Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Renovating a Central Texas Soil Conservation Pond

New member and I love this site. Lots of great info on here from very knowledgeable sources.

I have a few questions about a pond on our ranch in central Texas (Brown county).

1. Are there restrictions for digging out our soil conservation lake? When full, it is a beautiful 7-10 acres. Unfortunately, most of those acres are only 3-4 feet deep, with lots of hydrilla/moss (I'm actually not sure which type). It's not full that often, and when it is, it only stays that way for a few weeks/month. It's about 10 feet deep in the center, and we'd love to dig it deeper. Is that legal if we don't mess with the state built dam/ spillway/ drawdown?

We'd like to get it a bit deeper so that it will take hold water for longer (it went completely dry in 2000 or 2001, and we bought the place in 1999 so we weren't prepared to dig it out when it dried out at that time). Whenever it rains, the pond fills up quickly.

My father owns the ranch, and has been oblivious to the pond possibilities out there. I recently bought a Pond Boss subscription for him so that he can see some of the great things that people are doing out there with structure, aeration systems, etc. (he has zero computer skills, so the forum isn't really a possibility for him.)

Our pond is currently holding water at about 50% capacity, and has great fishing for LMB in the winter/spring (we restocked Largemouth bass, bluegills, fathead minnows back in 2002 after the pond filled back up). Weeds are prohibitive in the summer and fall. We are looking ultimately to make our pond deeper, have it be filled to the natural shoreline for longer periods of time, and retain a multi- use pond that is good for fishing, some duck hunting in the winter, and possibly swimming in the summer.


Part 2. Another thing we have thought about is building a tank on a creek that flows through the property. What are the rules for building a dam on a named creek? I've heard you can build a 5 foot dam with an appropriate spillway, but is that from the creek bottom or the high water mark, or did I hear completely wrong? We have a really nice spot to do it along a steep ravine where the creek flows through our place.

The 3rd pond option we are thinking about is putting a dam in along our main road at a rough area of a low water crossing. This would have to be conrete, or we would have to put in some sort of piped spillway to prevent road erosion. This area drains the outlet from the aforementioned soil conservation pond, as well as another seasonal creek. The area has good topography, and currently holds a few feet of murky water (but washes the road away after large rains.

Thanks in advance- I have a feeling I'm going to spend a good deal of my future income on these projects if they are possible. We'd like to have plans in place for construction so that when the large pond dries up again we can take action.

Pictures to follow (I'm having trouble adding photos- ugh.)

Give me a call tomorrow at (903)814-7634 for some experiences and advice with these types of renovations. I'll be available tomorrow after about 11 a.m.

If it is a flood prevention lake, there are sure possibilities of restrictions and issues, especially with the dam and overflow pipe as you are aware.

There are several options for you to consider and we can likely refer some people to you, once we have a better understanding of the mission.

I couldn't upload the pics so I gave up and sent them to shutterfly.

Kelly ranch pond pictures

The 1st photo shows the soil cons tank in question. You can see the natural treeline and the shoreline we'd like to have. You can also see drainage from a seasonal creek, as well as a dammed up long skinny tank upriver from the soil cons tank (This tank is awesome, deep, with a rock bottom and great fishing).

The soil cons pond has a draw down in the NW corner, which drains to the treeline North of the dam. There is an emergency spillway on the NW side of the dam. There are 2 creeks entering from the SW corner of the tank- 1 seasonal, the other from the spillway of the long skinny tank.

the second picture is a closeup of the tank itself. There is electricity to the east of the tank, and it wouldn't be too cost prohibitive.

The 3rd photo shows the named creek in question. Our property starts at the highway in the top of the photo, and ends where the creek (top right corner) runs off of the screen. The idea would be to put a dam if possible where the road crosses the creek in the bottom right corner of the photo. Just up creek from that is a very steep hill (easy to see on a topo-map).

Photo #4 shows the area north of the soil conservation dam. It also shows the homestead. The area we are thinking of adding a tank is in the treeline south of the house. There is a seasonal creek there that receives drainage from the creek to the west of the house, as well as from the drainage from the drawdown from the soil conservation tank. We ideally would add a drive across dam where the dried creekbed crosses the main road visible on the upper right hand corner of the picture.

The last photo is of a topographical map, to help you put it all together. Thanks! Let me know what ya'll think.

OK thanks Bob- will do.