Creating a Lake

[EddieWalker]

Blake,

We've seen quite a few wood ducks in there, but not much of anything else. We see teal, mallards and geese fly by without stopping all the time. I did see one duck in there that looked like a lesser scauper, but I'm not sure as I've only seen them in sea waters. I think I saw a red head one time too, but it might have been a canvas back.

Along the waters edge, I've put out some Centipede grass seed. the rest of the shoreling, top and back of the dam all have bermuda grass. I seeded it last fall and started to get some good growth, but then it went dormant on me. I probably lost quite a bit of it due to the cold and the plants not being mature enough to handle the freezing temps. Right now there is all sorts of grass coming up, but in the pictures, it still looks like dirt. In time, it should all be nice and green all the way around the water.

Pat,

I don't have any experience with Lotus plants, but I've read that they spread and take over a body of water from seeds that come from the flower. I've also read that once you have them, they are there forever. I know there are all sorts of different varieties, but all of them seem to be very agressive.

The lily plants also can be very agressive and take over a pond real quick. There are only a few that I considered, and in the end I chose Chromatella because of it's yellow flowers and mild growth.

In the koi ponds that I've built, the water lilies have always overgrown there containers and sent out runners to other pots. The only way to control them with containers is to regularly pull them out and cut them back. I'm hopeful that my submerged island idea will work as the depth around them is 8 feet or more. Six feet seems to be the general rule of thumb for lilies to travel to and survive. It's a gamble putting them in a pond, but for me, it's what I really enjoy and want to have in there. More so then the fish!!!

Rox,

I'm pretty much a shorts guy from spring through fall. When it gets into freezing weather in winter, I wear sweats. The weather is in the 70's most days with a few that will hit the low 80's now. That snow storm was a very rare thing and a record breaker all over the South. I may very well go swimming today just to make sure my lillys plants are in the mud properly. Planting them from the boat isn't how I wanted to do it, but seemed to be my best option at the time.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

I may very well go swimming today

According to the Texas Parks & Wildlife fishing report, the water temperture in Lake Lewisville (closest lake to me) is now 62-71 degrees. Not bad if you're not in it too long, but a little cool to enjoy swimming.

 

[patrick_g]

Pat,

I don't have any experience with Lotus plants, but I've read that they spread and take over a body of water from seeds that come from the flower.

Eddie

The lotus plant has a tall shoot that goes up and a neat flower on it. The seed pods are seen in dry flower arrangements and are interesting. In just a few years I saw lots of spreading of the lotus but now the pond is full and I see none. maybe they will make it to the surface before they run out of energy... or not.

As an open ocean certified SCUBA diver I think I could keep a plant's roots inside its container if the growth rate were not too terribly fast (don't want to live in a pond.)

I have a plethora of cat tails and sometimes back out to the edge with the brush hog and mow them.

Pat

 

[patrick_g]

(closest lake to me) is now 62-71 degrees. Not bad if you're not in it too long, but a little cool to enjoy swimming.

The ocean water temp in San Diego is often about 57 degrees at the surface but gets colder down a ways. In summer there is some surface heating but below the layer where wind waves cause mixing the water is NOT WARM and decent wet suits are a good idea. There is typically a layer called the thermocline with a great temp difference in a short depth change. I had a very good (semi-dry) suit with included booties. Only my hands and face were exposed and I wore insulated gloves and a face mask. I had only a small annular ring of exposed flesh around the edge of the mask.

When I hit the thermocline it felt like someone threw a bucket of slush in my face making the exposed flesh tingle and burn like getting poked with little needles of ice.

Your lake temps sound darned near tropical in comparison.

Pat

 

[Bird]

Yep, Pat, even in the Oklahoma and Texas lakes, when I was a kid and did a lot of swimming, I've dived down and hit those drastic temperature changes. Probably not nearly as drastic as you're talking about, but certainly noticeable.

 

[EddieWalker]

Most of my small, 3/4 acre pond, is only 5 feet deep when full. During the summer, it can be down a foot to two when the kids and I go swimming in it. Air temps can be right around 100 degrees, but the water will vary from areas of very warm, to nice and cool. I don't know why this is, but all you have to do is find the right spot, and it's very nice.

Eddie

 

[coopers]

Eddie-

That's a decent variety of ducks that fly over! In time I'm sure they wills top in once you've got more vegetation around the pond. They become flightless during their molt and cover is important in case they have to hide while caught out in the open before they can get to the water and be safe.

Cinnamon teal seem to be the only duck that is a year round resident in your area. The rest of them winter in your area and then move north for breeding. At any rate, it'll look very nice when it's all full of vegetation. Good luck.

Blake

 

[gemini5362]

I have been snorkeling in the fresh water creeks and hit pockets where an underground stream fed the creek it will be a lot colder than the rest of the creek. The thermocline that Pat is talking about depends on the ocean currents where you are diving. I have experienced it. To the best of my recollection it was about 10 to 20 degrees difference with the water above it but it is a very sharp change in temp the zone where the water changes temperature is very narrow so you notice it a lot more. Submarines use those thermoclines to hide in to some extent. When sonar beams hit the cold water it changes the angle of the sound wave so that even if you hear a reflection you do not know exactly where the object is.

 

[BTDT]

Most of my small, 3/4 acre pond, is only 5 feet deep when full. During the summer, it can be down a foot to two when the kids and I go swimming in it. Air temps can be right around 100 degrees, but the water will vary from areas of very warm, to nice and cool. I don't know why this is, but all you have to do is find the right spot, and it's very nice.

Eddie

Would have something to do with convection currents no doubt. I think that's what causes lakes and ponds to "turn over" during certain times of the year.

