with well water to keep full (standard water hose will only keep it half full currently)
Deepen the pond (currently 5' deep at deepest point)
Reduce the grade of very steep banks (currently very difficult to walk near pond or maintain)
Reduce amount of pond / dam vegetation
Stock and maintain populations of HSB, CNBG, RES, FHM, and TFS with minimal feed - similar to george1
Use the pond for a swimming hole
Introduce my kids to fishing - ages 1 and 3


In the future I may look to add a small waterfall feature for aesthetics and some aeration.

Ideally, I will have some fun HSB for me to catch and release mostly, occasionally eating. The CNBG and RES would act as good eating as well and fun for the kids to catch and learn. I like the idea of getting as many species as possible to create some sort of ecosystem instead of just pellet feeding. Something about that interests me.

So, first things first, I need a pond that will hold water. I haven’t been able to find a true “pond building” contractor, but I have had 3 dirt work contractors with pond building experience to look at it. One recommend a liner because it is so rocky. One recommended adding 28” of clay throughout and packing it down. One recommended removing all the rock, rebuilding the dam, and adding 12” of clay throughout. I had the NCRS come out and they told me they wouldn’t put any money into it because of the rock. At this point, I realized that I really do want someone that knows drainage and grades so I had two landscape architects come out. They both seemed very open to my “wants” and indicated they would be able to do everything I wanted within my budget. One of them was recommending a clay lined pond because of cost savings, but indicated that poly liners were the “Rolls Royce” of the pond world and if my budget could handle it that’s the way to go. The second architect was anti clay liner, as he has no way to determine if it’s going to hold for 6 months or 60 years, he was a strong proponent of the poly liner and thinks it is do-able with my budget. Both architects strongly recommended some type of water circulation device, so I asked them to budget in a waterfall feature that recirculates (and hopefully aerates) over the rocks.

Questions:
Is your opinion the same as the architects in regards to clay vs poly?
Advantages disadvantages?
Any suggestions or problems you see?
Is there a certain thickness or type of poly required?

I’m concerned with the poly liner being slippery and not looking natural.

Thanks for all the knowledge i've already gained from reading past threads!