Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Scotsman's Folly

BigMac,

Congrats on getting going! I think I may be next on their list, so hurry up and get yours finished.

Send Derrick on down the road pointed North... tell him I killed a big rattler on my pond site a few days back so he doesn't have to worry about them any. Good luck to you!

Well, Meadowlark, I have been waiting for this moment for almost a year, so be patient a few more weeks. IMHO, we have the best and most honest land improvement contractors, in the area, doing our work for us.

By the way, have you heard the Spanish name for Meadowlarks? It's "Torilla Con Chili", because their song sounds like that's what they're saying. "Tortilla With Chili" For some reason, I think about that every time I see your screen name.

Yeah, I agree...but the pricing is suspect. I asked Joe for a price estimate with and without my participation with my small dozer....the estimate was higher if I helped out with the work just kidding of course. I've been searching this area a long time for honest, skilled contractors and believe have finally found them. The wait will be worth it.

By the way, we are getting a pretty good contingent of pond meisters around here. Tecohorn (who has been out to my place for some fish), Tim who recently had the coyote problems, Rick who has also been out to my place and is building north of me and others that I've been communicating with....friends all.

I hope we can all meet sometime and share pond experiences...and my place is always open for a visit.

"Torilla Con Chili", huh? I'll use that name for fun next time I'm in Mexico on a fishing trip...if it gets me in trouble I'll let you know.

Bigmac, Congratulations!!!! I was wondering if you had got started on your projects. Please hurry so I can start praying for rain again. It has gone from drowning to a dust bowl. Meadowlark it sounds like meeting is in order.

Hey, they told me they'd charge me double if I even tried to watch them do the work. My grandfather used to tell me, "Beware of any contractor that discourages you from asking lots of questions." After a year, these guys still encourage my questions and musings. I consider them both friends and frequent fish fries are in our futures. Derrick is going to point me to where he got his Blue Heeler and Red Heeler pups, when I am ready.

We've even come up with nicknames for each other. I call Joe "OB", for Old Buzzard, because he reminds me of that poster, from the 1970s, of the two buzzards, sitting in the dead tree, where one says to the other one, "Patience my a...! I'm going to kill something." With the weather we've been having, that situation is kind of a dirt workers life this year.

We'll definitely have to get all the local pondmeisters, together. I'd offer my place to meet, but it's pond and hay field, before shop and house. Single man prioritization, but I need the dirt from the pond to build up where the other stuff is going. We'll see how long I can stand living in a 5th wheel travel trailer.

Careful... they eat Meadowlarks in Mexico. They taste like Bob-White Quail. Not sure, but I think it's illegal to shoot them here.

I just changed my Display Name to the nickname I've been given around here. I hope I haven't been given that nickname, because I have a hard head, stir junk up off the bottom, and make the water cloudy.

Tim,
We'll both be praying for rain, after my pond is dug and the hay field is sprigged with Jiggs. With all this rain, we at least now know exactly what we need to do to get the most run-off into the pond. They're even putting in a fancy French Drain, to make the most of the water shed, by catching all the water off that Sugar Sand hill and redirect it into the pond.

Man, for these projects, we sure have to focus on the vision we have in our minds of the end result or it can get down-right discouraging.

I'm waiting for the pics you promised...

Those pics are coming. Need to get the area shredded, then they'll shoot grades, and they'll mark out the high edge of the pond. Not sure why orange can't be used, but they have these cute, little hot pink flags. Must have got a discount on them.

Sorry, for late update, but I was out of the Country for a while, then ill for 2 weeks. As it turns out, they got the front 3 acres cleared and then we got a 2" rain in about 2 hours. They had to move on to another job on higher ground, but plan to start my pond around the end of October.

Now, I am mostly working on utilities, so I can get moved up there and get this house in Houston on the market. I'll post pix, when the staking for the pond begins and follow it through to liming the bottom.

I have definitely found real good dirt workers that care about the quality of their work and are as honest, as they come. I'd be at a real disadvantage if I didn't have them doing this work. Yes, it's taking longer, than I hoped, but with the rains and the fact that good dirt workers are dirt workers you have to wait for, I am sure it will be worth the wait to have it done right, the first time. The truth is that if they didn't have lots of work on their plate, it would be a very bad sign, with more money and more work for me, later. I prefer to dig once and just enjoy for 40 or more years.;)

Sorry, still no pix of a pond being built. As it turns out I dodged a bullet on the marriage thing and have been focusing more on getting moved onto the place. Funding is tight, but not enough hot, dry weather to dig the pond area deep enough for the mostly excavated pond, anyway. I'll still have to live vicariously through you guys, for a while longer.

