Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site I got the land.... Now what?

Hi, I've been on the site for a while hoping like many of you at one point to be able to buy some land and build a pond.

My main problem is where do I start. I live in Central Minnesota. Are there any members that can point me in the right direction. Is there a good Minnesota pond builder I need to talk too. What permits are required, and are there issues from past experience any Minnesota people may shed light on.

I move to the property in June of this year. I know the property well as it is the family farm. I also have a good location picked out, and my goals for the pond. I would like to start construction in the summer of 2018. Thanks for any help!!!

Have you tried the local soil and water district?....they might have a list of local excavators.
Some other options...contact local home builders and see who they use for excavation work. Search google earth for ponds in your area and ask owners who they used...If you're on facebook with a lot of local friends and family you could post that question to see if anyone knows of someone.....Search the users on this forum to see if anyone is located near you and send them a PM.....just some ideas you might have already explored these options....


mnfish, he is a member here, and being from your area he may know of someone. You might go to his member info and contact him thru regular

Buy the pond building books from this site

Dwight and his hippie buddy Stick could be some help.

Also if you have a local garden and landscaping shop, it is a great place to make connections with excavation services. They usually know who has succeeded in making some nice ponds.

Test hole. Very important. If you run into any sand or gravel you will have to plan water level to those heights or plan on a liner.

If you run into a bunch of water you will need to pump as you dig. Plan on where your going to go with the dirt. There is so much dirt that comes out that it needs to go somewhere.

thanks for the responses everyone.

I actually just found out that one of my former high school teachers is my watershed districts local contact. I will start with him to see what I can learn.

As for a local excavation guy I do have several options but just thought if someone knew of a more experienced builder and designer I'd give them a shot. I'm also wondering about fish stockers. I need to source my fish and would like to start that conversation to help figure a budget. Any good fish hatchery recommendations for Minnesota?

My land is in a sandy part of the state but I have hundreds of acres of drainage leading to my planned location. I'm more worried about to much water then not enough. I also have access to some clay material on the same property for a clay liner if needed. I'm not sure if it's the best clay around but as stated before I'm not worried about water.

Don't be afraid to personally contact individuals. All of us need a nudge now and then and some need a hard push. That includes stoping at neighbors.

We can help you with stocking rates and sizes of fish, depending on your goals for the fishery.

So I have a saved picture file from google earth of my planned pond area. Can someone walk me through how to upload that type of image. A picture is worth a thousand words.

well I am going to try this to see if it works to add the image!!

well know that I figured out how to add photos this should help describe my situation.

I put on two pictures to describe my plan.

I plan on using a small creek bed as my location, the problem I have with that is the issue of large spring snow melt water floods and large 3" plus summer storms. The property I have purchased I know well as its been in the family for ever. It does flood often but for the most part has constant flow. it currently leaves the property through a 48" and 30" culverts (30" is only wet during flood times). This is at the road way to the west.

My plan would be to build a dam 4'- 6' high in front of the roadway and extend both pipes. I would also dig down 6'-8' to reach a depth of 12'-14'. The current 48" pipe would now be used as my overflow with a control structure raising the invert. The 30" pipe would serve as my normal outflow pipe with some control structures to help minimize fish loss.

My main problem with this is during those high volume times I may loose lots of fish. I was hoping to help control the water volume with a second pond up stream which I would use as a forage pond. you can see that in the zoomed out picture. it would be .5 +/- acres. in size at high water, smaller during normal water levels. I also would try to build the area around the main pond at a lower elevation then the dam to allow it to spread out and flood.

my fish types of choice would be SMB,YP,WE,PS(pumpkinseed),BCP(Black Crappie) I think I got those abbreviations correct

Fatheads and any other common bait forage for the area. I know the creek has some type of sucker/chub minnow it already. My kids have been trying to catch them

my goals would be healthy SMB with YP as more of a forage fish. WE as a nice bonus catch and my kids love to catch pan fish (PS,BCP. I know the problems people talk about with crappies so I may not add them just hoping to add lots of variety. I like the idea of not really knowing what's going to bite.

Thanks for the read and any suggestions. As you look at the pictures the dark blue is the proposed pond and creeks, the yellow lines are the existing drainage ditches (I'm hoping to fill some in ) I also outlined the property I have control over. (140acres) I also put some white arrows showing the water flow throughout the property. This is a working beef farm so I will have grazing cattle and ongoing crop rotation as well.

apparently I didn't add the overview picture.