I have been lurking on here as a guest for almost a year, after reading a lot of info at random intervals. About a year or so my wife and I bought 10 Acres square property , and it has a hole in it that sometimes holds water. Its about an acrea or so i figure. Deeper in western side, 15+ drop from the top of the flow of land. The eastern side is max 10ft. I eventually found put that the previous owner was attempting tp make a stock pond, as it was the lowest point in the property and in the 100 ur flood zone. The guy they haf dping some dozer work for them told me there is plenty of clay, but its the sides that are the problem, and wont hold the water. The depression also had lots of dead old trees, so i slowly started burning and clearing. The last fall, after a very wet summer, i went down to the water which was 8" in the deepest and found a LOT of bluegill/smaller fish. I have never put a fish in that pond, and it was almost dry when we bought the place. So i turmed on my well, which conveniently pumps into the pond, and have been working to solve the leeks, improve pond environment, fish levels etc. Read that "glazing" helps seal ponds, so got some ducks and geese, along with some kunekune pigs (grazing pigs from NZ) to help compact the bank. The water bird at all that green slime algae that showed up this year. As far as i can figire, the fish got here via birds, like cranes or some sort, after stepping in a batch of eggs. There is no true bank coverage like from bushes, jist wild field grass, amd a few Big Live Oaks on the eastside. I have planted a few weeping willows & sycamore trees for shade. Added 2 clumping Golden Goddess bamboo bushes on the bank. Went to a local pond garden place, got some parrot feather plants. I also have placed like 4 live "wild" caught fish, released live bait like, gold fish and minnows. Released some Scud, fairy, and Glass shrimp, and some triop as food for the smaller fish. Since doing all this little stuff and experiments, ive damned up the middle, started to use a box scrapper to move the dirt around, slowly, on the eastern side. I have found lots of clay, and some dirt? that is dark brown, almost black, had white dots, holds and feels like clay. But the only clay i know is the red/brown. I will try to a pic of the mystery dirt. It rained really good last night, so i cant show it. Also, all the dirt and work i did seemed to pay off, theres a lot of water in the new area. But we will see if hold. I will upload pics of the pond, and other stuff. Any advice is welcome [img:center]http://https://www.instagram.com/p/BUrwPy_jiDFVOu0sK3k8K8PkkLvvwVXXj-YQo00/[/img] [img:center]http://https://www.instagram.com/p/BUkkb2bjYb1jzCE7rON2GkY4KBF6V7uFwGt4s40/[/img]
I'd go slow on the parrot feather plants. Not sure they're even legal in Texas waters, but even if so they are an invasive, non-native species which offers little in food value to wildlife.
Yah the url link think didnt work. I will figure it out. I guess my pics are 2 big. I made sure with TDW that parrots feathers arent on the invasive species list, and i got them purely for oxygenation/filter and cover(for fish)of the water. There is a plant that has sprung up all over, almost lpoks like succulents and lillies made a plant baby. Its on the edge of the pond, the green leaves are about 1 in or so long, has super tiny yellow flowers, and new stems start out like white noodle looking things. The fish/frog/turtle/etc love to hide in them, the seem to provide lots of benefits for the water, and my pigs graze on them too
here is a google map pic of my pond this past winter, when it was full-ish, to give a better idea on the size. Im not really sure on the size. right where it starts to thin, is where I damned it and have been working to contour the bottom and find the clay
