Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Sealing shale bottom

I am considering building a three acre bass pond on my five acre property and will need much good advice from those who have been there and done that. My property is an almost flat rectangle aligned north to south at the foot of a mountain. The pond would be dug in the southern four acres. The mountain provides steady stream water flow for all but two months of the year. The soil on my property is 8" of loam, then 8" to 16" of orange clay. Below this is solid shale, all the way to China! Previous excavations have shown that a trackhoe or crawler with ripper can dig down at least 10 to 12 feet or more in this shale. Although shale has cracks, some of which could allow seepage to ground water, experience with dredging the existing 60'dia. pond near the house has shown that the clay rich silt washing from the mountain will seal these cracks within a year or two. The orange clay removed during excavation could be used to line the bottom, and my area has lots of this sticky clay which could be bought from local excavators. I was thinking of shaping the existing pond to be a decorative silt trapping pond, easily drained and accessed with a loader whenever needed. Rain silted water would be clarified there, pass through cattails, and then drain into the big pond. I know that this discription may raise more questions than it answers, but let me know what you think as well as what you would like to know so we can all benefit from the exchanges.

Sounds like a plan to me!
If your estimates are correct reguarding the small amount of clay on site you will be bringing in alot from local excavators.

What are you planning on stocking?
I would consider stockpiling some of the shale to reintroduce into the pond after it is lined with clay for SMB or possibly Walleye habitat.

Ask questions here, there's one heck of alot assistance here with an unbelievable amount of knowledge.

But, search the site for commonly asked questions & info. before you make the first dig.
A few hours spent here reading will pay dividends you can't now apreciate in the future of your lake.

Oh, and subscribe to Pond Boss magazine!
You can do it on line by clicking on the rectanglular icon on the right top of the forum.

Thanks for the reply! Subscribing to the magazine was my first step, and it just keeps getting better from there. Research and seeking advice is where I'm at right now. Rather than guessing and hoping, I would prefer to gradually gather the ideas and opinions of the experienced pond people here as the plan takes shape. Since the money won't come as fast as I would wish,I have plenty of time to dream, plan , and prepare. Actually, I love to fish for all the members of the sunfish family as well as perch and even trout. This, I think, will fit in well with developing a complete food chain to support the guys at the top. The small pond may even serve well as a safe breeding area for the prey species needed by the largemouths. I am very interested in the F1 hybrid bass written about in the Feb. issue of Bassmaster magazine. Smallies would be great, as long as they can be kept in balance with the main objective of producing as many good sized largemouths as possible. As you can see, I still have a lot of reading and advice seeking to do before developing the final stocking plan. This all fits in well with another of my future dreams, which is to learn enough about the various aspects of pond design, construction, stocking, and maintaining, to someday help others in my area and build a small semi-retirement business. Of course, I may not become the best expert in each area mentioned, but if I can learn enough to coordinate the process using experts in each field, perhaps I can find some way to work in a business that I love. Every success expert that I have seen or read about says that if you don't absolutely love getting up and going to your job each day, then you aren't successful at it and never will be.

Jim,
I like your idea of leaving the small pond to filter the water.
Where I am shale does not leak as a rule.
Good luck.

Thanks Kent! Now that I have had some time to think and remember ponds that my neighbors built in the past few years, they used only the clay removed from the site to line theirs. Like most landowners in my area, they didn't go very deep and, unfortunately, their layout is simply a formless basin. I wonder if the deep area of my dream pond would require a thicker layer of clay due to the increased pressure. In ponds with a possibly porus soil throughout, I have noticed that 12" is suggested as a minimum. Perhaps with shale,this could be reduced by half in the areas 5' deep or less. These areas will, however be where aquatic vegitation puts down it's roots, and I'm wondering if the roots need a minimum thickness to support growth. I say this realizing that weed growth will have to be kept in control to provide habitat rather than a nuisance. There will have to be one or more mud flat areas to serve spawning and I imagine that 3' deep would be best for these areas. What would readers suggest as the best depth and vegitation scheme for these areas?

Hey Jim
Most shale ponds in our area hold water after a couple of small draw downs, your ideas on the board will work on the small pond do not align the inflow and out flow offset 90 degrees and use energy dissapator after inflow such as rocks or tree cuttings. Dig your sump pit oppisite the outflow for ease of cleaning from shore if you are using a draw down pipe to empty pond use two weep collars around pipe and pack the middle of the two collars with mason sand to catch fine particles if any water bypasses
Good Luck

As far as vegetation goes, any desireable plant species around the pond edge do not need deep root growth to do well, most tend to spread out horizontally. This can also make it easier to control invasive species and trees that you dont want, since their root systems will be shallower and easier to dig.