Creating a Lake

[BrianKwiatkowski]

Hi Mr. Walker,

I just want to commend you for a job-well-done in the building of your lake. I found this site a couple hours ago and pretty much scanned this entire thread, including most of the pictures. This was a fascinating read, from the very beginning of the project right to the end. The sweat and manpower has really paid off for you. The lake is beautiful!!! For what it's worth. . .Good Job!

Brian Kwiatkowski - Pennsylvania

(The attached picture shows the lake that I built on my 200 acres of land. Definitely NOT an easy job!)

 

[bindian]

Hi Mr. Walker,

I just want to commend you for a job-well-done in the building of your lake. I found this site a couple hours ago and pretty much scanned this entire thread, including most of the pictures. This was a fascinating read, from the very beginning of the project right to the end. The sweat and manpower has really paid off for you. The lake is beautiful!!! For what it's worth. . .Good Job!

Brian Kwiatkowski - Pennsylvania

(The attached picture shows the lake that I built on my 200 acres of land. Definitely NOT an easy job!)

Brian,
Welcome to TBN.:thumbsup: Awesome place you have with the lake you built.
hugs, Brandi

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your first post being on my thread!!!! and for the nice compliment.

Your lake looks amazing. Love to see lake pictures. Congratulations on yours.

Eddie

 

[BrianKwiatkowski]

Hi again Eddie,

Thanks. Seriously, you should consider taking the key elements of this thread and turn it into a 'how to' book. You literally presented every step from conception to the end result. I remember looking at the first few of your pictures and thought "how the **** is this guy going to turn this mess into a lake!" Imagine my surprise when I got to the last page of this thread. You never gave up, and what a result! Incredible. What a great, enjoyable and informative read.

(Most of my lake is replenished with surface run-off. I diverted most of the mountain run-off through an artificial wetland that I created for filtration purposes. Somehow it worked out perfectly. The result was clear water and healthy fish. Still have a lot of cleanup and additional landscaping to do.)

Brian

 

[bindian]

Hi again Eddie,

Thanks. Seriously, you should consider taking the key elements of this thread and turn it into a 'how to' book. You literally presented every step from conception to the end result. I remember looking at the first few of your pictures and thought "how the **** is this guy going to turn this mess into a lake!" Imagine my surprise when I got to the last page of this thread. You never gave up, and what a result! Incredible. What a great, enjoyable and informative read.

(Most of my lake is replenished with surface run-off. I diverted most of the mountain run-off through an artificial wetland that I created for filtration purposes. Somehow it worked out perfectly. The result was clear water and healthy fish. Still have a lot of cleanup and additional landscaping to do.)

Brian

Brian,
Is that dog of yours a White German Shepard? I had one when I was 19. His Mom and Dad played tug-o-war with a 4x4.
hugs, Brandi

 

[BrianKwiatkowski]

Hi Brandi,

"Tug of War with a 4x4." Cute, lol.

Well, she is half Shepherd and half Huskie, with a little Malamute in her too. I got her from the pound when she was 6 months old, and now she's pushing 12years. I own/preside over a Rail transloading company with 1.7 miles of track and 220 acres of land, which is where I built the lake, so she gets a LOT of exercise. I'm hoping to get another 6-8 years out of her. She has a very good life, so she has a reasonable shot at making 20 (which is a rarity). She literally 'supervised' the entire construction of the lake, not to mention the entire business from the ground up. It's her land, and she let's you know it, lol.

Brian

 

[bindian]

Hi Brandi,

"Tug of War with a 4x4." Cute, lol.

Well, she is half Shepherd and half Huskie, with a little Malamute in her too. I got her from the pound when she was 6 months old, and now she's pushing 12years. I own/preside over a Rail transloading company with 1.7 miles of track and 220 acres of land, which is where I built the lake, so she gets a LOT of exercise. I'm hoping to get another 6-8 years out of her. She has a very good life, so she has a reasonable shot at making 20 (which is a rarity). She literally 'supervised' the entire construction of the lake, not to mention the entire business from the ground up. It's her land, and she let's you know it, lol.

Brian

Brian,
Well, she sure is a pretty gal. We once had a Husky and Collie cross. He was a big guy. Right now I just have Booger.
hugs, Brandi

 

[piratesignal]

This whole thread is astonishing. Man builds lake! The scale of effort is so big it almost seems it would need to be a Gov't Works Project, yet this guy actually did this.

You guys have some serious talent. The lake that the guy from PA built looked really nice, too.

Cool dogs, too!

 

[EddieWalker]

I forget exactly when, but I think it was around July of last year that I received over 8 inches in one day of rain. That is the last time Lake Marabou was full. That is the last time that I've received any significant rain.

Nothing has come down hard enough to have any run off, or come when the ground was already wet so I would get some runoff. The water level dropped over the summer last year and I went into winter about 2 feet low. That would have been easy to fill if I had a normal winter, but instead of rain, I got snow. That didn'g give me any runoff either. It just melted into the ground and the water level never went up.

