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#500175 01/01/19 07:04 PM
Joined: Oct 2018
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Augie Online Content OP
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My front yard cow pond - part 1.

I pondered for some time about how to begin this story, and I couldn't come up with any better place to begin other
than in the beginning, at least the beginning as far as my life and experiences with this pond have gone, so here it is...




In 1961 my folks were recently married, and purchased 40 acres of Boone County dirt a few miles east of Columbia, Missouri
the following year. There were a few overgrown pastures, a wet weather creek, some rusty old wire fences in need of help, a
dilapidated old wood frame house that hadn't been occupied in a good long while, a few acres of woods along the creek, and
a cow pond. Actually, it wasn't a cow pond, not back then anyway. It was a pig pond, or at least it had been not too long
before they bought the place. The farm had long been used for running pigs on dirt, something that's not much done in this
day and age of CAFO efficiency. Even now, 60 years after the pigs left, the ground smells like a hog lot when you dig.

1956 Assessor's office image. The pastures look fairly well beat down and the dam appears rather bare. Good chance there
were some pigs around when this photo was taken.


My folks dozed the old house, and built a new one on the same site in order to make use of the existing water cistern. The
cistern was in good condition, and public water didn't exist outside the corporate limits of Columbia at that time, at least
not on the road where my folks' property was located, so it made sense to them to put their house where the cistern could be
used, and save a few $$$ on construction costs.

1962 Assessor's office image. The farm had changed owners ~'58. The pigs were gone and part of the land was planted with crops.


I came along in May of '63, and the house was ready to occupy by December of that year, so we moved in. I say we, but it
was my folks that moved in. I was just along for the ride. When I got big enough to sit still for a few minutes at a time
Pops started taking me fishing at the pond. The area around the pond was reasonably clear of brush, thanks to the pigs, so
it wasn't difficult to find a good spot to drop in a worm or grasshopper.

The only fish in the pond were bluegill. More bluegill than you could count. If you pulled one out that was 5" long it was
considered a lunker. Pops called them potato chip fish. Scale em, gut em, chop the head off, roll em in crumbs, and then
toss em in the grease. They came out crispy like a potato chip, and about the same size. One bite on each side. But they
tasted great, they were easy to catch, and they were free. My folks didn't have a lot of money in those days, and free was
a good thing.

As I got a bit older, maybe around six or seven years old, my brother and I would spend a lot of time at the pond. Living a
few miles out of town we didn't have much else to do in the summer time when school was out, so we occupied our time as best
we could, and the pond was our favorite place to be when the weather was nice outside. Eventually when we got big enough to
work a real fishing pole we upgraded from cane poles to real fiberglass fishing poles with Zebco 33 reels. My folks owned
some sort of ancient riding lawnmower, and a two-wheel cart to pull behind it. We mowed a trail across the hay field from the
house to the pond so we wouldn't get ate up so bad by the chigger bugs on the way. Life was much simpler in those days.

1968 Assessor's office image. Looks like it must have been a dry year as the water level in the pond appears to be quite low.


As the years went by, Pops was making upgrades around the farm. New fences went up, and with fences came cattle. By the time
the cattle arrived the public water district had run a main line along the road we lived on, which allowed my folks to tie in
to water that never ran out, but it did cost money, and my folks were tight. Pops couldn't stand giving district water to the
cows when there was free water in the pond, and with that our little potato chip bluegill pond began to change, and not for the
better. The formerly clear water was now constantly muddy due to the cattle using it for a swimming hole in hot weather. We
once could catch all the fish we wanted in a couple hours. After a few years of cattle running in the pond we were lucky if we
could catch a dozen. There was cow poop everywhere. In the field, on the pond banks, and in the water. Our paradise was lost.
We stopped going to the pond. There was nothing left there for us.

But the sun comes up every day, and things change. Little kids get bigger. Interests change. Life changes. And so it was with
me. Somewhere along the line when I wasn't paying attention, my Grampa Wilkie tossed some leftover bait in the pond, and some
small channel cats, and some other stuff. Nobody really knows what all he tossed in there. If he was still around I'd ask him,
but he's not, so I can't. He had a commercial fishing license, and decided the pond would make a good place to store live bait,
so he just started tossing stuff in so it would be there later when he wanted to seine out some bait for his trotlines on the river.

