Hi Everyone,

My wife and I are about to purchase some land (10-20 acres) in the area of northern Virginia or West Virginia, and are planning to construct at least one pond there. We are debating different ideas for the species we like. We are not fans of bass or bluegill, and can't stand to be within 100 feet of catfish, so naturally one option that came to mind, is trout.

the plots among which we are deciding are between 2,000' and 700', with most being around 2,000' in altitude. Many of them border streams from which we could get water, but the lower two are completely forested, and also have large changes in altitude, so for us to consider trout there we would need to tap into land up higher to find a spring, and then drill horizontally to have it run downhill to create a stream to feed the pond, also generating spawning habitat for the trout.

We would keep all other fish out of the pond, and would not stock forage fish, as those, I gather, are direct competitors for trout, especially young ones. We would introduce crawfish and various invertebrates like scuds to the water as forage, but would just basically leave the trout alone.

My question is whether, with the right conditions (moving, cold water year round), one could expect to have a good, reproducing population of trout for which we could fish? I grew up in central North Carolina, and still remember how effortless it was to go to these farm ponds that had been built a century ago, stocked then with bluegill, bass, and crappie, and forgotten, and catch massive numbers of good fish.

Is it feasible to expect that with the proper site preparation, we could expect to have a pond that when left on autopilot, would consistently produce good numbers of reproducing trout like one would expect from a warm-water pond with fish like crappie?

Thanks in advance?