Spring started the process of evaporation again, and with close to three months of temps over 100 degrees, the water level really droped. I'm just guessing, but I'm sure that I'm over 6 feet down and I only have six feet left in the deepest end. Luckily the weather had cooled off and evaporation isn't such an issue. Now I just need to hope for a wet winter!!!!!

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Eddie, in my opinion, your lake has survived this drought with some water. That's the "trial by fire" so to speak. I don't think things will get much tougher than this year. If you had your business opened and wild animals present, they would have a place to drink and cool off in the heat. I think your lake looks very good compared to some. Our big lake has lost half of it's water, maybe more. I think this drought has shown everyone in our area with a pond whether their ponds are properly designed or not. Many ponds are just mud holes or bone dry now. Yours is lookin' good to me.:thumbsup:

 

[bindian]

Eddie, in my opinion, your lake has survived this drought with some water. That's the "trial by fire" so to speak. I don't think things will get much tougher than this year. If you had your business opened and wild animals present, they would have a place to drink and cool off in the heat. I think your lake looks very good compared to some. Our big lake has lost half of it's water, maybe more. I think this drought has shown everyone in our area with a pond whether their ponds are properly designed or not. Many ponds are just mud holes or bone dry now. Yours is lookin' good to me.:thumbsup:

Ditto here too Eddie. I am thinking most ponds around here are for stock watering and not deep. I have about 3 feet of water left in mine. I have decided not to stock more catfish this month, but wait and see.
hugs, Brandi

 

[EddieWalker]

My shoreline is all dirt. I'm thinking of adding more logs to areas that are pretty open, and buying a few thousand minnows for my other fish to eat. When the water level was higher, there was stuff growing at the waters edge for the minnows to hide in and reproduce. I'm not seeing any when I walk around the edge of the water, and think that since they don't have any place to hide, they have all been eaten.

Here is a picture that I took this morning of the shallow side of the pond. I never put any structure in this area, and now think that it was a mistake and that I want to change that while the water level is so low.

The bird is a Norther Flicker that seem to be fairly common around the pond.

Eddie

 

[bindian]

My shoreline is all dirt. I'm thinking of adding more logs to areas that are pretty open, and buying a few thousand minnows for my other fish to eat. When the water level was higher, there was stuff growing at the waters edge for the minnows to hide in and reproduce. I'm not seeing any when I walk around the edge of the water, and think that since they don't have any place to hide, they have all been eaten.

Here is a picture that I took this morning of the shallow side of the pond. I never put any structure in this area, and now think that it was a mistake and that I want to change that while the water level is so low.

The bird is a Norther Flicker that seem to be fairly common around the pond.

Eddie

Eddie,
What are you going to add for structure? Ever thought of stacking and banding large cinder blocks?
hugs, Brandi

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm going to put full trees in the water. When I was digging the pond, I had a long ramp to drive the dump truck out of it. That ramp is now dry and hard enough to drive on. It's also a long peninsula out into the middle of the pond. I'm going to stack trees on either side of it.

I'll post pics when I do it. Right now, the backhoe is down with a leaking cylinder that should be back together on Monday when the parts get here.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I think if you put lots of minnows in your lake when the water is low, you'll feed the birds more than other fish. Build your structure now, but wait until the water rises before adding minnows is my recommendation for what it's worth.

BTW: The photo of the N. Flicker lookin' at his reflection in the water is a hoot.

 

[ronjhall]

Hope to stop by your place in the spring before we head to Jims place. Jim claims if I show up it will rain.

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

That makes sense. I have enough Herons already!!!!!!!

Ron,

Sounds good. Hopefully I'll be done with the gazebo by then. LOL

Eddie

 

[fuseboxer]

I forget exactly when, but I think it was around July of last year that I received over 8 inches in one day of rain. That is the last time Lake Marabou was full. That is the last time that I've received any significant rain.

Nothing has come down hard enough to have any run off, or come when the ground was already wet so I would get some runoff. The water level dropped over the summer last year and I went into winter about 2 feet low. That would have been easy to fill if I had a normal winter, but instead of rain, I got snow. That didn'g give me any runoff either. It just melted into the ground and the water level never went up.

Spring started the process of evaporation again, and with close to three months of temps over 100 degrees, the water level really droped. I'm just guessing, but I'm sure that I'm over 6 feet down and I only have six feet left in the deepest end. Luckily the weather had cooled off and evaporation isn't such an issue. Now I just need to hope for a wet winter!!!!!

Eddie

You may want to consider making a deep hole with a drag line. Fish can survive a drought and low water but need a hole to "hole up in"

 

[jinman]

Jim claims if I show up it will rain.

Well, it has rained the last three years when you came. Last year I should have let the air out of your motorhome tires to keep you here so we wouldn't have had this drought.:laughing:

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

The big white herons are in my pond eating the minnows right now...while we are getting a bit of rain!!! Maybe a half an inch?