Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Starting my 2 acre pond

I wil be putting in a pond near Navasota TX (60 miles north of Houston). I am planning on having some areas about 12'-13' deep and then building some spawning areas. Is that deep enough for a healthy bass/ bluegill/catfish pond?

12'-13' is MORE than deep enough - IF your pond stays close to full pool level.

However, your pond will be subject to variable Texas weather. Some of our Texas guys have ponds that are down 5' right now. That would make your deep areas into 7'-8' water, which is good enough to provide a "safety net" during droughts. (If you have a supplemental water source, then the safety net is not as important.)

The flip side is that those areas of deep water probably will not be naturally oxygenated during summer when the pond is full. Digging the pond much deeper does not give you much extra value for fish "habitat" areas to justify the extra construction costs.

IMO, 12'-13' is enough UNLESS you are in a situation where the pond is going to rapidly lose depth in the future. Examples would be a pond in the woods, where leaves and twigs cause a steady build up of muck each year, or a pond with a watershed containing plowed fields that will send lots of sediment to your pond during every big rain.

In those circumstances, it is almost always cheaper to construct a little deeper now, than it is to drain and clean out the pond a few years in the future.

I hope this "non-answer" answer helps your planning.

Good luck on your upcoming pond project!

bonefish, welcome to the forum.

12-13 feet is fine, but focus on overflow management. 100 year floods are getting more common, so an adequate siphon and spillway would be worth doing during the initial construction. Gulf storms can bring up tons of rain, and if the watershed is large, then safely getting rid of water might be right up there at the top of priorities.