Then I ran into a young guy named Lusk who explained it to me. I started seining and dumped fish on the bank. Too late; it was polluted. Took quite a few years and the inevitable Texas drought to fix things.
Bob told me the most important consideration is water quality. He still says, “Take care of the water and the fish will be fine. A pond is like a garden. It has to be harvested.”
This stuff is really all about the environment(Lusk).
Dave, that is a better way to state the underlying premise of my question - "Take care of the water and the fish will be fine."
You have managed your ponds where things went well, or as in your example above - didn't go well.
Can you give your personal advice on whether you would have preferred a 4-acre pond or four 1-acre ponds - just in terms of taking care of the water? I do have a live stream on the property, so I will be able to add supplemental water as needed and release the buildup of bottom detritus and fish waste to some extent.
(Also consider the novice level of my pond management skills. I think I understand most of the "Pond Boss" knowledge - but that is only book learning until you are out in the real world performing actual pond management. If you choose to, answer the question for when you were starting out, not from where your management skill level is now.)
