Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond builder in west central Indiana

I am considering having another pond built on our place 30 miles west of Indianapolis, and the fellow that built my other ponds retired. If anyone has someone that they can recommend who knows how to properly core a dam, I would be most appreciative if you could provide me with their contact info. I will likely be under an acre and will need quite a bit of excavation, a drain tube, and an emergency spillway.

Nobody has any recommendations?

I'm sorry RAH, I just don't know anyone to recommend. All of my ponds were built 40 years ago......

Thanks for replying sprkplug. It looks like none of the memeger that have been checking in have any experience with contractors in my area (in recent times).

The only guy that I know of is up this way, I don't know if he'd travel down there. If you want, I can dig up his information. He's located about 15 miles South of the Mi/IN line.

Thanks essohup. That seems a bit far away and would likely drive up the price considerably. There must be some good pond builders closer by.

OK - I want another pond and I can't find a local pond digger with experience with coring a dam. Is there really nobody in my area? I am looking for a recommendation rather than a list of excacators. I am 30 miles west of Indy. Any help is greatly appreciated.

The guy that esshup was talking about (at least I think). Never know. If they are wanting the work they might be willing to negotiate.

This guy did my pond. Knew all about the core trench and all the other important stuff without me asking. The others I talked to had no clue. He also used a sheepsfoot roller for the enitre dam. Did a great job.

Can't hurt to talk to him.

Can you give me his contact info? his email would be great.

Talk to Mongo on the Forum (Dave Sefton) he will know.

djsefton@frontiernet.net

Thank you!

Never got a returm email from djsefton@frontiernet.net but I have three other companies/guys quoting the pond. I have only what they tell me to choose among them. I wish there was a place here where folks could leave there reviews of contractors that they hired to build ponds! Anyone have pond experience with A-1 Excavating of Indiana Inc., Graham Trucking and Excavating LLC., or John Guernsey out of North Salem, IN?

Not I.

esshup - As a moderator, what do you think of a PondBoss contractor review section where folks give their opinions on pond contractors that they have used? If it was indexed by geography, it might be very helpful.

RAH, as a member of the PB community, I'd love to see it. I know of only one pond builder in this area that knows his stuff, and ran into the same problem as you are now when I renovated my pond in 2008. Even tho you are a ways away, with the economy being slow, I'd give him a call. IIRC he dug a 2 ac pond for FCM67693 in less than 2 weeks at a price that was less than what it cost me to dig my 1 ac pond myself (although I did have a lot of time wrapped up in spreading out the dirt from my pond).

How do I contact him?

I'll dig up the information for you.

Found it:
J W Green Development LLC 67571 Us Highway 31
Lakeville, IN 46536-9725
Phone: (574) 784-3999
John Green, owner

They don't advertise pond construction, but of the 3-4 contractors that Mike had come to his house to give him a quote, John was the only contractor that asked Mike if he knew about a core trench for the dam. They dug in good clay, and once they got the depth that was needed, they put clay back in the pond, rolling it (and the dam as it was constructed) with a sheepsfoot roller.

His pond only looses water due to evaporation as far as I can tell. It was dug in late summer 2008, and once it filled, I don't think it's ever dropped more than 8" or so.

Thank you!

Well, we are having John Guernsey, out of North Salem, build are pond (should be over an acre, I think). He probably won't start until mid July. I'll share pictures during construction. The depth is supposed to be 12 feet. Are there any concerns with this being deep enough for SMB? I am planning on adding FHM the first year and then adding RES and SMB once they grow and multiply sufficiently (maybe in the spring of 2014. What do you think? Should I also add golden shiners, and if so, when?

Any answers on the SMB questions?

Depth of 12' is enough for smallies. I grew them to 21" in 7'deep 1/3ac. I removed some snow during winters to increase light penetration through the ice cover. Pond had YP, golden shiners and bluntnose as forage fish and crayfish. IMO it would be better if the contractor push out at least 1/4-1/2 of the bottom basin that allowed the depth to be 15'-17' deep. Extra depth will help reduce chance of winter kill. Extra depth will also help improve water quality via DO reserves esp if pond is aerated. One of your aerator diffusers should be operaterd in that deeper basin. Over time the extra depth could easily fill in with muck and soft 'muds' to decrease depth to 13'-14'. IMO I would rather spend some money for extra depth rather than larger size when in northern or central Indiana. Extra depth is cubic yards of dirt from a small area in the basin compared to moving more dirt moved making the pond larger, thus the extra depth in a relatively small area should not cost that much extra.

