Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations pond location/watershed

I have about 80 acres leased for free from a company. This property has a huge radio tower on it ( i know this place will not be sold out from under me) with excellent roads. I will be using this property for cows and hunting. But, they are allowing me to dig two 1 acre +/- ponds on the propertyfor the cows and wildlife. The ponds will also cost me nothing (if i do not make money from the dirt). I am interested in stocking these ponds. But i have a situation with one of them. I have a survey of the property that shows an area that is a little low. this is where I would like to put my pond. My question is, how do i determine the amount of water that will be flowing through the area. I plan on stocking this pond with fatheads, BG, channels, a few blues(for size), and LMB. Will this combo work? the second pond will be fed by a little drainage ditch running through part of the 80 acres and part of the 270 acres that i have leased for hunting so i am not worried about the watershed in this area. I would like to stock it with fatheads, BG, channel,blues (50/50)and black crappie. Is this a good combo? BTW: the property is relatively flat no more than a 4ft influx either way. And both ponds will be excavated with no dams on them.

i appreciate any input that will help!

Allen,

We get lots of rainfall in East Texas, that’s good news and can be bad news in terms of threats to your dam and/or pond. Little drainage ditches can turn into raging torrents of water. As long as you provide adequate means to handle the runoff, such as natural spillways, you should be okay. Check with your local NRCS office for specifics.

On the stocking plan, there are traditional approaches, which go by the book, and “other” approaches. I’ll give you a little of each to consider…but in the end, read everything you can and make an informed decision that best fits your needs and objectives.

Here’s my take…forget the crappie and take a long hard look at HSB instead of LMB. Consider Tilapia as your warm month forage fish and shad/BG for the other months. You apparently like catfish and if they match your objectives then go for it…but if part of your objective includes sport fish (nothing against catfish) then consider HSB. The HSB would do better in one 2-acre pond than two 1-acre ponds. It is very difficult to introduce HSB to a pond that already has LMB…you need large HSB that won’t be eaten by the LMB. Believe me, its far better to start out with HSB than to decide like I did that LMB didn’t cut it and HSB was the way to go.

I have lots of reasons for my recommendations and would be happy to discuss further…. but again read and make up your own mind on what’s best for you. You will get plenty of good traditional advice here on the forum. I wanted to give you a little different non-traditional view based on my experiences here in East Texas.

Allen:

This turned out to be very long, tried to answer your question the best that I could. Hopefully others will also find it interesting.

The amount of water flowing through an excavated pond is dependent on the aquifer providing the water. Other factors also influence the hydrology such as precipitation, runoff and evapotranspiration. The relationship is complex.

For a very basic understanding, consider the following: If you are in flat vegetated terrain in Texas, you may be able to ignore runoff. If not you will need to manage it for storm events. The net precipitation/evaporation gain or loss can be determined comparing the published pan evaportion rate to the annual precipitation rate adjusted for the proposed size of the pond.

Assuming that the aquifer contains enough water to supply the pond without going dry, the groundwater flow into the pond will be dependent upon three things:

1) the thickness of the aquifer that intersects the excavation
2) the hydraulic gradient of the aquifer
3) the permeability of the aquifer.

You may need a professional to help you determine these values.

Imagine your pond as an empty swimming pool. The walls are porous and allow water to flow in one side and out the other. Groundwater is not stagnant and is always moving in one direction, usually because a stream is moving water out of the area causing a low area in the water table (groundwater flows toward stream). You are only "borrowing" water for a short time as it flows through your pond.

Back to the pool, the larger the walls (area) the more water will flow through. If the water is only flowing through a one foot thick section, the amount of flow will be limited.

The bigger the pores (holes) in your wall the faster water will flow through (pemeability), the higher the gradient (hydraulic head) the faster the water will flow. Imagine the gradient as being formed by a water tank and the aquifer a large pipe connected to one half of the swimming pool. The higher the water tower, the more head pressure, which drives the flow. The relationship between permeabilty, gradient and cross sectional area is known as Darcy's Law, which decribes flow though a pipe or an idealized aquifer.

If I was evaluating the property from scratch, I would install three borings/wells in a large triangle around the pond area. The depth of the wells would be just below the proposed depth of your pond. The well logs produced by the geologist would indicate the materials and thickness of any aquifer or water bearing unit, clay, etc. The tops of the completed wells would then be surveyed and the water levels measured. This water level information would be used to determine the flow direction and hydraulic gradient.

Now a few drawings would be made showing how the proposed pond intersects the aquifer(s) and the area of the aquifer that intersects the pond. Tests would then be completed on the wells to evaluate the permeability (hydraulic conductivity). These can be inexpensive single well response tests or pump tests. Hand calculations would then be made or even a computer model produced that would take all these factors into account including evaporation, etc.

Not many pond owners would go through this whole process. Of course if published information is available you may not have to go through all of this mess. The other possibility is that you have a large source of water and your pond volume is insignificant compared to the aquifer yield making all this stuff unnecessary.

Of course, a few test pits installed with a backhoe could give some good information. If water is rushing in through a thick gravel seam, that would be good news. If all your neighbors have ponds excavated the same way, that would also be a good sign.

After I have the pond dug and they start filling up, what is the earliest that I can start stocking forage fish?

You can start the forage fish right away..when you have adequate water in the pond. You actually want the forage fish, such as fat heads and BG, stocked well before your predators...one growing season with the forage fish is nice if you can wait that long....but I never could wait that long to stock the sport fish. Best I could do was forage in the fall and predators in the following spring.