Just had a new pond dug but only able to dig 4 feet on shallow end 6 feet on deep end about 1/2 acre surface area with an all clay bottom. New to the whole pond thing and wanted to know if it is possible to both manage as a fishing pond and still allow the kids to go swimming? If so which plant life fish ect should i start with and when to introduce each. Also should i aerate with bottom bubblers or surface fountain ect? Will it stir up more mud? Side note located in southern Louisiana currently little shade around the pond so im sure water will get warm during the summers. Any info at this point would be helpful seems i got a little ahead of myself with the whole digging thing thanks!!!
Some of us swim in our ponds. The biggest complaint is about bluegills, etc nipping. That’s sort of an irritant but not a big deal. On hot Texas days, I’ve bailed in for awhile to cool off.
That pond is pretty shallow for full Louisiana sun.
It may be difficult for plants to initially get established on a packed clay bottom. However, once the plants and the algae do get started, you may have a fight on your hands since sunlight will reach the bottom in most/all of your pond.
Has the pond started filling yet, or can you still add some depth? If you can add depth, will you dig THROUGH your clay layer, or do you have clay as deep as you can excavate?
If you can still dig (and want to), you might get a decent sized portion of the pond down to 10 feet. That will give the fish some protection in case of drought, etc. It should also help insure that a portion of the pond does not have plants growing from the bottom.
You should also slope the sides steeply on your shallower portions to get down to the 4' depth as quickly as possible. A 1:3 slope, or perhaps a little steeper, should be stable in your clay. (One feet deeper for every three feet you move away from the shoreline.)
DO NOT make a steep slope around the swimming area. It needs to be gradual so kids, old guys with bad knees (like me), etc. can easily walk out of the pond. (Wet clay is pretty slippery.)
One other solution to the excessive plants problems is to plant beneficial plants to utilize the fertility of your pond water. You want your "good" plants to use up the nutrients so algae doesn't have the ability to rapidly choke your pond using those same nutrients.
There are lots of good threads on Pond Boss about beneficial plants for a pond. You should probably also read some of the threads on filamentous algae so you will know your enemy!
Finally, yes fish are fine to add into a "swimming" pond. You almost certainly need some type of minnow that eats mosquito larva. There are lots of good threads about fish populations for southern ponds. Many recommend bluegill with largemouth bass. However, bluegill are probably the species most likely to peck at swimmers. There are lots of alternatives available and hopefully some of the experts can give you some good advice if you give some more information about your goals for the pond.
Welcome to Pond Boss, and good luck on your new pond project!
Thx for the info originally wanted 10 feet but we dug until sand was hit which was at least a 2 foot deep layer didnt go any further has the ground water started in quickly. Side were dug 3 feet straight down then a 3 foot shelf out followed by the remaining depth straight down. As for the swimming area i had planned on making a nice staircase type thing with hand rails and non skid steps. The bluegill nipping would be more fun then annoying at least for me watching the kids anyway lol. I plan on buying a few 8-9 foot tall cypress trees to put around the pond on the side that doesnt have any at the moment. Ill look into the plant forms for sure wanted some type of lilly pads along most of the shelf in hopes of making a nice area for spawning. My concern with swimming with it being so shallow will the foot traffic on the bottom stir up alot of mud and cause harm to the plant lofe and fish.
Heavy swimming and wading pressure will probably stir up some of your clay bottom.
One of the solutions is to put down some weed barrier cloth and cover that with sand. That will make a better "beach" for little kids if you extend it 10-15' above your shore line. You can also extend it down the slope past the shore line to a depth of 4-5 feet so waders will not stir up your clay.
People frequently put a shelf or hump at the deepest point of your sand extension into the pond to inhibit the sand from washing all of the way to the deepest point of your pond.
There are several good threads on building beaches if you perform a search.