Sometime during the early 70's, I'm not exactly sure what year, and it really doesn't matter when it happened, only that it did
happen, my folks sold three acres to some friends who wanted a house in the country. They wanted at least 200' of road frontage.
Pops wasn't around when the surveyor showed up to measure out the lot. He staked off 200' of road frontage, and went from there.
Doing that put the new property line, and a fence, across a shallow neck of the pond. Not a big deal at the time, but many years
later it would turn out to be a major nuisance for me.

1977 Assessor's office image. New outbuildings all over the place. Signs of livestock damage on the pond dam. And that fence...


1980 Assessor's office image. There's plenty of water in the pond, but the cattle have absolutely wrecked the dam.


1981 was a drought year in this corner of the world, and the pond by then was a disaster from years of cattle running in it.
Shallow, stinky and full of muck. When it would get very low the cows had trouble wading out to get a drink due to the depth of
the muck, so Pops called dirt guy out to fix it up a bit. There was no consideration given to anything other than making it a
better place for a cow to get a drink of water. Pops still didn't like paying for cow water, so preserving the little bit that was
in there was important at that time. Dirt guy dug out the muck around the edges with a high-lift crawler, and left what Pops
called a "volcano" in the middle. Basically a mountain of semi-solid mud/muck, that held what little water remained in the pond.
The cows would walk down into the basin of the pond and stick their necks over the edge of the crater to get a drink. Somehow
through all of this some fish managed to survive. Eventually the drought ended and the pond refilled with water, but all of that
mud and muck and poop and nastiness that formed the volcano was still in there.

Fast-forward 15 years or so and I've got a wife and kids of my own. Pops had discovered that the pond still held a good number of
channel cats and had started feeding them. When my boys got big enough to start hanging out with their PawPaw, he would take them
to the pond and they would throw a few jugs in, and most times they would manage to catch a catfish or two. It's not likely any of
the cats that my Grampa tossed in 20-odd years before were still living, so they must have been reproducing on their own. Most of
them were a pound or three, but every now and then they would pull out a whopper. Mother Nature finds a way, I guess.

1994 Assessor's office image. The dam is getting really worn down by the cattle. The overflow had always been on the northeast
(upper right in the photo) side of the pond. Now the low spot is on the southwest next to the corner of the lot that was sold many
years prior, and trees have begun to grow on the dam.


2002 Assessor's office image. With no leaves on the trees it's easy to see that the wear to the dam caused by the cattle is becoming
progressively worse.


Fast-forward another ten years or so and my daughter decided that she was a horsey girl. There was no room for horses on the little
country lot my family and I lived on, so we kept the horses at my Gramma Easley's farm a few miles away. The girls wanted to get a
place where they could keep the horses at home, so we started looking for property. We looked and looked and looked, but nothing we
looked at ever felt like home. One day, out of the blue, Mom says "Why don't you buy ten acres from us and build a new house out here?"
So we did, and that's how I got my pond back.

2007 Assessor's office image. We're a few months away from starting construction and the poor old pond is looking rough.


We designed our new house, hired a contractor, and broke ground in July of 2007. By this time, the wonderful neighbors that built on
the three acres my folks sold back in the 70's had gotten old and moved to town, and been replaced by a couple who came here from
Chicago. They had it in their heads that if my folks ever sold any land, they would be the ones who it would be offered to. To say
the least, they were not happy when the dozers showed up to start cutting in the lane to our building site. (Note - I thought long
and hard about what/how much to tell about my dealings with neighbor guy. It's not my intention to come across angry or bitter, or
PO'd or anything else in telling this part. I seriously considered not telling it at all, but it's an important part of the story so
I decided to leave it in.)