I have access to a 17 acre community lake and I think my dirt worker buddy might let me sneak onto his 2 acre pond/lake, occasionally. I'll still have fish to eat and be able to get on some water often enough to stop depression from creeping in.

Staying Level...

Well, I finally got a .4 acre pond built, filled and stocked with 100 six to 8" CC and a pound of FH. It took them about a week, but they're eating well. I still have to finish up the shoreline and build the dam up more.

I had sand down to about 7', so we dug a 3' x 3' trench down the middle to get enough clay to throw and pack on the sides. It loses about an inch of water every 2 days in this heat and drought. I'll see if I can figure out how to post some pics.

I have never figured out how to pack clay on the sides. How do you do that?

It helps to have a very good or just gutsy sheeps foot driver.

mudcat
Yes Post some pictures

Yeah, but how do you make it adhere to a semi vertical surface?

Using an track hoe, the clay was removed from the bottom trench and spread on the sides, all the way up to the future high water level. A sheep's foot roller would be best. I used what I had to pack material, which is a Kubota M7040, with cab, FEL and a 6' box blade on the back. Yes, I drove down and back up every inch of the small pond. The clay on the downhill side is about 10" thick. I packed it, twice, in a 6" and then about a 4" lift. The rest of the pond has clay packed about 6" thick.
I got to where I could use only the hydraulic shuttle lever, instead of the clutch, which made things much easier. It would be impractical to do this pressing a clutch pedal from forward to reverse, every 20'. It would be very time consuming on a larger pond, but, in my case, time is more available, than money, right now.
What counts is that the pond is holding water, very well. I also now feel much more comfortable with my cab tractor's slope capabilties. I only had to swallow repeatedly to get my stomach to go back down a time or two.

I'll post some pix, after I get the rest of the shoreline done and finish building up over the primary drain.

Oh, adhering to a semi-vertical surface only works well if there is enough moisture in both the surface being packed upon and the material being packed. I was packing as the track hoe was throwing and spreading. A fast 2" rain did cut some ruts in the sides, but none were over a few inches deep.
I may wish I would have waited to have the funds to pack it with a sheep's foot roller. Time will tell...
I've got good clay, about 4' down, where the second part of this pond system will be dug. I just have to wait, until I have the cash or the wife tells me to do it to get the material to build up for the new house, garage, and shop.

Mudcat
You have got love being able to do some of the work yourself.

Well, Otto, doing some of the work myself and making this new cab Kubota M7040, with FEL, start paying for itself was part of the deal I made with my wife to buy the tractor. I still have lots of dirt to move and spread. That tractor is a real work horse.
Also, the excavating of this little pond was done in trade for the rest of the large pines and oaks I have on the back ten acres, which will eventually become a hay field and pecan tree orchard. They track hoe operator is milling his own lumber to build his house. I'll see if I can get some pond pix posted, today, between polyurethane coatings on a desk I'm building.
So far, I'm losing about an inch a day in this drought and heat, which I think is to be expected. The rain has been falling all to the north and south of me. I think it will be next summer, before I know how much seepage I have and if I need to look into bentonite and/or DB-100. I hope I don't have to do that, because we use the pond for a swimming hole, almost daily, when it's warm.
The CC and FH are doing well. My girls can't believe they swim with those fish, when they see how aggressive they are feeding.

Got any pictures?

Here's 2 pix.




I spread German Millet and Common Bermuda seed out 10 feet all the way around the pond for erosion control. I still have to get the dirt above the primary drain up another foot, or so, and to finish the emergency spillway.

MudCat
Have you got thre dam raised above the pipe yet.

Otto,
Yes. The dam is now about 2.5 feet above the pipe and seeded with German Millet and Common Bermuda. To the left of the pipe is where I put in a 20' wide emergency spillway. The line of trees on the straight side of the pond are along a 7' deep dry creek that has a 302 acre watershed above me. It's about 90' from the start of my primary drain pipe to the dry creek.
I am now building up on the pond side of the dry creek and doing some dirt work on the other side of the creek to redirect creek water to that side should the creek overflow.
Sounds like I'm thinking right?

Eventually, there will be about a 1 acre pond built above this pond. I need the material for other projects, such as building up for the house, garage, shop, etc. Instead of paying for stump grinding, when I clear the back for hay and pecans, I plan to cut the stumps low and cover them with dirt.

Question... The primary drain has a tee on it with an extension that drops down 3' below the full water level of the pond. From what I read on this forum that was the way to keep the good water in the pond. Do I need to worry about it silting in under the pipe opening? I guess I could occasionally check the gap and manually scoop the material out?