hi we bought a place with a large about 7 acre pond. it is beautiful and very dynamic.

Althouth we noticed a bogs that float up to the top during the heat of Summer and sink in Fall. We are hoping to rejuvenate the pond by removing layers of silt and muck and making the pond more usable.

Some of the bogs are quite large almost 50 feet in length and it is getting harder to canoe around them.

I look forward to reading what others have done to be successful.

We bought the place just over a year ago, and we are still investigating our options and cost.

I would like to try the low cost way first, did that with a shovel in hand after a day of back breaking digging and weed pulling! Didnt get anywhere.

A little history digging of the locals, we discovered 30 years ago the pond was harvested for marl or peat soil. That someone would harvest lilly pads.
It is very mucky and needs some care.

There is an aerator with a windmill attached, a pier, and two other homes that share the pond.

Here is two different seasons, the pond was stocked at one time. So when we tipped the canoe a bit a small brown trout was in the shallow end. I wonder if we have more fish in there.

I was hoping to find nature friendly ways to renovate.

Looked into hiring a company that would scuba dive and clean the muck out, but it costs about 2k a day.

Welcome to the forum!

There are a couple of Wi. pond owners here, and even more with roots there. I have relatives in Fifield and Park Falls, and went to UWSP (Point). I normally go further North to deer hunt, near Presque Isle.

Is the pond shared by the 3 homes or do you have complete ownership?

Wherein the state are you? (curosity more than anything else).

We are central Wisconsin. We share the pond with 3 others.

Our neighbors have been trying to keep it alive with aeration and the windmill. They also take a small motor boat out to aerate it in Summer.

Story is told that three siblings bought the land and their mobile homes, the pond was clear and could swim from one side to the other in the early 70's.

The siblings got older and one by one moved out, our home was moved to the other side of the pond and that is why it is more wooded and rustic.

Interesting stories from the locals, about harvesting marl in the 70s, the pond was named several names and we are deciding on a new name.

I think Lake Emily was the last name- ha, but not official.

its not big enough to be a lake but large for a pond.

It is mostly a drainage pond with marshland surrounding it and some high wooded land too.

Have you made a map of the pond and marked numerous depth measurements?

Bill Cody, no we have not mapped it out. It is about average 8 feet deep according to the neighbors, and I measured a 10 ft deep area near the aerator.

Although wearing hip waders, I walked out near the shoreline and realized I was walking on a dense bog, reached an opened area stuck my shovel in and couldn't find the bottom.
Not safe to walk on the bogs with that depth beneath it.

Curious, Why would you map out the pond?

We have tree frogs, turtles, sandhill cranes, geese, ducks, and eagles in the area.

Around the 1990's The pond was stocked with brown trout, bluegill and largemouth bass. According to an older neighbor... got to love these stories of history about Emily pond.

The lilly pads get abundant with white flowers.
New name:
Costalotta Pond