COUNTRY AIRE ESTATES-POND,ROAD BUILDING AND OTHER MISC PROJECTS

[EddieWalker]

I couldn't get all your pictures to open up, but I could see enough to get an idea of what you're doing. What is your goal for you pond? Fishing? If so, you might want to consider creating some shelfs, trenches and undewater islands. According to the experts, the worse thing you can do when building a fishing pond is to make the dirt look nice and pretty.

Are you going to put a dock in?

Thanks for the pictures and updates,
Eddie

 

[dirtworksequip]

Eddie, I'm just a "POND NUT!" I've always liked ponds,because of the wide variety of wildlife in and around them. We purchased our property 10 years ago and when I made the initial walk over I had envisioned that I could build 10 ponds. Of course most would be under 1 acre (I'm limited to size by the topography of the area)and not of the magnitude of yours.

I know what you are saying about the islands,but its hard for me to do that because the slopes are 2:1 in and out plus the bottoms are only 50 to 70 wide with a water depth of about 12 feet. What I have done though is place some underwater rip rap and some dead trees along some of the slopes for aquatic wildlife.

As far as a dock..........maybe.

Thanks for your input.

I will give you this advice as to stocking your pond. Stock your minnows as soon as you can.(NOW) Wait as long as you can and then stock the bluegill,crappie,perch type species. Now give them all time to get a good start.(1 YEAR) Now stock the bass and catfish.

The reason I do it that way is to give the prey fish time to get a real good start before its dinner time for the bass and catfish.

Is algea much of a problem in your size lake in Texas?

 

[wjmst]

I see in the "before" picture, you have a small fountain type pump in the pond. What kind of setup do you have for the pump/fountain.
Thanks
Wes

 

[EddieWalker]

Great to hear your plans on the structure for your pond. When i started building mine, and in the two I did before that one, I didn't know about structure. I was more interested in how pretty it looked and making it nice and smooth!!! OOOPS

I was going to put minnows in a month ago, but from the advice I received from PondBoss and my fish supplier, Tyler Fish Farms, I decided to wait until the water temps increase. The reason to wait is that minnows won't spawn in cold water, so all they would do in my water is wait around and become food for the herons and cranes.

I have been debating about waiting a year on the bass. There is some good arguments to do so just like you mentioned. The owner of Tyler Fish Farm is kind of famous for his work, (President Bush) and I'll probably just do exactly what he recomends.

Be sure to post some pictures of your structure when you put it in. Mine is almost gone now, but I still see it in my mind when I look at the water.

In my small pond, I wasn't gonna put in a dock. There isn't any real need for it, so I decided against it. Then Steph and her kids moved in and we started spending ALLOT more time there. Now it's the first place we all go to when we go there.

I had plans to built two massive docks on my lake project, but then changed my mind and built two peninsulas instead. If I wasn't building an RV Park and wasn't expecting thousands of people to be here, I would have put in at least one real nice pier.

Even if you don't want to do it right now, maybe putting in some concrete footings now would be a good idea in case you decide to build it later on. Your wife, kids, family and friends will all love you for it!!! hahaha

Eddie

 

[dirtworksequip]

wjmst, the fountain is an OASE Pond Jet w/ the Lunaqua 3 light kit.Plus a timer box. In the pic I was just using it as an aeriator with the nozzle removed. It actually came with an arch nozzle which is real pretty especially when lite up at night. I have it anchored with a 5 gal bucket full of concrete that has a eye bolt in the top. Then I ran a cable thru the eye bolt to both sides of the shore making a big loop. The fountain is then attached to this loop.That way I can pull the fountain in for storage before freeze up by feeding the cable thru the eye bolt. One person on each side. That brings the fountain into shore. I'll try to post pics to explain how I remove the electrical connections for winter and rerun in the spring.

 

[dirtworksequip]

The dam is starting to take shape. Only about 200 hours more to go.



http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/...OUNTRY AIRE ESTATES POND ROAD BUILDING AND OT

The faint white line denotes the start of the cut. The area beyond the line is cut on the original pond dam and the area this side of the line stays as a small peninsula.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/...DING AND OTHER/P5310067-1.jpgHER/P5310068.jpg

 

[EddieWalker]

I couldn't get either of the links to open up.

Eddie

 

[dirtworksequip]

Eddie, I just tried them and they don't work. Thats what I don't understand. Some do some don't, but I don't know why?

 

[dirtworksequip]

Pics repost of previous post discricption. OK this time I checked on Review Post. I'll start doing that to check my submited pics. Thanks for the heads up Eddie.
The dam is starting to take shape, only about 200+ hours to go!

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/...TES POND ROAD BUILDING AND OTHER/P5310068.jpg


The faint white paintline denotes the cut area on the original dam. Far side of line is cut and the near side stays as a small peninsula. To the right is the original pond. The grass strip is the top of the original dam.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/...S POND ROAD BUILDING AND OTHER/P5310067-1.jpg

 

[EddieWalker]

I can see the pictures now. Thanks.

Have you taken any action pictures? Something with the dozer moving dirt? And while I'm making requests, how about a few of the dam from the top of it showing the length of it. I'm still unclear how you tied the old dam into the new one and the overall shape of the new pond.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[dirtworksequip]

Eddie, I tried taking some action shots the other day of my son digging a ditch for some culvert pipe with the Cat 308ccr. They look the same as a machine just sitting there. I guess you could boom up real high and dump the bucket. You might see some dirt falling.

The way I tied the new dam into the old dam was to strip off the top soil from the original dam where the new met the old. Then just started making a fill that abutted the old dam. Cut into the old dam about 2 feet to tie the new fill together with the old dam.

Sorry these are the only shots I have of where the new and old come together.

Eddie, in this shot you can just see a little grass, that is the top of the original dam with the new part tied in.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/dirtworksequip/P5090008.jpg

pic: Roughed in back slope on new part of dam. The topsoil you see is from stripping the original dam where they tied together.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/dirtworksequip/P5310076.jpg

Eddie, hope this helps you visualize what has to come out yet. Blue line is projected water line. Red line is cut. After the new dam gets to grade I can drain the original one and remove the dirt that is now holding back the water between new and old.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/...S POND ROAD BUILDING AND OTHER/P5310074-1.jpg


Heres one more. Shot from the opposite side. Red cut -Blue approx. water line.


http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/...S POND ROAD BUILDING AND OTHER/P5310067-2.jpg


The old pond was sort of oval shape. The new one will be like two over lapping ovals or a fat figure 8. We are also raising the original dam two feet.