Built my first pond of many - 05/26/13 12:14 AM
So glad I found this place, it's going to make my life so much easier going forward. My wife and I bought 100 acres in west TN so she could be a farmer. Fortunately for me the place has more than a couple natural springs popping right out of the ground.
We laid out our 'big' pond but won't be able to build that until fall or maybe even next year. But I couldn't wait. So I went upstream to about where I expect the top of the pond to end and built a small dam to start playing with.
First step was to build steps down in to the creek bed to make it easy to work down there. Then we set a few treated 2x12s to see how long it would take to fill. 18" in 5 hours for anyone curious.
We let that sit overnight then added another 2x12 to the top and packed the back side with chirt (crushed decomposed granite) that I had left in a few piles from putting in the driveway. That stopped almost all of the leaks entirely.
This next level filled overnight as the water got wider and deeper. Right now we are about 120 long and about 6 feet wide and in the pol just upstream from the damn about 5 feet deep.
The plan is to let it settle for a few weeks and survive a few big rains before going up one more 2x12. I don't intend to go any higher than that.
And because I just couldn't wait, I ran down to the bait shop and picked up a few dozen shiners and a half dozen albino catfish. The plan is to make this pond the hatchery for the food fish for the large pond.
I'm estimating about 6 acres for the large pond and about 20 to 22 feet deep in the main channel when it's done. Still researching what fish I am going to raise, but with the amount of flow we have I'm really hoping we can put some SE in there along with BG and maybe SMB. But like I said, that is a way off for now.
This video was shot about 12 hours after it rained. About 24 hours after we shot this we were pushing an estimated 45 gallons a minute over the spillway and raised the edges of the spillway another 2 inches.
We laid out our 'big' pond but won't be able to build that until fall or maybe even next year. But I couldn't wait. So I went upstream to about where I expect the top of the pond to end and built a small dam to start playing with.
First step was to build steps down in to the creek bed to make it easy to work down there. Then we set a few treated 2x12s to see how long it would take to fill. 18" in 5 hours for anyone curious.
We let that sit overnight then added another 2x12 to the top and packed the back side with chirt (crushed decomposed granite) that I had left in a few piles from putting in the driveway. That stopped almost all of the leaks entirely.
This next level filled overnight as the water got wider and deeper. Right now we are about 120 long and about 6 feet wide and in the pol just upstream from the damn about 5 feet deep.
The plan is to let it settle for a few weeks and survive a few big rains before going up one more 2x12. I don't intend to go any higher than that.
And because I just couldn't wait, I ran down to the bait shop and picked up a few dozen shiners and a half dozen albino catfish. The plan is to make this pond the hatchery for the food fish for the large pond.
I'm estimating about 6 acres for the large pond and about 20 to 22 feet deep in the main channel when it's done. Still researching what fish I am going to raise, but with the amount of flow we have I'm really hoping we can put some SE in there along with BG and maybe SMB. But like I said, that is a way off for now.
This video was shot about 12 hours after it rained. About 24 hours after we shot this we were pushing an estimated 45 gallons a minute over the spillway and raised the edges of the spillway another 2 inches.
