Creating a Lake

[ronjhall]

Hey Ron...Why don't you get out and do a few things since you retired?

You are havin' way too much fun.

 

[patrick_g]

LOL patrick I have seined minnows a lot of times and I am not sure I understnad your description

What you described is a standard approach. Additionally, schools of minnows will tend to collect in a tight ball when disturbed in the presence of some mud stirred up in the water and try to hide in the muddy water. The seine can get the whole school then.

When I was a lad visiting relatives in Mississippi during summer vacation they used to seine a farm pond with the poles on the ends type seine. This would net several turtles which were sailed FRISBEE style into the pig lot. Small fish depending on species might be tossed in wth the pigs. The preferred eating fish were collected in 2-3 wash tubs to be cleaned by the help. It was fun to watch the center of the net which was out in deeper water as the largest fish would be jumping over the net and avoiding capture. They made good breeding stock.

The catch was cleaned and dipped in cornmeal (see note *1 below) and dropped into one of several three legged cast iron pots over wood fires filled with boiling oil (lard.) Friends and neighbors were invited over for the fish fry to get to meet the visiting relatives (us.)


Note * 1, I had Yankee tastes as a grade schooler and had my fish dipped in flour instead of corn meal. Incidentally, our laundry was boiled in the same pots over wood fires by the help.

Pat

 

[philbuilt]

The first pic is of my land when my son took a demo flight lesson.
(Great way to get arial shot for $75)
Next is the excavator I rented for 16 hrs.
Last is the first rain 30 days after the start of the pond.
I did alot of drag box prior to the rain and smooth the bottom and edges.
there is still a huge pile of loam in the way before I can continue with phase 2.

 

[EddieWalker]

Phill,

I love the arial picture with the outlile of your pond. It's gonna look amazing when it's done!!! Post more pictures when you can, they are allot of fun to see.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Phil, I don't think I have ever seen that color soil in Texas. It almost looks like ash. Is it mostly granite dust? Clay? ...looks very dry and powdery.

 

[philbuilt]

Eddie,
Thanks for the kind words the project is fun. I can't wait for the snow to be gone to go back and and start digging and adding the rock perimitter.

Jinman,
The pond is at the back bottom of my land. The ground had approx. 12" of silt/clay loam. The next level was like a very dry clay. 6' down was the wet clay. The hole that I dug that weekend is about 75' x 295' with the depth ranging from 2' to 12'

Now the big dilema is do I continue to post here or start new post? This ones Eddie's
Phil

 

[Bird]

Now the big dilema is do I continue to post here or start new post? This ones Eddie's

It really is difficult to not get a little off topic at times, at least for me, and hopefully it doesn't hurt anything. But I'll vote in favor of you starting a new thread in the same forum; maybe call it "Digging a Pond" or whatever name you like, simply because Eddie's thread is already so long.

 

[EddieWalker]

... simply because Eddie's thread is already so long.

Bird makes a good point. One of the best things about this site and starting a thread on a project is that it's a permanent record of what you did and when you did it.

I've gone back to this thread to figure out when I did something and what order my pictures were taken. I've also used this site to show friends and potential clients some of the things I've done. They can follow along, or read about it when they like.

You're more then welcome to add to this thread, but having your own thread on your pond would give you an ongoing record of the project. As I'm sure you noticed with this thread, it doesn't end with the digging. I still have a bridge to build over my spillway, a gazebo to build on my peninsula and a picnic area that I'm still building up with dirt. This could go on forever.

Eddie

 

[philbuilt]

I will start a new post when I get started again.
Thanks Phil

 

[GaryBDavis]

Eddie,

I see you have some experience with bermuda here in Texas. I'm a bit south of you, but still pretty much the same climate and I need to seed 3 acres where I just built a new home.

The local feed store carries a common bermuda at $5.50/lb. I'd like to support local-family owned stores, so I'd like to buy from them. I looked at the tag on the bag and it reads:

Bermuda Grass (Hulled)
Cynodon Dactylon
Pure Seed: 98%
Other Crop: 0.8%
Inert: 1.2%
Germination: 85%
Noxious Weed: None

Any comments you have would be appreciated.

They also have a bermuda seed called Texas Tough which I believe is distributed by East Texas Seed Company. It's made to compete with costal bermuda but can be seeded rather than sprigged. If you or anyone else has any experience with this, please let me know. It runs $375 for a 50lb bag and is seeded at 10lb/acre. I'm not planning on using it in my yard, but would like to try some in the pastures.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Gary,

What I know about bermuda can be put in a thimble with room to spare. hahaha Of the different brands, it does make a difference what you plan on doing with it. Some is very aggreassive and fast growing. It's for hay cattle. Others are more slow growing and finer bladed for lawns. I just want it green and drought tollerant since I'm not gonna water it.

The best place for specific information is from Texas A&M. They have an extension in my county and I think most counties.

Texas Cooperative Extension, the Texas A&M University System

They are always doing research on grasses, pastures and other plants to see what will grow best.

The sack of seed you're looking at is almost all seed. I made the mistake of buying on price per sack, and not on percentage of seed. You can get bermuda seed from all the stores, but most sacks are less then half seed. When comparing prices, you need to be compare percentages in the sack, which is what I'm sure you are already doing. I just didn't realize it when I first bought my land and started spreading seed.

