Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Questions on making a swimming pond

Hi,

I'm new here and appreciate the advice. I'm building a house in Northern Wisconsin and am looking to dig a pond. In my area the water table is very high -- about 1-3 feet below the surface -- and there are ponds everywhere. If you dig a hole it fills with water within minutes, so that's the type of pond it would be -- a ground water table pond.

My primary goal is to make a pond that would work well for swimming with kids. Fish would be nice but at this point my primary focus is a nice spot for swimming.

I'm trying to read all I can to determine the right way to design the pond so it works well, and am unclear on some things so I thought I would ask here.

My primary goal of course is safety, being a swimming pond.

I'm looking at making it 1/3 to 1/2 acre on the surface, and was thinking of going to maximum depth of about 10 feet.

Question -- I've read that the sides should slope 3:1 or 4:1 for safety. But I'm unclear on if that means the sides should slope 3:1 all the way from the surface to the maximum depth (so for a 10' deep pond each bank would take 30' to get to the maximum depth), or can you do 3:1 until say 5' down and then 2:1 until the maximum depth (which would make it 25' from each shore until maximum depth)?

Ideally the water would be fairly clear. But I realize this isn't going to be a swimming pool -- I expect plants growing along the edge. Some information I've read made it seem like if I cut plants in the fall and discard them (outside the pond) that may help reduce nutrient buildup in the pond by getting rid of organic material? Has anyone tried this?

Even if my primary goal isn't fishing, it sounds like having fish in the pond is beneficial to eat mosquito larvae and other bugs that are annoyances while swimming. I've read a few places that bass may be the best choice as they don't nibble like bluegills and are also skittish of people.

Is 10' maximum depth a good depth for a swimming pond that may also be used for some fish? It seems like I probably wouldn't want any less than 10' for Northern Wisconsin winters.

Does anyone have any thoughts about my plan as outlined here or any other thoughts about how to make a great pond for swimming? Thanks!

I'm no expert but since I'm in southern WI I'll throw out what I've learned owning a pond for the last year. As far as depth yes you can slope your beach area 4-1 then have it drop faster further out. The main reason for gentle slope is safety for kids and it helps the sand from washing down the slope so fast as will some retaining wall at the edge of the sand (under water and deep enough that no one will dive into it) and underlayment like a geo textile fabric between the sand and dirt. The problem you'll have is its easier to do that while the pond is empty and if it fills that fast you'll have to run a trash pump while constructing to keep it dry. If you have a more steep slope other places than the beach that helps with weed control, mine are very steep to about 10 ft and I have little to no weeds in my pond. Do a google search for "building a beach pond boss" and you'll see several threads on beach building. If you have electricity with in a few hundred feet I would get a bottom diffuser and pump as this helps with water quality and prevents muck build up on the bottom from organic material. I'm running mine 24-7 365 to get ours in better shape before we venture in for a swim, it's had nothing done to it in 40 years so I'm rehabbing it into what we want. For size and depth I would go as big and as deep as you can, i don't think anyone ever thinks their pond is too big and the deeper it is the better any fish you put in will do over our winters! I would consider using pond dye from the start to cut down on weed growth and it gives the water a nice blue look for swimming. For fish I would go with yellow perch and smallmouth bass as well as fat head minnows. Yellow perch are great at controlling leaches, snails, ect and the bass keep the perch in check. Stocking permits are easy and free to get from the dnr and you'll need one to buy from a fish farm. Good luck with the project! I never knew how much fun (and work) a pond was until we owned one and now the kids and I have a blast tinkering with it. My son caught his first fish out of ours tonight, it was only a 6" bluegill but that's one that both of us will remember forever!

Not much to add, Hatrackr has about all the bases covered.

IF you see snails, then you might have to add Pumpkinseed Sunfish to control them, then add more Smallmouth to keep them from overpopulating.

No BG because they are known to nip at swimmers and some people find that objectionable.

There are swimming ponds that are purpose built, mostly in Europe, but to do that you have to double the budget for a regular pond. It's basically 2 different ponds, one is just a filter with lots of plants and water is moved through there back to the swimming part of the pond.

The yellow perch did a fine job of cleaning out snails as well, so perch make a nice option and they stay away when swimming.

I prefer a floating dock to a beach for swimming.

Ditto that sentiment for me.

I made a beach swimming area with about a 4-1 slope. Tore it out with a backhoe and made it deep as I could reach last year. The FA went nuts in that shallow gravel area and everyone including the small kids much prefer jumping off the dock anyway. The "swimming area" quickly turned into a slimy mess that no one would dare try to wade through.

Swimming areas probably work for some people, but my pond just had too much nutrients and I did not want the trouble nor cost of trying to constantly maintain it with chemicals. So out it went. Wish I had made all the gently sloping bank areas steeper. FA loves shallow water where the sun can hit the bottom.

Put a good ladder on the dock for easy water exits, especially for us old fat guys.

If you have a beach, use it. The former beach area in our HBG pond was clean, and nice for many years. But, it was a public campground, and saw near constant use. Only when the campground closed did the vegetation take over in the shallow water.

Look at your BG nests... in shallow water, often containing FA. The spawning areas in use right now in our ponds are weed free, thanks to fish activity. Human activity will do the same for your beach.

Having said that, I also prefer a deeper water dock and a ladder, over a beach.

Thanks for the responses so far! When you guys say that you are making things steeper to limit the weeds, are you talking 3:1 slope or steeper? (what slope limits the weeds?)

For you guys that have a floating dock, do you find that little kids (like under 5) can climb out OK? Do they use the ladder or what?

Of course kids would be supervised when swimming...I am trying to figure out how to do it so that they will be able to get in and out OK (with adults around) and also make it safe enough that if somehow some kid without an adult nearby went by the water and stepped too close to the bank, that they wouldn't fall in and not be able to get out by themselves.

You could do a shallow shelf around the edge before the steep drop for saftey. Plant some rushes or other marginal plants on the shelf before less desirable plants take over. My pond is to small for a floating dock so I can't speak to those-
One more thing about having a deeper pond would be you could add walleye! Nothing better that a Friday night perch and walleye fry!