Hello, I have been lurking here awhile trying to soak everything in...there is a lot of information! Anyhow, I have an old pond that has been needing work for the last several years. I grew-up fishing in this pond and have many fond memories of chasing frogs, catching newts, etc. Several years ago it developed a leak and most of the fish died. Over the last few years I have been gradually working on it. We had it cleaned out by the agricultural people, put in a new overflow, built a fence around it and replaced the watering trough below the damn. Last year I decided to try to fix the leak and put in an aerator. The pond is approximately 175' long by 75 feet wide..it should be about 4 foot higher. As far as the depth goes, the deepest part may be about 10'. I have yet to take a boat out and check. I also had some bluegill, hybrid bluegill, largemouth, grass carp, largemouth, channel cats and flathead minnows stocked last fall.

Welcome to the club.

Welcome! If you think you have a leak I know a guy that might be able to help.. I'll 'round him up!

Welcome to the forum.

Glad you joined in.

Thanks for the welcome! My pond is literally on top of a mountain near a cliff. Last year the water was leaking in a spot my dad fixed years ago. I cleaned out the two holes of any lose debris, poured some ready mix in it, then mixed some bentonite and clay and put on top of it. I'm confident those two spots are fixed since the water stays up about a foot more than it use to, but it leaks down a foot in four or five days as the level rises. I think it's leaking near the patch. There are "bench rocks" in that area. Gonna try some more clay/bentonite where I think it's leaking. If that doesn't work, gonna have to get serious! Anyhow, I enjoy reading the forum and Pond Boss magazine.

Welcome!
If you have time, read through this link. It works way better than redi-mix or bentonite.

Polymer sealant - rarely fails

I'll check that out, been thinking I may have to do that...thanks for the link!

Welcome to the forum - WV is a beautiful place!

Good luck on your repairs - if you need help anytime feel free to reach out, I help guys nationwide on pond leak projects and I'm happy to help, my time is free to the Pond Boss family. Happy to kick around ideas together.

tj@hudlandmgmt.com

I found the new leak, it is in the same area that tends to be a problem. My plan is to pour ready mix into the hole once it is dry and mix some clay/bentonite and put on top of it. Does this sound reasonable? My problem now is that the hole is under about 6 inches of water, and it's right around freezing.... The hole is about 8" wide and about 4" tall. It seems to go back a few feet (as far as the stick will bend and reach), and it doesn't seem to be coming out near my damn...it seems to be going into the hillside. There is enough ground water coming into the pond to equal about what is going out, so the level is staying steady.

Are there any muskrats in the pond?

No muskrats that I have seen, or any sign of tracks. The one corner of the pond seems to be the area that leaks. There are some large rocks along that side of the pond, some visible, some just below the topsoil. My dad patched the area over 40 years ago with some clay and plastic. It held up until the last several years. This photo is from late summer, the area is directly in front of these rocks, at the pond edge.

Unfortunately cement will have a hard time sealing leaks - it doesn't expand. I'd give TJ in Nebraska (tj@hudlandmgmt.com) a call about using Soil Flock. You want to put something in the pond that will expand and seal the void With Soil Flock, with the pond at full pool it will follow the water into the cracks and seal it.