I finally started my pond

[bindian]

Looks like your pond is coming along now. you need to move the yardstick - have fun swimming- water must be cold right now.
Is the yardstick reachable with your backhoe and thumb ?

these threads like yours and eddies makes me itching to build my own pond. Problem is snow has just melted here and I am waiting for the soil to dry out some so I can drive on it without getting stuck in the clay and do a test hole dig and see if it even feasible.

Thanks Radioman. I can reach the yardstick right now while wearing rubber boots.
How big a pond are you planning to dig?
hugs, Brandi

 

[EddieWalker]

Brandi,

It looks like that yard stick is about ready for retirement. I found an aluminum one that was painted yellow. In the last few years that I've had it in my spillway, it's faded a fair amount, but it's still very easy to read the numbers. I really like it and find that we go to it just to see how much the water has dropped during the summer. Getting it set to the right depth was a bit of a challenge, but a straight 2x4 resting on the spillway and a level gave me a pretty good idea of how far to set it into the ground. Right now, my spillway is overflowing and you can't see the yardstick. The water is several inches above it.

Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Brandi,
The progress on your pond is just great to follow.
Like radioman, I too am itching to start our pond project.
Problem is, we must make our mind up exactly where. We have several locations picked out and each has it's good and bad points. Indecision and a lot of other stuff to do first will probably mean it's not going to happen real soon. But your thread and Eddie's thread sure put a burning desire to get started every time I read the updates.
They are inspirational to me.

 

[wushaw]

Brandi,
The progress on your pond is just great to follow.
Like radioman, I too am itching to start our pond project.
Problem is, we must make our mind up exactly where. We have several locations picked out and each has it's good and bad points. Indecision and a lot of other stuff to do first will probably mean it's not going to happen real soon. But your thread and Eddie's thread sure put a burning desire to get started every time I read the updates.
They are inspirational to me.

Rob,
You need to have several on your place anyway so all your locations probably need a waterin hole anyway.

 

[bindian]

Brandi,

It looks like that yard stick is about ready for retirement. I found an aluminum one that was painted yellow. In the last few years that I've had it in my spillway, it's faded a fair amount, but it's still very easy to read the numbers. I really like it and find that we go to it just to see how much the water has dropped during the summer. Getting it set to the right depth was a bit of a challenge, but a straight 2x4 resting on the spillway and a level gave me a pretty good idea of how far to set it into the ground. Right now, my spillway is overflowing and you can't see the yardstick. The water is several inches above it.

Eddie

Eddie,
I know you are glad you can't see your yardstick. I gather the top of the yardstick is even with the bottom of your spillway? Maybe I can paint the yardstick instead of retiring it. I will give it a shot. The last photo was taken about 3 in the morning. I had a flashlight shining on the water beside it. Digital cameras are awesome with flash on in the dark!
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Brandi,
The progress on your pond is just great to follow.
Like radioman, I too am itching to start our pond project.
Problem is, we must make our mind up exactly where. We have several locations picked out and each has it's good and bad points. Indecision and a lot of other stuff to do first will probably mean it's not going to happen real soon. But your thread and Eddie's thread sure put a burning desire to get started every time I read the updates.
They are inspirational to me.

Rob,
I agree with Wushaw. You need more than one pond out there. Build the first pond in the last place your want one. Then improve your technique on each pond until you make a perfect one where you can see it the most.
hugs, Brandi

 

[radioman]

Thanks Radioman. I can reach the yardstick right now while wearing rubber boots.
How big a pond are you planning to dig?
hugs, Brandi

Cool - rubber boots is the way to go . As for my pond planning, its still in the preliminaries stages of thinking. The location where I want it is on my 1 acre lot across the street here and the pond size will be no where as big near you guys have built. It might be on a 1/4 acre size and might be 6ft or deeper if I could. I plan on starting a thread on this as soon I go a test hole dug this spring or summer.

 

[bindian]

Cool - rubber boots is the way to go . As for my pond planning, its still in the preliminaries stages of thinking. The location where I want it is on my 1 acre lot across the street here and the pond size will be no where as big near you guys have built. It might be on a 1/4 acre size and might be 6ft or deeper if I could. I plan on starting a thread on this as soon I go a test hole dug this spring or summer.

Radioman,
My pond will only be about 30 x 70 feet when full. 1/4 acre is way bigger!
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

The rains last week really helped the pond. I was out in the rain watching water draining off of the property. I have a lot of work to do to direct all that run off into the pond. The pond is about 4 feet from being full. You can see the new overflow pipe just under the pier's frame. We have bull frogs in the pond now. I have seen a bunch of them jumping in the water when I approach the pond, but today I saw one in the water floating and it was about 4 inches long. Counting down now..............20 days until I go pick up the Blue Channel Catfish. Oh yeah, the cinder block fish hotel is taking on water.
hugs, Brandi

 

[3RRL]

Brandi,
Sounds like you're just chompin' at the bit to get your catfish in.
I can't blame you. It's like taking the existence of your pond to the second level. Those fish will add another dimension of life and fun to it for years to come.
You did the right thing to observe the water run off.
In a different circumstance, it took me years to watch the water flow in regards to my dirt road. It helped me determine exactly where to cut ditches, gutters and channel the water correctly. Having said that, each year it changes a little. lol ... It's like Mother Nature is messin' with me just to keep me busy. In your case, now is the time to get out there and create the channels to your lake. Start at the lake where you want it to enter and work your way back up hill to the water run off source. Then cut the connection to your feeder ditch or you'll be working in mud the whole way down. Also make sure you have some way to slow the water down so you don't get too much mud and debris flowing in.
Keep the posts and pictures coming, I'm loving it.