Creating a Lake

[patrick_g]

As the rain continues off and on in our part of Oklahoma the ground has begun to saturate and each succeeding inch of rain is more run-off than soak-in. Several of my pastures have areas with running surface water. I have little level land and in general it drains pretty well but now it is getting more than we can use.

All the ponds near the house (7) are overflowing. The smallest of the 7 has the largest drain pipe (30 inch) and it is staying 1/2 full so far this morning. The two ponds with 12 inch diameter drains are full and overflowing at their "emergency" outlets. I try to always have a swale to take the overflow away from the back of the dam so that in these heavy water events the dam is not harmed and it is all working to plan right now.

I noticed a curious thing this morning on my walk. About 6-10 feet from the dam of one pond (out in the pasture) there was something moving in the grass in the approximately 1 inch of water running through toward the pond. I thought OH GOODY, TADPOLES but it was mostly bluegill fry about 1 1/2 to 3 inches long (maybe some crappie also but they didn't exactly pose in plain sight for a picture as I stomped through in my rubber boots. As I turned and walked up the slight incline to the next pond (couple hundred feet) I noticed considerable runoff from this little drainpipeless pond. It overflows in a wide area of grassy pasture and does not erode the land as the water flows down to the larger pond.

Anyway I saw what at first seemed to be dozens of fry then hundreds and then thousands!. They were swimming out in the pasture at times a hundred feet from either pond. Surely there will be a stranding of considerable numbers and the birds and other critters will have a feast. The water they were in was from 0 to 1 or 2 inches deep and was a mixture of the pond water from where they "escaped" and run off flowing down slop[e toward a pond.

So much for mono culture in my "catfish" pond stocked only with channel cat and fat head minnows. The pond upstream of it will no doubt "seed" it with some of whatever it has in it. Hopefully I won't loose too many catfish from that pond, through the next two and on down the creek off of my property.

Pat

 

[EddieWalker]

Pat,

Sorry to hear about all the water you guys are getting. The forecast looks like it's gonna be this way all week. We're getting a short afternoon storm every day, but it's less then a quarter inch. Nice for watering the grass, but nothings going into the lake.

When the lake is low, I wish for massive rains, but when I hear about your runoff and overflows, I'm reminded of all the damage those rains can cause.

I'd love to see some pictures of those culverts and emergancy spillways flowing with all that water!!!! Is there any concern for your dams integrity? Water saturation or erosion?

Good luck to you and I hope your fish make it through all this,
Eddie

 

[patrick_g]

Eddie, That was the reason I went for a walk through the fields. I was inspecting the dams, drain pipes, emergency overflow swales and such. I did take pix and they are posted on CBN under "Raining Fish."

My quarter section has the 1000 ft contour meandering through it and we are nearly a mile and a half from the river. We have no flooding problems at all. Long before we have a rising water problem lots of nearby folks are going to be discussing cubits and pairs of animals. Everything is filling up and the ground is saturated at the surface but so far we haven't made up for the loss to the aquifers over the last couple years (including last years record drought.)

Pat

 

[EddieWalker]

Pat,

Great pictures!!

I really like the vortex of your culvert that's under water. I can sure see how that will suck up some of your fish and flush them out of your pond!!!!

It took me a bit to find your thread, so here's the link if anybody else wants to see your pics.

CountryByNet.com Forums :: Raining Fish?

Eddie

 

[patrick_g]

Eddie, Of course the thousands of fry swimming in the pasture were not sucked up by a drain pipe and were just flushed out by overflow over the bank of the pond. Yes, I agree regarding the vacuum cleaner effect of the whirlpool. By the time a fish feels the pull it is too late to escape and so any fish near the inlet of the drain pipe will get a fast ride to the next pond in the chain.

The good news is I didn't see any catfish in the swale from my catfish pond. That could be bad news I suppose as in the fish were all washed away already but I don't think so. I will go toss some floating catfish food in and see who responds.

Pat

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Pat,
As Eddie said those were great pictures ! Thanks for taking time to post them. Couldnt get over how green things are out there ! How long before your pastures start to brown up fron the excessive heat ?

 

[EddieWalker]

Scotty,

I don't know about Pat and his conditions, but here the grass stays green from spring to the beginning of winter. We don't water our grass, and it thrives in the heat. It will go dormant in the winter when it freezes outside, but it's only brown during the winter months.

Eddie

 

[patrick_g]

Scotty, The most predictable thing about Oklahoma weather is its unpredictability. I haven't a clue any given year when it will get hot and dry and brown out the grass. It is pretty variable. Year before last was a drought and last year was a

D R O U G H T

It was a record drought exceeding those of the infamous Dustbowl era, Grapes of Wrath stuff. Different farming styles than in the old days is what prevents the "dust Bowl" effect. The rain we are getting has saturated the surface dirt so we get lots of runoff but the aquifers are NOT recharged by a long shot.

Our typical summer rain is thundershowers. If you get some then fine but if you are missed then oh well... We will be a lot dryer in August, probably, but no guarantee. We typically brown out but I can't promise we will before fall but it is LIKELY.

Looks like Ireland now or the sheep lands of southern England down by Petersborough.

The adventure continues...

Pat

 

[patrick_g]

Dragonfly nymph?

This is a new one for me, so I googled it and got me a little education on dragonfly's. I had no idea of how they come about, but never even considered that they live in the water before turning into dragon flies!!!!

None of the pictures I saw were an exact match to what we cought, but they are close enough to show me that's what it was. Weird little creature, but kind of cool too.

Thank you.


Eddie

Eddie, Think back... was the thing you saw, which wasn't that good of a match, any thing like the picture attached to this post? I had to do some powerful recalling but I think this is a likely suspect.

This critter is a helgramite and I think IT IS WHAT YOU SAW. Google for other views.

Pat

 

[EddieWalker]

Pat,

It's similar, but I think the dragonfly nymph is closer. All the pics and links for Helgramite's look the same, but there are so many different pictures of dragonfly nymphs that seem allot closer. Another thing is that we have allot of dragonflys, but from what I've seen of the hegramite pictures, or whatever it is after it comes out of the water, I've never seen one in it's winged state.

Thanks,
Eddie