Thanks for the ideas.
Both of you figured out that it is better to put the screen on the discharge end of the system! I was stuck on the traditional configuration of putting the screen on the intake side - which will be located in a periodically dirty creek.
I think I will first try a 10' slotted pipe wrapped in screen on the discharge end.
If that doesn't work, then I can go to the "hopper" plan at the end of the water supply lines. Let gravity do the work on screening the water.
I think the gravel pack idea would work well in the hoppers. I would add a layer of the permeable geotextile fabric that they use to weep water through retaining walls. Surely fish fry cannot pass through that.
Question for our fish raising experts: What is the correct mesh size for the discharge screen that would be required to eliminate fish fry from the creek?
The creek has LMB, CC, GSF, WCP, carp, gar, and suckers that we have caught or seen. It almost certainly also has BG, bullheads, and flatheads. It also has several different types of minnows. (I have trapped Red Shiners and seen other minnows/shad - that I could not identify without Pond Boss help.)
I don't know who has the smallest fry, but my low-level pond management skills will certainly NOT stand up to unwanted species complicating my projects!
