Pond Boss
Posted By: BIG6 Buying Land - 06/18/17 12:07 PM
I'm currently looking to purchase land to hunt and to build a pond on. I have located some property in Choctaw county Oklahoma, Southeastern Oklahoma. I have not visited the property yet, but based on topographic maps there is a drain running through the property that appears could support a 5-8 acre pond. That area is rocky and NRCS soil maps show bedrock to be about 6 feet below the surface. 1) can a pond be built cost effectively in such soil? 2) what are some of the things I need to be concerned with? 3) what could be done prior to the purchase of the land to insure I can build what I want (approximately 5 acre pond to fish for bass and bluegill) within my budget?

Thanks for your responses in advance.
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Buying Land - 06/18/17 01:44 PM
I am fairly familiar with that part of Ok, have done a lot of bird and duck hunting and fishing there. I would contact Mike Otto here, and maybe set a day where you two could look things over. I think it would be money well spent.
Posted By: BIG6 Re: Buying Land - 06/18/17 02:24 PM
Thanks for the advice. I have checked his website out and heard a lot of good things about him. Will probably have him look at it before purchasing.
Posted By: BrianL Re: Buying Land - 06/19/17 02:20 PM
The cheapest way to build a big pond is buying the right property. Cost effective? I would guess over $100K and working around rocks and finding and moving enough dirt for the dam could drive cost up.
Posted By: Bob Lusk Re: Buying Land - 06/24/17 08:23 PM
Definitely have Otto go look at it with you...before you buy it.
Posted By: Zep Re: Buying Land - 06/24/17 09:43 PM
Originally Posted By: Bob Lusk
Definitely have Otto go look at it with you...before you buy it.


That's exactly what we did when we were in final negotiations to buy our property in Spring 2012. Mike Otto came out and walked the entire pond, tool pictures, inspected dam, drain, watershed, emergency overflow and said everything looked fine. So we felt much better moving forward and buying the property knowing our 4 acre pond was going to be ok and not be an expensive long term problem. When you are talking about a property purchase Mike Otto's consult fee is extremely insignificant vs avoiding buying a nightmare.
Posted By: anthropic Re: Buying Land - 06/25/17 05:49 AM
Originally Posted By: Zep
Originally Posted By: Bob Lusk
Definitely have Otto go look at it with you...before you buy it.


That's exactly what we did when we were in final negotiations to buy our property in Spring 2012. Mike Otto came out and walked the entire pond, tool pictures, inspected dam, drain, watershed, emergency overflow and said everything looked fine. So we felt much better moving forward and buying the property knowing our 4 acre pond was going to be ok and not be an expensive long term problem. When you are talking about a property purchase Mike Otto's consult fee is extremely insignificant vs avoiding buying a nightmare.


Mike took all of 15 minutes to tell me that the red "clay" hill I was counting on to build a dam was actually just iron oxide & sand, utterly useless for holding water. Just chatting with him while he walks the land is an education!
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