GS are bait stealers but good forage for SMB, and smaller GS are good for YP if you decide later to add YP. Several HSB (6-16) will co-habitate okay with the smallies. HSB will help deplete the shiners and forage so maybe remove or reduce SMB to allow for HSB predation. A local guy has HSB (50-60/ac & pellet feeding) with GS and the HSB have significantly depleted the GS.

Thanks Bill. I will not be aerating, and am just after large SMB. I can ask about a 15' hole. I only fish with artificial bait so bait stealing is not an issue. What should be the timing of the stocking of the various species be? Is it OK to add both the FHM and shiners initially and then follow with the SMB once the poulations of forage look good? I do not think that I can get bluntnose minnows although they are native in the streams around here. Would yellow perch help the SMB? I am planning to place chunks of concrete in a circle in 5' of water and fill with river stone as a spawning area. Do you think that this will work? I am thinking that the water level may drop during dry spells and that the rock will fill at least 6" making the surface of the rock at about 4 feet deep.

This is an interesting read if you are thinking SMB.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=16146&fpart=11

Make the circle of rocks for spawning smaller (abt 3-4ft dia) and more of them maybe 3-6. If electr4icity innot an option consider aerating with a windmill and put the diffuser in the deep basin. If the pond has lots of trees with leaf drop around it then summer and winter kills even with a windmill are very likely and SMB will have a hard time surviving. Organic inputs from terrestrial sources are very 'hard' on overall pond water quality.

I very much doubt that you will grow very large SMB (15"+) without more types of forage and without pellet feeding. HOwever it could be done if you keep the number of SMB few so the few that are present have lots of almost unlimited food. Pellet feeding will greatly enhance the smallie population for numbers and size. It takes a lot of the proper food and sizes of food to grow larger SMB & LMB & YP and HSB, etc. Crayfish should be an addition along with proper habitat of broken concrete along or rip-rap lining the shoreline at least one shoreline, and preferably the downwind shore. Small fish esp fingerling SMB will use the concrete areas & piles for refuge. Contractors, villages and towns often have waste broken concrete. Start stock piling it.

I would do some minnow trapping in your streams. Bluntnose are no doubt common and pretty easy to recognize with the dark lateral stripe and dark spot at the base of the tail. Try to add at least 20-30 with the FHM one spawning season before the SMB. A good time to trap them is in fall or spring before spawn in mid to late May. Come see me and I will catch some for you. I occassionally get to Kokomo and I could bring you a few with spotfin shiner breeders if you meet me there.
Views of bluntnose:
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_...66/Default.aspx

http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/species/219
http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/content/spotfin-shiner-and-bluntnose-minnow

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/nhl/nhl%20fish/nhlbluntnoseminnow.html

http://therockyriver.com/library/fish-id-catalog/bluntnose-minnow/

http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/vhs/bnmin.html

Your water level may drop quite a bit if the pond is a leaker so a little extra depth may be a big plus. The deeper hole should not really be a hole nor trench but a small sloped basin maybe 16'-20 X 40'-50' maybe 0.05-0.1 ac.

Thank you again. No trees near the pond but runoff from a neighbor's tilled field will bring in nutrients. The pond will be about an acre so it may take a while to bring up the minnow forage population. The crayfish are everywhere, so they will be no problem. We have lots of burrows around our existing pond, shallow duck ponds, and wetlands. We have bluntnose in the stream that runs through our place, so I should be able to catch some easily. My worry is putting in the wrong fish, but if the stripe is distinctive, I should have no problem. I knwo they are in ther because my son had one in a fish tank that got to be about 6 inches long and was quite easy to identify at that size. I only plan to add about ten SMB initially due to cost, and then let them breed. Thank you for the tip on the multiple small stone beds. This makes good sense and I will do this. I will keep a natural edge to this pond, like my other one, so the reeds and other plants should provide cover. Not aerating risks a fish kill, but I will try anyway. I have a 5' duck pond full of warmouth and BG, and some nice size LMB, and I do not know how they survive, but so far no fish kill after 3 years. I can only fish it in early spring due to weed growth, but I did not expect it to have any fish because it was built as a wetland and was not supposed to hold water according to the FWS. That is why I had it made so deep. The fish got in during a flood.