I was out here doing groundwork one day, I think we were running the water line from the main out at the road, when neighbor guy
waved me over to the fence. He'd already thrown a couple big fits at me, and to be honest I had no use for the guy from the day I
met him, so I'm wondering what it is that he wants this time. He says to me, "I wanted to talk to you about the pond." I say to
him, "What about it?" I've got a house to build, and when you're building a house time is literally money. I haven't yet gotten
to the point that he's a non-person to me, but it won't take much to get me there. So then he says, "I'd like to do something about
the pond. Clean it out and make it bigger." I respond by telling him that I have a house to build, and the pond is the least of my
concerns at this point in time, but if he wants to talk to dirt guy to have at it, and let me know what he finds out, and I go back
to whatever it was that I was doing.

A few days later he waves me over to the fence again. "I talked to dirt guy. He told me that because of the way the land lays, for
me to get more water on my property and not have the banks too steep the dam will have to be raised up about ten feet." I ask him if
he got a cost estimate for that, and he says, "Yep, it will be close to (it was a big number and I really don't want to say what it
was, because he was probably lieing anyway), and I was wondering if maybe you'd go halves with me. I know you've got a big construction
loan, so spending another (big # many thousands $$$) won't hurt you." I say to him, "The time to make this pond bigger was before I
started building. You've lived here 15 years and not said one word to Pops about the pond. I've got a power line and a water line in
the ground below the dam. To make this thing bigger the dam will have to be completely dozed out, a core key dug, and then a new
dam built from scratch. None of that is going to happen. I'm not going to spend a dime on the pond right now. I've got a house to
build, and I'll worry about the pond when I'm done doing what I need to get done." Then he went absolutely ballistic, called me a few
choice names, and says, "Well fine! I'll just build a whole new pond and you won't have no pond at all!" In that moment he became a
non-person to me. I told him to do whatever it was that he felt like he needed to do, and went back to my own business.

Not long after that, dirt guy showed up and began to build a new pond on neighbor guy's side of the fence. I told them that my only
concern was that they make sure any water that comes out of the spillway from the new pond drains into the old pond and doesn't run
across my front yard. Well they didn't do that. There have been rare occasions when we got really heavy spring rains that some
water from his pond ran across my yard - twice, maybe three times in the eleven years we've lived here. I probably wouldn't ever have
noticed, except one of those times some of his trash fish came along for the ride and wound up stranded on my lawn. Sounds crazy,
but I've got pictures to prove it. In thinking back on that now, I should have told them to make sure none of the overflow from the
new pond made it into my pond, and to send all of it across my yard. That pond doesn't have enough watershed to stay full, but I
didn't know that at the time. I was talking to Pops about it recently and he told me that our good dirt guy came out and looked at
the site, and refused the job because he didn't think it would ever fill up, and was worried about getting paid if it didn't, so
neighbor guy found a hole digger to do the job.

Anyway, I don't want to spend any more time talking about neighbor guy. He did what he did on his side of the fence, and I'm really
happy that he did, because now I don't have to cooperate or deal with him in any way in terms of what happens to my pond going
forward. I'm already working out what I'm going to do to minimize the possibility that his trash fish get into my water. It's
unlikely that I'll be able to 100% prevent that from happening, but there's a lot I can do to keep it at a minimal level so that it
won't have much, if any, long term impact on the management plan that I've developed for my pond.

The south side of my pond dam was riddled with muskrat holes when we bought the property, and had been leaking a bit for several
years. I cut half a dozen middling-sized thorny locust trees (a couple of them better than 18" at the butt) and a bunch of smallish
tree sprouts off the dam, had the guy who dug the basement for our house dig the stumps out with his dozer, and use some of the clay
from the basement dig to fill the stump holes and smooth up the back side of the dam a bit. A couple years later I had him back to
add some topsoil where the basement over-dig had settled, and he did a bit more smoothing on the pond dam so I could get over it a
little better with the lawn mower. Definitely not what you'd call a fix, but at least now I could mow it, and keep it from growing
back up with brush. After finding the Assessor's office photos I remembered that one weekend I had a rented mini-excavator out here
for another project. I got done with whatever that was and had most of a day left with use of the machine, so I dipped the pond around
the edges as far out as I could reach with the boom. The water was so low at that time I was able to get out into the pond on the
upper end. Jamie asked me if I could make an island, so I did. Then after the weeds grew up on it she saw a big snake and wouldn't
go out there anymore.

