Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site On Lassig Pond

Another good day of cutting lumber and moving dirt/stumps/junk. I have a ravine just west of the building site so we cut a path in there only taking out small trees and push the stumps and junk into the ravine. The side benifit is this will most likely be my future septic field. Way too many logs and going to need to build a third pile to store all of them. Feels good to do a couple good days of work. The pond is really taking shape now the only problem is that with rain in the forecast the next step is start building the dam and we are afraid to do that right now. The pictures from today are at; http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/day6/?albumview=slideshow

Wow, despite all the rain delays, the project is progressing nicely! It must feel good to finally seeing it coming together.

Thanks for the update. It looks great.

Well after 5 days of nothing being done due to rain, they got back at it today. It is starting to shape up, they say tomorrow it should really start to look like a pond. Pictures as always at http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/day%207/?albumview=slideshow

Well it is starting to look like a pond. There is about 4 feet more of dirt to add to the dam and it looks like the pond will be 15’ to 16’ deep at the deepest spot. The thinking is that the dam will get done tomorrow and Friday we will be laying pipe for the siphon drainage system. Then all that is left is cleanup and diversion ditches to be built. Then my work starts with placing structure in the pond and planting.
Here are the pictures from today http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/day8/?albumview=slideshow

Mark

Are those trees on the bank staying? I ask because my dirt guy insisted on taking out basically anything that may potentially hit him in the face while digging. How do you know that topsoil where the trees are will hold water? Or am I missing something? Quite possible. Looking very nice though, love the slideshow.

Yes the small group of trees is staying. I don't know for sure but see no reason why it would be a problem with holding water. Those trees are on the edge of a ravine that existed before the pond was constructed. We are going to clean up the edge to where the water line will be. This edge is very steep and almost a straight drop to 15' of water. There is about 6 inches at most of topsoil (if you want to call it that it still has alot of clay in it) and then heavy clay from there on down. Most of the trees you see are 3 to 8 feet higher than the water level. Why would this be an issue with holding water?

Oh, might not be, just curious. The way the picture looks, if that bank was like what I have it'd probably wash away when full.

Well the dam is at final elevation and most of the pond basin has been shaped. Need to do some cleanup, install the siphon system (Pipe), and create two diversion ditches to get more water to the pond. Should take 2 – 3 days but we will see. Need to lay some stone in a couple of areas and that may not happen till next week some time. Then the real work starts for me, I have to get FS in to lime the area and I have to put in fish structure, fertilize and plant the area, put up wood duck boxes, etc. Hopefully I can get this all done this month yet. If anyone is bored I can solve that problem. Slideshow of today’s progress http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/day9/?albumview=slideshow

Been working on the pond the last two days but things come along slow. We did get the drain pipe laid yesterday and been cleaning up around the pond. My dirt guy still has a day or a day and a half left. Need to cut the diversion ditch up north and lay stone in a couple of places. I have to get started on my part which is many days worth of work. Pictures as also at http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/day1011/?albumview=slideshow

Looking for some input on use of a landscape rack. I have a small New Holland tractor that I do a lot of work with and was wondering if a landscape rack would help clean up a lot of the roots/sticks that are around the pond before I till the area to plant. Anyone have any experience here?


Mark

Wow, it's looking great.

Thanks JHAP,

Well the plan was to get a lot of the structure in the pond Sunday but Mother Nature had a different idea. It rained 1.7” on Saturday night and that made the pond a muddy mess and hard to work in. On the good side it is holding water about 1 to 1.5’ of water right now. I did manage to get the pvc trees done. I dug the holes before the rain Saturday night and had half of the trunks in on Saturday night so I didn’t have to do all of it in the mud. I wanted to get a brunch of pallets in the pond but just to muddy to deal with that. Going to wait until I have help or it is dry enough to use the tractor.

My dirt guy has about a day to a day and a half of work left. Has to make the diversion ditch to the north and lay rock in the diversion ditches and emergency spillway. Then I can finally get started on planting the area. Hoping for some dry weather so this can get done sooner than later.

A couple of pictures of the PVC trees http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/Day12/?albumview=slideshow

Mark

You have a nice little forest started. Those will be some happy fish!

The floating pier is going right between the two forests. I cann't wait to have a sams in one hand and the fly rod in the other catching bluegills after a long day of work on the farm

I really like the countours of your pond, this is gonna be one fun place to fish.

Did ya hear that George, bluegills on a fly rod?

I have forgotten (child of the 70's) how big is the pond going to be overall?

YEAH COOL ...

I walked the water line we shot and it comes in just under 22000 square feet, so call it a half acre. The deepest spot is just over 16' deep. I have 2.5 acres of land around it the need to be planted.

Hpoe you get the weather to finish the project.

In Texas we always pray for rain but for you we will pray a little time to finish.
Good luck

Forgot to ask, I didn't secure the pvc branches in the PVC trunks. Has anyone seen an issue with this? Will they fall out over time? How to secure them? self tapping screws? glue?

I don't know if you've done yours the way I did mine, but I used zip ties. Two of them because my branches were one inchers. Drilled a hole through the trunk and branch and fed the ties through.

I was wondering if I would ever see this day but the construction of the pond is done. I spent Thursday - mid afternoon today (Sunday) working on it. This included working on the vent for the siphon system (more to do here yet), adding pallets for structure, installing the wood duck box support poles, and the biggest job of the weekend planting the 3 acres around the pond. The diversion ditches and emergency spillway where planted in a pasture grass seed mixture and oats, the areas north and east of the pond where planted in oats as the cover crop to frost seed short warm season grass and wildflowers into, and the dam front and top and building site where planted in tall fescue.

Here is the view on the south side looking NW



The south diversion ditch, this adds about 1.5 acres of drainage to the pond.



Here is the view from the east end of the pond looking west



The north diversion ditch this one adds about 4 plus acres of drainage to the pond



This is the north side of the pond, it was planted in oats as a cover crop to frost seed WSG and wildflowers into.



The emergency spilway area



This view is taken while standing on the dam looking east



This is looking at the future building site



This area was cleared out so stumps, trees, etc could be pushed into a ravine. I think this will be my future septic site



As usual a slideshow of the pics

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/final%20construction/?albumview=slideshow

Very nice lassig. It must feel great to look out on that completed project. Thanks for sharing it with us. I'm sure you covered this, but I can't find it at the moment. How was this going to be filled?

It does feel really good, but the work is never over still have alot to do next spring and a little after that I am sure. It will be filled by drainage about 8 to 12 acres worth.

It's looking great!