The other thing to consider is how long will the seed sit before germinating. Hulled seed will sprout much faster, but will rot if conditions are not right. Bermuda needs warm weather and water to get going. I've been told soil temps need to be 80 degrees, but don't actually believe it. Right now it's getting into the 70's and my bermuda is sprouting from seeds I put out last fall. That was un-hulled seed because I knew it was late in the season and didn't expect it to all germinate before winter came in.

The fertalizer guy said to plant first, then fertelize after it's growing. With bermuda, you don't really need to do much to the soil to get it to grow. It seems to love clay and acidic soils.

 

[EddieWalker]

It's been a few weeks since I've been down to the lake. It's not far away, but the trees block the view and I've been pretty busy with work and other projects. So I was pleased to see that my trees along the edge of the dam are alive and blooming. The grass is starting to sprout and things are looking green!!!!

I haven't looked on the calender, but since the high water mark of 8 inches from being full, I'm now down to 18 inches below overflow. It's been in the 70's for the last few weeks and I'm sure evaporation is taking it's toll. Otherwise, I was keeping pretty consistant at one inch loss per week.

Anybody have an extra million gallons of water to fill me up?

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Anybody have an extra million gallons of water to fill me up?

Eddie

Eddie, I think we got 2-3/4" on Monday night and our lake is up 18". My pond I dug out overflowed to the second pond and raised it about 24". Another 3" rain would put everything up to the full line, but I'd just as well wait a week before anymore heavy rain.

We fed the fish in our little pond last night and the baby catfish and bluegill were hitting all over the place. Even the little minnows were taking their share. I hope you get some more rain soon to keep your lake up. Things are starting to really be green and I'm getting a bad case of spring fever.

 

[rox]

It is looking good Eddie, jsut those little patches of green give an idea of what it will look like soon.

 

[MF1455v]

Looks great Eddie. Sure hope we will be able to make out and see the lake in person this fall.

James

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

Congrats on all the water you received!! I know you were hit allot harder by the drought then we were over here, so it's real nice to hear how quickly your ponds are filling up. One rain like you received and I'll be full. It's not too uncommon to get a 3 inch rain here, and the season for it to happen is just about here. My goal was to be as ready for spring as I could. Right now I feel that I'm in a pretty good position to handle the heavy rains if/when they arrive.

Rox,

Thank you. I've never been too interested in the fishing aspect of the lake. I know that it's a huge attraction to have a good fishing hole and while digging it, I created what I hope will be just that, but that wasn't my personal motivation. I want a jewel in the woods. It's all about how it looks and fits in that gets me exited. The grass on the dam and around the water with all the trees will make it look amazing. Or at least, that's what I'm hoping for. hahaha

James,

Thanks. We'd sure enjoy having you guys out here. There's fishing in the small pond for the kids, or anybody else who comes out, plus the trails are fun to hike. You never know what your'll see!!! I don't know if the lake will be any good for fishing by then, but somebody will have to be the first to catch a fish in it!!!

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

A few weeks ago I ordered 8 Chromatella Water Lillies. I've always loved them, but just about everything I've read is that they can take over a pond and become very invasive. One of the tricks to control them is to plant them on land that drops off quickly to 6 ft or more. Another way is to only buy plants that are not as aggressive and invasive as others. There are only a few that meet this requirement. Chromatella is one of those. It's a yellow flowering plant that should look really nice when in bloom, but also give me the look I'm after.

I have several underwater islands that are about 4 feet from the surface of the water, but drop straight down on the sides four feet or more. These were primarily made for my lilly plants. Secondary use is for the fish.

I paid $11.50 each for a total of $106 with shipping from Water Plants, Water Lily, Aquatic Plants, water gardening, lotus, Louisiana Iris, hyacinth, lilies, tropical, floating, oxygenating plants out of Colorado. They were suposed to ship them last Monday, but called and apologized that they were running late and that I will have them this week. They showed up today!!!

I have a 10 foot plastic boat that is rated for 500 pounds. It's perfect for us to paddle around the water in. It's also the best way I have to get the water lillies to my submerged islands. Getting the rizones into the clay was much tougher then I expected, and what I thought would be a fun little project with the kids, turned out to several hours of pain.

Steph took a few pictures of us working hard!!

Eddie

 

[coopers]

That looks like a nice size pond to house wintering ducks. What kind of vegetation do you get down there growing around bodies of water? What do you plan on doing with the shore? Are you going to keep it open like it is right now or try and get it full with grasses and other stuff?

Blake
WA

 

[patrick_g]

A few weeks ago I ordered 8 Chromatella Water Lillies. I've always loved them, but just about everything I've read is that they can take over a pond and become very invasive.
Eddie

One of our ponds had almost complete coverage with Lotus plants last year but after the drought and the serious relocation of that pond's shoreline I haven't seen a single plant since the pond has filled up.

I was told that if you have a container or a submerged curb that extends sufficiently below the bottom that you can force aquatic plants to "stay put" or at least not to propagate by spreading at the roots to areas outside the containment area.

Pat

 

[rox]

Eddie,
noticed you were wearing shorts. is it that warm? i thought it jsut snowed by you.