Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Dredging a pond

Can anyone give me info on how to go about deepening my pond. I don't know how old the pond is, but right now the deepest area at full pool is 5 foot deep. I'd like to get it to at least 8 feet. How would I go about doing this without draining the pond? And, what might the cost factor be? The pond is approx. 1/2 acre in size. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I had that done with one of my ponds a few years ago. I believe the term in the business is "dipping." My pond is about .62 acres. However the contract insisted on dropping the water level a few feet to see what he was doing. That was quite simple with a couple of pumps (one gas powered pump pumped 200 gpms).

Anyway he has a massive backhoe/excavator and just went around the pond reaching out as far as he could deepening it and making the banks steeper. It really muddied the water temporarily but did not hurt the fish.

He said we would have to allow the clay that had been scooped up and out to dry out and we waited until next spring. Surprisingly even with heavy rain it did not run back in. We then moved the excavated clay with a bulldozer and reseeded.

Cost was, I believe, $1000.00, but I had two other ponds dug so I'm not sure as everything was added together.

Here in Texas, we clean out ponds with a dragline. It is nothing but a crane with a large scoop attached, along with cables that drag the scoop toward the machine. So the scoop is lowered into the pond, then dragged forward; digging dirt out. The cost is high per hour, but lots of dirt can be moved. It will leave piles of dirt around your pond. In order to clean that up, a dozer is needed. So overall cost will be at least 1000 dollars.

Why don't you want to drain the pond? If you want to save the fish, that's understandable. But, 1/2 acre of fish can't have much dollar value. And, the cost savings of keeping your fish would be outdistanced by additional costs of using an excavator to deepen the pond. By draining, soils can begin drying, and your pond can be deepened by a bulldozer. A bulldozer pushes dirt efficiently, then spreads it quickly, mixing pond bottom silt with topsoil along the shoreline, or by pushing silt over the dam, where it can't run back into the pond. An excavator, on the other hand, has to dig the dirt, pile it up, then let soils dry. Then, another piece of machinery spreads the dirt, or hauls it off. So, if you use an excavator or dragline, expect to move your dirt twice.
Also, keep this in mind...the least expensive way to deepen a pond is to go up. Can you raise the dam two feet? If so, this move adds two feet of water, at considerably less expense.

Hey guys, I appreciate your responses. Bob, unfortunately I can't go up with the dirt. I was looking at this from the standpoint of trying to get the pond drained, then, how long would it take to refill? I thought it would be a quicker process just to dig it out with the water left in it and get back to having a normal pond real quick

This topic is very interesting to me, as I have a related question about a pond I have just acquired. I have a 1.5 acre pond; the deep end is around 12 feet deep, but at the shallow end, it is way to shallow. When it doesn't rain for several weeks, I'll have an area that is just weeds, no water; when it rains a lot (like it has recently), it will fill up to about 6". I'd like to dredge some of it up and make the shoreline a little fuller. By the way, this is an older pond that has some large catfish in it; I'd hate to drain the whole thing. And if I drained it halfway, how long would it take to refill?

How long would it take to refill? Depends upon the amount of rain you get, and how much drainage you have into your ponds. Most ponds will fill in one spring with adequate drainage. (at least here in TX.)

Here's a fairly simple way to figure it out. First, find out how much watershed feeds your pond. Look at a topographical map, read the contours, and see how much ground feeds into your pond. Then, remember this number..1 acre 1 inch deep is 27,000 gallons of water. Calculate the size and average depth of your pond. Multiply and figure out the storage capacity of your pond. Then, you will know how much runoff from your watershed it will take to refill the pond. For example, if your pond is one acre, and averages five feet in depth, it will take five acre feet, or 60 acre inches, to refill your pond. If the watershed covers 20 acres, it will take three inches of runoff rain to refill your pond. But, keep in mind we aren't thinking about evaporation, or water escaping through seepage. Take those possibilities into account.