Getting serious about moving dirt

[bdog]

For that size of a pond, be sure to only put one type of predator fish in there. Copper Nose bluegill are probably the best choice for a feeder fish. Add some fathead minnow to keep the bluegill and your predator fish happy is a good idea too. Do you like catfish or bass? Channel cats would do better then blue cats. Large mouth bass need to be fished pretty regular to allow the blue gill to grow big enough to encourage the bass to grow. If not, you end up with a pond full of small bass. Rule of thumb is 100 pounds total weight of predator fish per acre of surface water. Figure 30 to 40 pounds for your pond size.

Thanks. When they are finished I plan to survey the pond with RTK GPS and make a 3D model to determine the exact size and volume. I will then start researching about the fish.

We are finished hauling off dirt - finally. I estimate we hauled off over 90 loads over dirt today - nearly 2,000 yards. Tomorrow they just have to do the shaping and finishing touches.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Very cool project. Keep us posted on the progress!

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you going to build a dock?

Fish like structure. More the better. They say that a pretty hole in the ground is a swimming pool, an ugly hole is for lots of fish. I dug pits the size of swimming pools into the bottom of mine, piles logs hundreds of feet long and created ledges with underwater islands that drop off four feet. The steeper the bank, the fewer plants you will have taking it over. Ideally you want to get down to below four feet as quickly as you can because that's about where most plants cannot grow.

 

[Oldoak]

Nice :thumbsup: Right tool for the job as they say.

Just came across this thread today. Your comment was my very first thought.

We all like to do things for ourselves, but too many times people beat their small machines to death by asking too much from them or get discouraged in the middle of a project when there is little progress to be seen for amount of time spent on the job.

bdog, Enjoy you pond. One suggestion, put several tons of small size gravel in one area of the pond before filling it up with water, where the fish can spawn. An all silt, muck like, bottom is not the best environment for fish eggs.

 

[Soldier415]

Looks good. Would love to dig out a pond some day but don't have the terrain for it on my property

 

[JRobyn]

We have a holler behind the house that would make a wonderful pond/small lake of about 2-3 acres. If only we had your 200 loads of dirt to make a dam. And something to seal our rocky/leaky ground.

 

[kebo]

We will be putting fish in it. Not sure yet if I am going to use a plastic liner or bentonite to seal it.

It will be about 1/3 of an acre and 10-12' deep.

How do you plan to fill it? Looks pretty dry there!

 

[bdog]

Well it is done. At least the digging. It ended up being 0.4 acres, 16' deep at the deepest, and we removed 4,003 yards of dirt. It will hold 808,500 gallons of water.

It will be filled from an irrigation type well I had drilled last year. It flows 70 GPM so should fill it in 8 days. Seems like an awful lot of water to pump but the farmers around me have center pivots and every time they put an inch of water on their 160 acres circle that is 4.3 million gallons so my water consumption is a drop in the bucket to that.

After it was done I built a 5'x5' grid and surveyed 780 points across the pond to get the exact area and volume.

 

[jenkinsph]

Are you going to build a dock?

Fish like structure. More the better. They say that a pretty hole in the ground is a swimming pool, an ugly hole is for lots of fish. I dug pits the size of swimming pools into the bottom of mine, piles logs hundreds of feet long and created ledges with underwater islands that drop off four feet. The steeper the bank, the fewer plants you will have taking it over. Ideally you want to get down to below four feet as quickly as you can because that's about where most plants cannot grow.

I would have to say that Eddie has done a terrific job with his small lake. Lots of work and a learning experience I am sure.