A couple comments...
1. I used old carpet and put that down where I later wanted spawning beds to be. I then dumped some regular gravel on the carpet, with the idea that the old carpet would prevent most of the gravel from being swallowed by the mud. My pond was built in 2016 and stocked in 2017 and I can tell that I am getting good spawning output as there are fish of multiple species and sizes to indicated successful spawning.
2. I left a few trees standing that are now dead, but appear to concentrate fish more than any other area on the pond. I also rolled giant rootballs of some the big trees taken out of the pond basin during construction down into areas that would be about 4' - 10' deep now. I wouldn't leave a lot of trees standing, but I haven't seen anything yet that makes me wish I hadn't left some of them standing. I probably have a dozen total, most of them close to one another, left standing in a 2.5 acre pond.