2011 Assessor's office image.


So... I spent the next few years working on our new property, getting things set up to suit our needs. Built a riding arena for the
girls, cleaning up the fencerows, so on and so forth. Eventually I get things to the point I can start thinking about what I want
to do with my pond. One day Pops asked me if I'd been feeding the fish. "Well, no, it hadn't even occurred to me. Why?" Then he
reminded me that there used to be some whopper channel cats in there. So I went to the local farm-n-home store and bought a sack of
floating catfish food and started hand-feeding in the evenings. There wasn't much action at first, then there was a bit more, then a
bit more, and before long it was a genuine frenzy when I'd toss a handful of pellets into the pond. This little puddle is loaded
with fish! Now what to do?

We started fishing, that's what! How could it be possible that this shallow, nasty, neglected for years puddle could have so much
life in it? It was absolutely amazing. That's when I really started thinking about what I could do to make it better. I wasn't
too far into the thinking about it process when Mother Nature took charge, and set the stage for what was to come.

End part 1.

Last edited by Augie; 09/27/19 09:00 AM. Reason: fixing the pics
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,125
Likes: 273
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Augie Online Content OP
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Joined: Oct 2018
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My front yard cow pond - part 2.

9/27/11
Yep, it is a nasty, stinky, muckhole. Not much more than waist deep. Full of FA and mutt fish - CC, LMB, BG, BCP, GSH,
GSF, BH, a couple giant GC, a snapping turtle or two, a family of muskrats, and no telling what all else. Our ducks thought
it was a paradise. Everybody else thought it was pretty gross. I'm starting to think about how can I clean up this mess,
but it really wasn't close to the top of my list of things to do. Not quite yet, anyway.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

4/8/12
It looked a little better the next spring, but that was about to end.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

7/21/12
2012 was a very hot, very dry, summer here in Central Missouri. The pond had only 10 days to live when this picture was
taken. Oldest son and I went to the 360 Sprint Car Nationals in Knoxville, IA the first weekend of August. When we got
home from the racetrack the pond was dead. There were a few BH piping, and the surface was littered with dead fish.
Thousands of them. The stench was horrendous. I knew there were some whopper channel cats in here, but I had no idea
how big or how many. A dozen of them would have been over 20lbs when they were alive. It was a really sad day.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/24/12
There was no point in letting it refill, so I called dirt guy and had the dam cut. His guesstimate for cleanout was between
$7k and $11k. That set the gears in my head to grinding. After being snowed-in a few times, my wife and I had already been
discussing the purchase of a tractor. We'd been thinking a 4wd Class I compact around 30hp would do what we needed with regard
to clearing the lane of snow, cleaning horse poo from the barn, mowing pastures, etc. After additional discussion we decided
that finding something big enough to do all of that, AND de-muck the pond would be a better choice. She found a mid-80's vintage
MF 50E industrial machine for sale on CL the next spring. ~65hp, 13k pounds, MFWD, hydrostatic drive over a 4-speed gearbox, cab,
heat, 3/4 yard bucket on a full-frame loader - a much more capable machine than any Class I, and the price was closer to the
low end of dirt guy's guesstimate than it was to the high end, so we bought it. What could go wrong, right?
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