 

[HeyUvaVT]

It has taken me 3 days of off and on reading but I have just read this whole thread from page 1 to 97 and looked at all of the pics and I just wanted to take a moment to commend eddie on his determination, skill, vision and work ethic to get this project going and to complete it. I am sure that you will be rewarded with many many years of enjoyment and I look forward to future updates!

 

[patrick_g]

I've dived down and hit those drastic temperature changes. Probably not nearly as drastic as you're talking about, but certainly noticeable.

There is a major gyre that circulates water in a large clockwise loop in the north of the equator in the Pacific ocean. It goes from the tropics up to the Aleutians and then down the coast of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Baja, and part of the west coast of Mexico before turning right on the north side of the equator and going around again. As it runs down the west coast of North America it tends to turn (right) clockwise due to Coriolis effect and these surface currents pull the warmed surface water away from the coast. The warmed surface waters are replaced by upwelling. Deep ocean waters are nearly uniformly COLD, often just above freezing for their salt concentration (roughly 35 parts per thousand.) This ensures the coast of SOCAL has cold water except for some surface heating in summer. I liked diving but the least favorite part (after JAWS) was the cold water.

We lived in NW Ohio for almost 8 years and the abandoned limestone quarries filled with spring water when they quit pumping them out. One of the larger ones my family fished was stocked with rainbow trout and even had a roped off area used for a swimming pool. If you dove from the high dive and didn't level out or turn for the surface but let your momentum take you deep you found some extremely cold water that would put chill bumps on your chill bumps. Of course this was without a neoprene suit.

Pat

 

[EddieWalker]

It has taken me 3 days of off and on reading but I have just read this whole thread from page 1 to 97 and looked at all of the pics

HeyUvaVT,

That's some serious reading!!!

I've gone back and looked up things trying to get my pics in order, which I still havent done, and still find it hard to believe what I ended up with. It was never my plan to have anything like what it is, and if it hadn't been for two years in a row of extreme drought, it wouldn't be much of a pond either. I got very, very lucky how it all turned out.

Thank you for your kind words. It's nice to know that people enjoy something that I've done and maybe figured out how to do something similar themselves.

I still have three pretty big projects on it to finish it off, but those might take me years to get around to doing. The first one I'm slowly working on is extending an area of the dam out into my land to create a huge picnic area that is level with the dam. It might end up being a third of an acre when it's done. Then there is the gazebo on the peninsula and the bridge over the spillway. None of them will be started any time soon, but the lake won't be done until those things are done.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Taiser]

He's not the only one!!!

I rarely come to this side of the forums and stumbled across this HUGE thread! Sorry I'm late to the party Eddie but geez man, that is AWESOME work. I've thought of putting a pond on my property, maybe half the size of yours, but a whole lake!!!! WOW, awesome read! Can't imagine how gorgeous that lake is gonna be with the shores all greened up and the fish jumping. Amazing work!!!!!

Mark

 

[MarkV]

Hi Eddie, something the kids might enjoy on the lake are some duck houses. We have a couple on our pond and have been lucky enough to have some young ones, Wood Ducks, raised here the last few of years. It is a lot of fun watching mom teach them how to forage and fly. They do like some thick underbrush near the lake for mom to hide the young so it may take a year or two on a new lake to attract them.

A google search will bring up some free plans for duck houses and they are not hard to build with a little rough cut cedar.

MarkV

 

[rico304]

Most of my small, 3/4 acre pond, is only 5 feet deep when full. During the summer, it can be down a foot to two when the kids and I go swimming in it. Air temps can be right around 100 degrees, but the water will vary from areas of very warm, to nice and cool. I don't know why this is, but all you have to do is find the right spot, and it's very nice.

Eddie

Hi Eddie.

Do you have problems with leeches in your small pond? Many of the ponds around here are filled with them. Just wondering if there was a way to control them.

Thanks

 

[philbuilt]

rico304,
I know that in a pond where i grew up we had leaches. Someone introduced crayfish. it took a while but no leaches. That was Little Ellis pond in Byron Me.
Phil

 

[EddieWalker]

Mark,

Thank you. I sometimes feel presumptious calling it a lake, but it's mine, so I chose to call it a lake. From what I understand, only God can make a lake, everything esle is either a pond, resivore or tank. Most people in my part of Texas call anything over one acre a lake and less then a acre a pond.

MarkV,

That will be a fun project. The kids love making things and soem Wood Duck Boxes would be perfect. I've also thought about bat houses. They eat allot of insects and are kind of fun to watch at night!!

Rico,

I have problems with snakes. I don't even want to think about leaches. YIKES. To the best of my knowledge, I don't have any. I don't know how to keep it that way, but hopefuly Mother Nature will be nice to me???

Phil,

Are Crayfisht the same thing as Crawdads? I have those. Maybe Mother Nature has already solved this problem!!!!

Eddie

 

[Bird]

From what I understand, only God can make a lake, everything esle is either a pond, resivore or tank. Most people in my part of Texas call anything over one acre a lake and less then a acre a pond.

That's what I understand, too, and I've always heard that Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in Texas. All the rest are man made.

 

[philbuilt]

Eddie yes crayfish and crawdad are one in the same. I google it and thats what it said. I don't know if that was the reason for the leaches to be gone but I know theres a bunch of crayfish and no leaches. By the way the lake is looking good. Also please post pictures of the lilly pads whey bloom.
Phil

 

[john_bud]

Leeches? Around here we use them for fish bait. Everybody love leeches! If you have fish, I can't imagine there being too many "extra" leeches around.