Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site New Member, Love the Site. Help me on my new pond

Great site guys, ive been doing a lot of research lately. I feel a little ignorant not finding this magazine and forum earlier. I will be subscribing to the mag and picking up a book soon.

I just purchased about 17 acres in southeast, AL. I have a small pond at the bottom of the hill, which is also spring fed, and I have a wet spot or seep in another spot close by. I talked to a contractor about making it bigger, or just building a much bigger pond. I'd like at least 2 acres if I could, for a bass/bream pond. Also, what about the top of the hills near the west side? He says the soil is great and mostly good clay. The watershed should be about 10 acres or more for the bottom, being in a valley. We get about 50in of rain per year. What can you guys tell me about the pondsite? I was planning on eventually contacting the NCRS, how much do they charge for tests and plans? I know this is probably too much to cover in a first post, please bear with me. I also wanted to keep the pond off of the other property, I would have the damn built to keep it on mine.

Great site guys, please help me get started in the right direction here. I'll attach a topo. Let me know if you need some pics if it will help.

Thanks

The NRCS is free but, in some areas, their advice is worth more or less than in other areas.

Not sure what you are asking about the side of the hill on West side.

One thing to be sure of is that all of the water comes off your property. If a neighbor changes something, you don't want it to effect you.

D-nasty

Welcome to the forum - we've been waiting for ya!

Congratulations on the purchase and your new pond. You're at an exciting stage - we love it.

Backing up a little bit - before you entertain thoughts of increasing the size of your pond, how well do you know your ponds current condition? Depth, age, water chemistry, species present and density, available forage, etc. I would recommend becoming intimate with these characteristics before jumping ahead to increasing it's size - although I certainly understand the urge to increase the size of your pond.

Thanks for the welcome.

In regards to my neighbor, he is on the north side. The bottom is all on my side, so I wanted to create a levee on near the property line to keep it on my side. The contractor said the watershed should be plenty and NCRS guys may be hit and miss.

The pond is only about 1/16 acre, looks like it was made simply to water cattle. I have seen a few decent size bream in it and many fingerlings around the edge. I haven't fished it yet. It's about 50' diameter and looks like it may be 6' deep. The spring is flowing, but not keeping it full due to the lack of rain lately. I thought i could clear the spring of trees and it may flow a lot better.

I guess i'm really looking to see if anyone can give me any info based on the topo map. I've attached another map, showing the idea I had to constuct the new damn near the bottom or the valley.

I don't see another map. So, you are talking about a 50 ft drop over 10 acres with 50 inches of rain per year plus some springs. Sounds doable to me. Have you had your soil tested?

I had found a bunch of good information from the NRCS online. The document at the following link was great reading for me to start educating myself.

http://www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/pdf%20files/...ename=PONDS.PDF

Sorry, I forgot to attach it. Yes, basically. It is all grassland and briars. It looks like good clay on the surface. Should I have the NRCS do my soil test?
I'll attach the map that shows what I was thinking about a dam.

Thanks, I'll check that one out too. Below is the info I've read on AL ponds.

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1114/

http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/where/ponds/pondbook.pdf


Edit: Great info, thanks

I see the new attachment and don't see a problem. It looks doable to me. Of course, that assumes that you have good soils and a dozer driver who knows how to do a pond and dam right. This means that he knows local soils and knows the value of a core trench. If he just wants to pile and pack dirt, find someone else.

BTW, the best book I've seen is by Lusk. It's called "Perfect Pond...Want One?". Might be the best investment you could make. Call the Pond Boss office if interested.

I had an experienced dozier guy check it out. He said it looks like mostly good clay and he has done several ponds. He said it was doable and said it would need to be cored.

I just checked the pond and the level is down I guess 1' from the winter level. I'm puzzled and wonder if its a problem. We have gotten quite a few inches of rain lately and the spring is still slowly flowing. The dam that is there now may have just been pushed up and not cored, as a quick water hole for cattle. Could the pond be leaking or could there some issue with the spring or water table?

I'll be picking that book up soon. I'm not planning on building or making this one bigger until next year.

Thanks

Edit: Here is a pic from about 1 month ago looking downhill. It's just a little bit lower now. The spillway is to the left far side and was running over around January. The spring flows in the front and center of the pic. We had a long dry period until recently though. The spring coming downhill also has a lot of big trees and growth. The builder said it would really open up if that was cleared.

Thanks for the welcome and info man. I figured since it so small, and of no real recreational use to me, I should focus on the making it bigger, or another pond altogether. I've seen some decent sized Bluegill and a lot of frogs in the pond. I'm estimating when full it may be 8' deep. See the pic. I have no idea of age. Thanks for the info

Agreed - make it bigger, deeper, and better! What are your goals for the fishery? Ever considered keeping this pond around as a forage/siltation pond and building another, larger one just downstream?

The dozer guy is right about trees and stuff restricting the runoff.

One inch could be evaporation.

I'd like to have a 1-2 acre pond with good bream and bass fishing, and a nice landscaped place to relax. I plan to build a house eventually near the top of the hill that will overlook the pond. I have thought about making another pond below it, but I think i may have to take this one out since it isn't flowing over enough...?

Once I get the land cleared more, i'll post some better pictures. I was thinking that I could do a big pond near the bottom of the hill and end up taking out this small pond as it would be near the front of the larger one and restricting the spring flow.

What does the water table have to do with planning the location of the pond?