4/18/13
I mentioned earlier telling dirt guy and neighbor guy to make sure the overflow from neighbor guy's new pond went into the old
pond and NOT into my front yard. We got a big rain, neighbor guy's pond overflowed, and this is what I found in my front yard
the next day. Yep, bullheads. In my yard. Unreal.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/19/13
I started working muck out of the pond and of course the first thing I did was drop the front wheels off into the ditch where I
was dumping the first of the goo and got the tractor stuck. It was the first time getting stuck, but it would not be the last.
Note to self - get something on the rear TPH for a counter-weight. Pops came over with one of his old Minneapolis-Moline tractors
and we pulled it out. He thought it was funny. Jamie (my better half) just shook her head and went back to her flower garden.
I got another beer and went back to work. Looking back, I wish that I had bought one of those little click-counter gizmos before
starting this project so I could have kept track of how many bucket loads of dirt I hauled out of the pond.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/20/13
I got a navigable approach scraped out on the shallow side of the pond in the area that served as the overflow,
and started working muck down to the clay. I made a bit of progress and then it rained.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/20/13
It's not possible to operate efficiently in wet, slippery, clay, so I called it quits, and (very much prematurely)
congratulated myself on this first small victory.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/21/13
Then it rained some more and filled up the hole that I'd excavated in the muck. OK, time to buy a trash pump, but first I need to
do some work on the tractor to fix up a few little problems that showed themselves after I started to work it hard. As such things
go when dealing with older machinery, one little fix reveals another problem and another problem and... After handing a bunch of
Benjamins to the parts guy at the MF dealer, and being broke down for most of the rest of the summer, I was no longer feeling even a
little bit smug. I tell myself that it's OK having to spend some money on repairs, because I'm still in for a whole lot less than I
would have been for a newer, smaller machine, and dirt guy isn't getting any of my $$$, but to be completely honest, I'm already starting
to question my ability to make a rational decision. By the time I was "done" fixing the tractor I realized that I'd forgotten to buy
a trash pump and Hip National Bank was broke. The hole had three feet of water in it so I admitted defeat and used the winter to regroup.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

3/8/14
After spending some more money over the winter for repairs to Nanner, (that's what I named the tractor. what else
would you call something that's big and yellow?) I went back to digging. The spring of '14 was dry and I was able to
get around in the pond with little difficulty. I'd gone to the china tool store and picked up a $69.95 trash pump and
I'm moving in the right direction. Water coming out, muck coming out, Nanner working right, life is good.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/8/14
The dry spring continued, and I'm feeling pretty good about my progress. I tell myself that I'm gaining.
But in between this photo and the one previous, I had a lack of situational awareness moment and smacked
the muffler on a tree limb. Did it break the $50 muffler? Nope. It broke the $1475 cast iron elbow piece
that connects the muffler to the exhaust manifold. You say that sounds a *wee bit* steep for ten pound
piece of cast iron? I thought so too. The parts guy at the MF dealer almost choked when he told me the
price. I took the busted pieces to a local welding shop and had it brazed back together. $80 fix. Told
myself to do a better job of keeping brain engaged when operating under overhanging tree limbs.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/13/14
And then it rained again. So I start pumping again. But now the hole is a lot bigger and holds a lot more water.
Some tightwad was only willing to flip $69.95 on a cheap, scrawny, trash pump, but I'm a patient guy, and the pond
is still going to be there when the water is out, so I tell myself that it's all good and just do what I can, when I can.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/30/14
By the end of September I'd managed to get a lot of muck out in between rains, but there is still a mountain of the
stuff left in there, and I'm starting to wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew. The deeper I dig the heavier
the muck is getting, and I still haven't fashioned a proper counter weight. Cart before the horse...
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/2/14
And then it rained again. By this time it's taking *quite* awhile to get the water pumped out. There's only so much
water that can be shoved through a 3/4" garden hose by a $69.95 trash pump from the china tool store. I'm running the
pump pretty much 24/7 in hopes of getting some more muck out before winter sets in, and very much questioning my judgement.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/8/14
I got it dried out enough to work around the sides of the water hole with Nanner, and managed to get a bit more muck out.
Then it rained again and I called it quits for the year.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

End part 2.

Last edited by Augie; 04/17/20 05:11 PM. Reason: fixing the pics
Joined: Oct 2018
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Likes: 273
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Augie Online Content OP
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My front yard cow pond - part 3.

