Another pond project

[FF117]

Well, a year and a half after purchasing our property, my wife and I are finally getting a pond built. After interviewing a few contractors, we hired the guy who owns the farm across the street. I have seen a couple of ponds they built and it seems like they do good work. They are planning on bringing in equipment on Tuesday or Wednesday, removing trees and topsoil on Thursday, then determine the water line on Friday using a laser. He said they would put out flags where the water's edge will be and then have me look at it to determine if any adjustments need to be made. He said it would be a few more days to build the dam.

The property is 30 acres and I'm guessing pond should be about 1 acre. Attached are some photos and aerial views. The property line is blue, the proposed dam location is red, and the white numbers are where the photos were taken from. The number corresponds with the order the pics are posted and the white line extending from the number is the direction that the camera is looking. I included an aerial view with 10ft topographical lines also. Hope this makes sense. I'm not very good at explaining things.

I'm open to any suggestions. Maybe something you would have done different, or some things to look out for during the build. I'm thinking about having them put in a small sand beach, but I'm not sure. Does anyone have a beach and if so, how do you like it?

 

[ITHINKICAN]

Congratulations on the pond project. You have a great looking property. I like the rolling terrain and mixture of cleared and non cleared with scattered trees. Have you decided on a depth? We hope everything goes well. Look forward to seeing lots of pictures. Good luck!

 

[EddieWalker]

Sure looks like a pretty place for a pond. Is there any way to make it bigger? One acre is a nice size, but if there is any way at all to make it bigger, you won't regret spending the extra money on it. No matter how big it is, you will always want it bigger.

Eddie

 

[FF117]

Not sure of the depth yet, but I am guessing 15-20 feet. I would really like to make it bigger, but I have to be realistic about my budget and if we go bigger the north side would have to be built up some and cost would rise exponentially. That being said, if they get the water line laid out and it seems too small, I'll probably have them make it bigger. I have a friend with a 3/4 acre pond and it seems like a good size, so I figured an acre would be ok.

 

[JKirkwood]

Have you located your home build site or any out buildings planned? I like the view from the lower right of position 3. Screens out the view to the neighbors and would have a nice view of the pond. Not sure of the North orientation. Beautiful property. My BIL has redug his pond 3 times getting it to hold level, even with it setting on Missouri clay. Just plan on more building sites as you expand for equipment & workshops & barns for all the extra equipment all TBN's seem to aquire.

 

[ryer]

FF117,
In my humble opinion EddieWalker is right. I have a lot of water on my property and have expanding my capacity for nearly 15 years and it is always better to dig the original pond as large as possible. 15-20 ft is awful deep for a pond in my opinion. Are you building the pond for cattle, or fishing or just for the view? In my experience fish will never use the deeper water in a pond that deep. The oxygen level and the sediment just don't mix for them. If cost is a factor like it is for me...if your contractor is charging by the yard or just the size of the pond, you might want to consider a 1.5 acre at 6-12 ft in depth over a 1 acre at 15-20 ft. Also, if it is for fish, it is better to leave humps and ridges and some area even as shallow as 2-3 ft for fish structure. Your fish will do much better than being in a giant bowl shaped pond. The sandy beach will work just make sure that you know which way the bulk of your wind (i.e. erosion) is coming from and put it on the opposite side. I learned the hard way that wind and waves and sand beaches don't mix.

 

[FF117]

Ryer,

The depth of 15-20ft is solely based on my totally untrained eye and only in a small portion of the site. Although you make a good point that deeper is not necessarily better and I will check with the contractor to see if they can avoid going too deep and possibly go bigger. I intend on stretching it to make it as large as the site and my budget can handle. I will know more about the overall size and depth later this week. I am paying by the hour, but he gave me a cap dollar amount that he guaranteed not to go over. I'm sure he overestimated the cap amount by quite a bit to cover his butt.

We are building the pond for several reasons: the view, improved property value, swimming, and some fishing. I do intend on having them leave some humps and ridges as well as adding man made fish habitat. I've been reading on Pond Boss Forums and have some good ideas. Regarding the beach; we have prevailing winds out of the west, so are you suggesting that the beach be on the east?

JKirkwood,

That sucks about your BIL's pond. I sure hope we don't have any problems like that. Your right, position 3 is our top choice for a home site, but that may change. Who knows, we are still a long way from building. That photo faces almost directly west. We were initially planning on putting the pond on the south side of the property, which would allow south facing windows overlooking the pond, but after talking to contractors we decided that this would make a much nicer pond and it would be more centrally located on the property. Windows facing west over the pond will probably be good too.

Thanks for the opinions, keep'em coming.
Shawn

 

[ryer]

ff117,sorry I miss worded what I was trying to say,you would put your beach on the west side of your pond.Pond Boss is a great forum.In my opinion the addition of water of any size to your property is a win win for everyone involved.Make sure your contractor cuts steep sides to the edge of the pond (3or4 ft)otherwise vegetation will grow out and take over your water in no time and swimming will go out the window.Down here in my neck of the woods everyone has a pond or two and after they fill with water we all say the same exact thing"I should of run that water that aways over there some":laughing:

 

[FF117]

ff117,sorry I miss worded what I was trying to say,you would put your beach on the west side of your pond.Pond Boss is a great forum.In my opinion the addition of water of any size to your property is a win win for everyone involved.Make sure your contractor cuts steep sides to the edge of the pond (3or4 ft)otherwise vegetation will grow out and take over your water in no time and swimming will go out the window.Down here in my neck of the woods everyone has a pond or two and after they fill with water we all say the same exact thing"I should of run that water that aways over there some":laughing:

I was afraid you were going to say that. The west side is where the dam will be and opposite of the house. Maybe it would be OK on the south because we don't get a lot of wind out of the north.

 

[ryer]

FF117,the first pond I built was right off my front porch about 60 feet away.We always wanted a pond "right in our front yard" so i dug it and it was only about 1/3 of an acre.All we have here is sand but we wanted a beach area with no vegetation where we could pull up and park the paddle boats,put up a gazeebo and bbq area.I built up this area about 70 ft by 30 ft and it was nice.We had shot the grades so I knew the maximum water level but I never thought about waves and how high they can become even in a small 1/3 acre pond.Most of this pond is surrounded by trees but a large field to the south was my undoing as we have a strong prevailing wind from the south.You would not believe how fast that beach washed away in one afternoon in fact When I saw your photos of where your pond will be I saw a lot of open area around your pond site and my first reaction was...boy you are going to get a lot of wind on that water. I think though, if you put some small rip rap or railroad ties and built that area up a little bit it will be fine. A lot of guys down here like to build a beach sandy area that slopes gradually right down to the water and without vegetation...unless the cat tails take over which you don't want...usually all that sand just silts your pond. I thought of this because I don't know if you have sand on your property or whether you were paying to have it hauled in. That could get expensive if it washed away. This is the only reason I mentioned it...because of my experience. What kind of soil do you have there? I do not know although I was born probably pretty close to where you are at, at Chanute AFB, Rantoul. In the end, it always works out for the best...just thought I might save you a headache. P.S. It's always worth it though, I think, because this is the view off our front porch. The 1/3 acre pond has been expanded now to 2.5 acres and it runs back into a heavily wooded area and I am ready for the next phase