Hello, I live in Crescent Oklahoma and have recently moved on to some nice acreage with what's left of two ponds. One was 15 acres and the other 5. The little one is not much of anything and the 15 acre is down to 3 or so. Hoping to glean some information here to help me manage them and get them healthy. The big pond had a great fish population but they all died this summer. Two years of drought have really hurt the property.

You will get questions about what is your goal for these ponds, what kind of fish do you want, and such...I will let others tackle all that with you...and oh yeah...post some pics and that will help. What I will say is where I am in Kansas the drought still rages on. I (and others on this forum) have taken the opportunity to work on docks, piers and bridges...along with other things that can be done with low water. Decide where you want some of these if they do not exist already. Plan spots to hang out..beaches...firepits...campsites and the like. As for the fish...I would first be sure "all" the fish are dead. Seems like a pretty big body of water for that. If they ate all dead, then you need to try and figure if it is to shallow...or maybe to many fish (biomass) in there and the water quality deteriorated. Congrats on the new place and you have come to the right place for questions and info

Splandman,

I just came back from your area, via the Pond Boss Five conference in Southwestern Missouri. I'm probably not the guy to ask for moving forward on your ponds, but I hopefully bring some optimism.

From the time we left West Virginia nearly two weeks ago, until we returned today, we saw day after day of rain. Actually, we got home a day late because of heavy rain across I-40 between OK City and here.

At the Pond Boss conference near Branson, MO., we needed our umbrellas late last week. As we headed into Oklahoma several days ago, and as we traveled into western OK, we saw a lot of swollen red rivers. At my son's house in Edmond, we saw most ponds over full pool.

I think there is room for a lot of optimism. This might be a great time to restock what you really want. If these were my ponds, I would seriously think about killing off any remaining fish in the ponds.

Now is the time to come up with a comprehensive set of goals for your ponds. Decide what you want from each. It is a great time to stock ponds, before it gets too cold or too warm.

Regards,
Ken

Agree with the others!

The more specific your goals the better we can help.

Like already said, If the ponds are dry and low, this would be a great time to add structure such as rock piles, old cars, tree piles, and many other things (if structure is needed). I dont know what total depth of the pond is at full pool, but if it needs more depth this would also be a good time to dig the pond out so in future drought you will have more total gallons of water to make the pond last longer.

And agree you should think about killing off remaining fish, this is actually a good time to do so, if it fits your goals.

Thanks for the responses.

After one day or so of being on the website I believe I have learned what our main problem is and I'm afraid it will be a massive undertaking to repair.

We have a tremendous amount of trees growing through both sides of the dam at all heights. Behind the dam is extremely rough and dense foliage and I had planned on waiting until winter to really get back in there and explore. After reading about the problems with trees in the dams I woke up this morning and headed down there. Sure enough there's a part that is a swamp.

This land is really my Dads. I own 10 acres and all the buildings and he owns the other 150. Fortunately we have the same goals for the property as far as hunting and fishing. He owns two more farms about 15 miles from here and he has a dozer and just bought an excavator. We will have to figure out a way to get it over here because we don't have a trailer that big or a truck that would pull it. Even so, with the amount of trees we have growing in both dams, I'm thinking we will need professional help.

You can probably do everything you need to do with a dozer and an excavator, even if they are small.

How big around are the trees at 4-foot above the ground level? If they are less than 4-5 inches at that height, I'd pull them out, roots and all, with the excavator. Then just smooth it and rework the surface with the dozer.

If you have to re-do the dam, I'd still just take out the trees, but leave most of the dam. You can re-core it by starting a trench on the water side of the dam with the excavator. Then push clean clay into the trench, while compacting compacting the clay into the trench (core) with the dozer.

Unless you've got some really big equipment, you shouldn't have any problem getting somebody to move them for you for a reasonable price. I'd check with the neighbors. We regularly move a big skid steer, an excavator, and a 68 hp tractor (not all at the same time) with a 1-ton pickup and 5th wheel trailer.

Ken

I took some pictures. I will start a thread over in the section about dams and post them.