Howdy all. I am not really new here -- been mostly lurking for a number of years.

I have been around ponds most of my life, some great farm ponds plus a ~350 acre knee deep duck swamp. To be "king" of my own place, I bought 120 acres of deer and turkey hunting land in 2009 in west central MO and spend a lot of time there planting trees and food plots. A two acre fishing pond would really round out the year round enjoyment of the place.

I haven't pulled the trigger on the pond yet as 1) it will pain me to knock out the two acres of big oaks. 2) its an area with some risk of poor soils allow leakage. 3) cost

Been reading up on building a pond and will likely have questions. The bottom withdrawal/siphon is top on the list.

Hi Redonthehead,

I still have much to learn about pond building, so I can't be of much assistance there, but I would definitely look into how much money you could make having a couple acres of those big oaks harvested. It could help free up some money to spend on pond construction.

I believe I would do some test holes to determine soil quality first.

Welcome Red, You and I are fairly close I suspect. I'm not too far from Marshall, Mo. I, too, am new to the pond thing, but test holes make a lot of sense. My place is practically all clay, but you start getting close to the Missouri River and that can change in a hurry.

Thank you for the comments gentlemen.

Four years ago I had a guy come out to look at where I wanted test holes, and some other backhoe work, but he never came back with the equipment. I didn't push as I was waffling on the whole thing.

However I did do seat of the pants tests with jars and 5 gallon bucket with holes in the bottom. It certainly illustrated the need for good compaction. Here is a shot of the shale in the side of the ditch;

So for test holes, I assume I need one in the bottom of the ditch under the dam, plus a couple others around the site?

We would be looking for clay (which I believe is there due to the shale) and any large rock outcrop?

My place is not too far from Clinton, MO. I have a son and FIL up near Concordia. They have a Komatsu 65EX I can tap to clear the site.

RedontheHead,

I am just a few minutes from Clinton MO. Windsor MO at the junction of Henry, Pettis and Johnson counties. Welcome to the forum! Lots of good ponds in the area, but your soil does, to my eye, look like it may have some issues with holding water. As far as price goes, what StripedBass said! Def get a bid on selling those trees. We paid for most of the pond by selling some timber off of the place. There are some good guys around. PM me if you want a local reference for a logger. I can get his number for you. My pond builder has passed away, unfortunately.