Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Advice on this mini-feeder pond..***PICS included*

Hey guys/gals, just lookin for your two cents. Last year we put in a nice 3/4 acre pond, deep ares of 20+ feet all the way down to 3'. It is stocked with crappie, FHM, and LMB. This summer we fished in 10 or more 13"+ LMB. Two of them were like 15-16" So I came up with an idea a little further down my hill to put in a feeder pond. Its going to be stocked with FHM, crayfish and frogs. Then a few times a year I will empty a bunch into the bigger pond. So heres the deal, with my little KIOTI CK22 with loader and Bushog box blade I cleared the area of topsoil and got down to the clay. I then dug down a little further (Got some teeth on the loader and I love using it) and got a nice basin started. So the plan is Thurs to rent a mini-excavator and get some depth to this little pond. I just want to dig it down 9-10 feet so the fish can survice our Buffalo winters. I can do most work with the tracotr loader and boxblade, but to really dig it down im going to use the vator. What do you think, it shouldnt be that difficult to dig this area down right? I put pics below, hopefully they take. Its not much bigger then a large swimming pool. Lemme know, thank you.

just wanted to make this one a little bigger so you can really see.

Also, this pic was done in August when I dug it out. Now that we have had a lot of rain it has 3 feet of standing water on the left side.

Mine as well blow up the other two as well...

In the picture directly above you can see the back wall of the large pond. Its about 30-40 yards away.

Looks like fun. If the drought holds, I'm going to be doing some of that on existing ponds.

Now I know someone who has some experience with an excavator can weigh in here and lemme know what they think. Any problem digging this pool size pond down 8-9 feet in a days rental?

I wouldn't think so. It all depends on how far away the rental place is, and how long it takes to load/unload.

Thanks, the rental place is inside 10 minutes away. It has its own trailer. I just have to tow it to my place, unload it, use it, and by days end load it back up and return it.

Try to get an excavator big enough so that you only have to move the dirt once and it's out of the pond basin. (the bucket of dirt that you pick up from the bottom gets deposited out of the pond area's water level)

Gotcha. I got an 18" bucket sowe'll see how it goes. my plan is to dig like crazy while i have the vator and then I can take my time moving clay around where it needs to go anytime. I own the tractor, gotta return the vator...I wish I had all the toys! Id love a Vator and a dozer too! Of course id probably have no wife anymore because id have ponds(she calls them holes with water) all over!