7/29/15
Wet weather and other priorities kept me out of the pond until July of '15, and I've realized by this time that this is
a much bigger project than I'd anticipated, so I told myself that it would be done when it got done, and there's no point
stressing over the slow progress. By now I'm on the 2nd $69.95 trash pump from the china tool store because the first one
quit working, but I'm still $$$ ahead vs. a different machine, and dirt guy still doesn't have any of my $$$.
Point to me, at least that's what the voices in my head are saying...
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/14/15
By this time I've removed the muck from a little over three quarters of the pond basin, and I'm starting to get an idea of what
it may have looked like inside when it was originally built all those years ago.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/23/15
Aaaannnddd it rained again. Pump, pump, more pump. Wait, where's that funny noise coming from? Oh, it's coming from the
pump. So Mr. Tightwad makes trip number three to the china tool store for another $69.95 trash pump. Slow learner, I am...
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/23/15
But I'm determined, if nothing else, and stubborn, and I will not be defeated by a simple mudhole, so I just keep nibbling
away at it. 3/4 yard at a bite. I'm gaining. Slowly, very slowly, but gaining is gaining and that's what I'm doing...
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/5/15
In spite of being a slow learner, I'd figured out by now that it was much more efficient to remove dirt from the basin and
dump it at the edge of the pond near the entry ramp. Especially when the material I was working was wet and sticky. I'd
build a loose pile at the edge and let it dry out for a day or two before moving it out of the pond to the skeeter hole that
I was filling. The skeeter hole was actually an old creek loop that had been cut off who knows when, and bermed up to hold
a couple feet of water to make a waller hole for the hogs that used to run here. It was an absolutely disgusting place.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/20/15
I had the phone line flagged before dirt guy cut the dam, so he would know where it was and hopefully not get into it with
the excavator bucket. Those flags were pulled after he was done, so I had called in a new set of locates when I started
pulling muck out because I knew that eventually I'd need to get inside the cut to clean it out before the dam could be
closed up. The flags were set a good 15' below the heel of the dam. I found the phone line a good 30' uphill from where
it was flagged. This was the third time the phone line got cut since we built our house. Every time it was due to bad locates,
and every time the repair bill went to the location service company. Always call before you dig - it will save you $$$.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/20/15
Yeah... that black wire to the left of the big green horseweed... it's not supposed to be there...
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/22/15
I rigged up a temporary patch to the phone line to get the DSL internet back up while waiting on CenturyLink to send a tech.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/25/15
It's starting to look like maybe the end is in sight. No, not really, but it does look a lot better than it did before I
started digging. Progress is slow, but steady, and I'm starting to think about how nice it's going to be to have my pond back.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/25/15
The dog is wondering what the heck is going on and if Dad has lost his mind for good this time.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/11/15
It's difficult to convey dimension in a 2D photo, so every so often I'd take a photo with the tractor in the hole to put
some scale to the image.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/16/15
There was a snake hiding in the pile of loose dirt that I was hauling out to the skeeter hole.
I tried to catch her, but she was fairly well PO'd and was not having any of that business, so I left her alone and called it a day.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/18/15
Now it's really starting to look like something. At this point I'm more or less down to the original basin of the pond. I could
have stopped right here and had seven or eight foot of water in the deepest spot, but the memories of only being able to go in
feet-first off the dock of the neighbor's pond when we were kids wouldn't leave me alone. This is when I really did lose my mind
for good and decided to see how long it would take to dig all the way to China. A week or so later Nanner's water pump shelled out.
I was done for the season and the tractor was back in the shop for awhile. But I'm still $$$ ahead vs. a Class I and dirt guy still
doesn't have any of my $$$, so it's all good.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/20/17
What? Where are all of the pics from 2016? Well, there aren't any. I had a giant attack of stupid and set out 500 tomato plants.
Thought I might make a little play $$$. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. Note to self - don't be stupid. But, you may notice the pretty blue
thing coming out of the mudhole in the background. Well, Mr. Tightwad here got his wallet out and bought a proper 2" discharge trash
pump and 100' of lay-flat hose. After burning up china tool store $69.95 pump number three I had to do it. The hole had gotten to a
size such that it was taking two weeks to empty it after a rain. The new pump emptied it in less than half a day. Much more better.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

5/27/17
Then it rained again, so I pumped it out again and got back to digging.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

End part 3.

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My front yard cow pond - part 4.

