Day one of our pond building experience is now complete. It is very cold, icy, and snowy here in central Missouri. We have 58 acres 1/2 timber and 1/2 open ground. We are using the old cattle pond which is spring fed to feed into the larger pond. We will keep the majority of the dam to be used as a peninsula to walk out and fish from both sides. Eventually we will build a house over looking the pond. I am 39 and my two boys are 11 and 13. We are all very active in the outdoors. This is our dream and I'm glad that I have PB to share the experience with. The pond should be at least 2.5 acres with a depth of 14-16ft.
I am a bass guy. I fish 40-45 tournaments a year. I also have a JH/HS Fishing Team. So I definitely want to use it as a training ground for my school kids. I am a school Supt. so I am fortunate to be surrounded by great kids and I want to give back to them. Largemouth Bass, Blue Gill, and Red Ears for now. Not sure what else. I want to grow large bass but I also want to have plenty for the kids to keep busy. This is my first "real" pond.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Great stuff. I bet the boys are very excited. My boys were crazy the year we built the pond.
Wish we had two ponds like your self. First pond would be the feeder fish pond that would run off into the next pond. Huge numbers of very large fish can be had that way for sure.
Have you got some house plans yet?
This is ours over our pond 1800 square feet with fully finished basement with 9 foot ceiling height.
We moved in Dec 3rd and waking up to the view of the pond doesn't get old. She is snow covered but I can see if the aerator is doing her job.
Thanks for sharing Don. We have been looking over plans for quite sometime now. Fortunately its only 4 miles from town, where we live and work. It's easy to make quick trips out there. I have a finished cabin out there that the boys and I camp in. Its ran off of a generator for now. Makes for great deer and turkey camp in between the many sports that they are involved with. Attached are a few pics of my boys from this past spring of turkey season (first 30 minutes), and a pic of my oldest shooting a nice but smaller buck on the last day of season. He passed up several good ones. We really live in gods country.
#sorry pics are sideways and I don't know how to fix it lol
We completed Day 4 of the project on Sunday. It's coming along very nice. Pictures really don't do it justice. With adding more dam material it is going to be at least 15' deep. I am very pleased with that depth. They are planning on finishing up today but the transmission went out of one of their dozers yesterday. Glad I don't have to pay for that!
Looking real nice. How big do you think it has become? The soil appears to be good clay?
Are you going to get structure and habitat in there before it fills? Might make a neat learning experience for those kids you talked about. Should get them to propose plans and ideas, possibly make a contest? At the very least an excellent learning opportunity to be shared.
It should be approximately 2.5 acres, based on GIS Mapping. It is nearly 500' long. It has very good clay and very few rocks. Which amazed us because our area is known to be rocky.
I am a little bit of a control freak lol. I have a plan for the structure and it will be placed soon. The kids will all be helping me with the labor. We have even bused out our HS Ag and Science classes so they can see the before and after. The Science teacher is going to be using it as a place for some of their studies and experiments. (water testing, bugs, plant growth, water life, etc.)
It was 70 on Saturday and 65 on Sunday. Great weather but back to mid 30's today. Should be dry for a while so that will give me time to put some structure in and my dock.
Monday was day 5 of the project. A lot of progress is being made. They may be able to finish it up today. The depth is now 18' on the deep end. It took more dam material than expected. The end near forage pond will be shallower with several dirt piles and ridges. Can't wait to start placing the structure.
Tuesday was day 6 of the project. It is really shaping up. The deepest part is 17-18' with the shallower end being near by forage pond. We have left some ledges in the contour. They plan to build some dirt/clay mounds with left overs today. It will for sure be done today. As you can see in the pictures he had a dozer go down on Sunday. It has set in the same spot since. It will be fixed today, they thought it was the transmission but fortunately for them it was a simpler fix. But nothing is cheap on those rigs. Enjoy the pics.
I didn't get any pictures last night because it was right at dark but "Lake Money Pit" is now complete! Actually it is much better than I ever imagined. It also came in $2,000 less than the original bid. It is -5 windchill today but I plan to get some pictures this evening.
We tried to put in a little structure before the snow came in. We did get a little bit done. I had a buddy bring his bobcat over to change up some piles in the bottom. We now have 6" of snow in the bottom so our plans will be slowed down for now. I am happy to say my spring is flowing and I have as much as a foot of water in the bottom of the pond in places.
It is so hard to put size or depth into perspective in pictures without much reference, but the brick pile picture and the pallet one really show how nice the size of that pond will really be.
Your old pond will give much enjoyment also, especially where it is so close to the big one.
We have a 3 acre pond we built, but also a 1 acre pond that I refurbish from a really old half acre cattle pond which is less than an eighth mile away across a little creek. An interesting observation, sometimes if the fish are not biting well in one pond, I go to the other and they will. It is a weird thing. Really handy having two ponds that way.
The other nice thing is, your old BOW already has fish and you have a chance to do some fishing in it while waiting for the new pond to come of age while working on and stocking it.
Sorry for not having much of an explanation. Some of it is in the previous comments. The pond is between 2.5 and 3 acres. The deep dam end is 17.5'. The end near the little pond is closer to 10-12'. The little pond is spring fed. It was lowered 3' during construction and within 4 days it was full again. Clay compaction was great, plenty of it to work with. I had several piles and ledges built into the bottom. I also added a line for a cattle water tank if needed in the future. We are also adding a gravel ramp. I have a lot of work to do before it starts filling up with water.
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how cool is that?
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