Pond Building, Hindsight?

[tomzog]

I just had a dam built which will give me a 2+ acre pond.I live in North Carolina and its been 30 some days since the last rain ( we are should get a little on mon. but that will sink right in. Im going out to put some silt screen up rigth now but other than that I need some help. So what would you do diferent or what did you do right that saved you headaches in the long run.
Erosion.
Dam maintainance.
Docks.
Vegatation around pond.
Thanks for the help, Tom H.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

>>Vegatation around pond.<<
You may want to consider a liner to prevent cattails. We recently moved to a farm that has 2 acre pond. The previous owner did nothing to control the cattails. They were 15-20 feet all the way around the pond. Had to have a trackhoe come in and dig them out. Big mess since the muck was dumped over the dam. Will be at least a year before muck dries out enough to bring in a dozer to spread it. http://www.justliners.com/prodspec.htm

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Tom H.

I'll start with two "do overs" and finish with one atta boy. My first do over would of been to clear more trees away from the edge of the pond (which I'm doing now). Reason being to cut down on the number of leaves in the pond come fall. The second do over would be to have made it bigger, which my next pond will be. The atta boy refers to the silt pond I dug out upstream of the main pond. The silt pond gets cleaned out as needed with a backhoe.

Russ

 

[Billc]

Good topic!

I have a very small pond, basically a round hole in the gound about 20 feet wide and 12 feet deep. I want to expand it into a 1/4 acre lake. It will get its water from rain run off coming down the hill...may also hit a spring when I dig, but I doubt it. It will be a tear drop shape with shallow sides for cows and horses to walk in and out of.

Question: What is best piece of equipment for doing work (digging)? I would think it would be a tracked hoe.

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Tom H.
I agree,Good Topic/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I put in an 18 inch standpipe for the primary drainage for the pond. This will help control the water level and prevent erosion. It is also easy to adjust the water level up or down by making it shorter than desired and add mating setions to control the water level. An overflow is also necessary the standpipe can get clogged. Russ's idea is is a good one, a silt pond upstream is almost a must if you stock fish and get a lot of run off from dirt roads. I have a small one also with a standpipe. I'm on my third pond this one has cement weir running a waterwheel. I worked on the mill house today.

One thing I did't consider and don,t have a clue how to solve is moles. In Nortwest Wa. we have a bumper crop. I trap them along the dike and catch 10 to 20 each year.

They infiltrated my dike a few years ago and 4 to 5 thousand gallons of water plus 10 to 20 yards of fill visted my neighbor and washed out his road./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif
Good luck with your pond and when you get it stocked with fish let me know.

 

[LazyK]

Ever have any problems with river otters tearing up the pond banks rooting for fresh-water clams? Also, is it legal to shoot herrons(blue) They've cleaned out my pond twice in 3 years.

Lazy K - Chip

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Chip
No problems with Otters, but no one can escape the dreaded Blue Heron. I even built a 'Scare Heron" for my pond. Used a rotisserie from a barbercue to flail the arms. Didn't work.
I just stalk enough for both them and me. I plan to make the water deeper at the bank so they can't stand in the pond and fish.

And No you can't shoot them./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[LazyK]

the dirty pondsweepers got all my crawdads!! 200+

Lazy K - Chip

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Maybe you should get an alligator.

 

[Alan L.]

If I had it to do over again I would have the topsoil all removed first and then replaced after the tank is finished being dug. I now have about 2 or 3 acres of clay that came from the bottom of the tank while my good topsoil is buried no telling where.