6/15/17
Then it rained again, but now I don't care because I have a proper pump and can empty that hole lickety-split. Life is good again.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

7/23/17
And then it rained again some more, but I still don't care because I have a proper pump and can empty that hole lickety-split.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/13/17
On my way to China, or at least close enough that you're going to have to work to reach the bottom when you dive off the dock that
eventually will be floating on top of where Nanner is parked. And look at what's hanging off the back. I'd been needing to fashion
a counter weight since Day One of this project, and one day during the previous winter my dim bulb flickered for a moment - it came
back to me that 15 or so years back I'd bought a 6' box blade to grade a spot in the yard at our old house for the above-ground pool
my wife bought. It was a King Kutter cheapo from the local farm-n-home store, and by the time I was done with the pool site the
brackets that attached to the TPH on the tractor were pretty well pretzelized. I dumped it in the busted implement heap at Pops'
house and had all but forgotten I had it. I hauled it to my workshop over the winter, repaired the TPH bracketry, slapped a new
paint job on it, and stuck some John Deere decals on the side to make it go faster. Then I hung 760lbs of suitcase weights on it.
Now I've got a proper counter weight, AND I can peel clay from the pond bottom with very little effort. Things are looking up.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/25/17
Wait a minute. Didn't I just say that I'd fixed up the TPH mounting bracketry on the box blade? Along came another one of those
lack of situational awareness moments. I was stripping clay one afternoon and had the rear position control set to only pick the
blade up a few inches off the ground. Got the front end on a hump, the blade dug in when I reversed, and wadded the hitch up big time.
But that wasn't the worst of it. When the hitch folded the grousers got into the rear tires on the tractor. Cut em both. Calcium
chloride ballast fluid all over everything. And I'm stuck, stuck, stuck, bad stuck. Blade stuck in the ground, hitch folded, two
rear flats. I said some bad words. Very bad words. More than some. A lot. Not a good day.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/25/17
Yeah, this is a pickle. We tried to pull it out with Pops' big Minneapolis. No joy. More damage to the blade. By this time I'm
making up new bad words to say because all of the old bad words aren't making me feel any better. Really not a good day.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/25/17
As Fred G. would say, "Lamont, ya big dummy!"
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/25/17
So, there was only left to do what had to be done. I loaded my acetyline torch in the truck, hauled it out to the pond, and commenced
to burning steel until the blade was free from Nanner. Pops brought Jr. Red over and hauled the blade out of the pond. I called the
local ag tire shop and asked them to send a service truck. The only good part of this whole deal was they have a top notch field tech.
He made boots (big boots) for both tires, installed tubes, pumped them full of ballast fluid, and I was back in business. I walked
funny for a few days due to my wallet hip being a whole lot lighter than it had been, but if I'd had to replace those tires I would
have been parked for a couple months. R4 tires are really expensive.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/27/17
Tires repaired and I went back to mining clay. All of that mud is from the CaCl solution that used to be in the tractor tires.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/31/17
Another angle of the area in the photo above. At this point in time I'm intending to excavate another 20' or so towards the little
neck on the upper end of the pond and leave some shallow water area up there. Prelude to a later lack of situational awareness moment.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/25/17
This is my little buddy Rocket. Her momma was a chicken thief, and she wound up on the wrong end of a gun one night. The next day
we heard an awful wailing from the big hackberry tree in the chicken yard. Yep, little blind Rocket. Five days old. Cold and hungry.
I have no problem dusting a chicken thief, but I'm a sucker for almost any kind of baby critter, and I'd wanted a pet coon since I was
a kid, so instead of doing what I should have done, I bottle-raised the dang varmint. She was a hoot and absolutely loved to chase
bullfrogs in the pond. I loved her. I built a coondo for her to sleep in. Then the ungrateful little brat r-u-n-n-o-f-t.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

7/8/18
So another winter and spring gone by, and here I am, back in the hole, and almost done excavating.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/17/18
This is the day that I've long wondered, is it ever going to come? I'm done, done, done, and finished. I've got the depth I want.
I've got the dropoffs into the drink that I want. I've got plenty of shallow, gentle slope for BG beds. I'm done! All that's left
is to repack the dam. And then little Fred G. on my shoulder says "Hey Lamont, ya big dummy. Where are you going to get the
clay to repack the dam? You put all of the good stuff in the skeeter hole. You're going to need that big pile that came out earlier
to landscape the back side of the dam so you can mow it without killing yourself." Yep. I did that. I hauled out all of the best
clay from down deep and I dumped it in the woods. Recall previous note to self - stop being stupid. Yeah, not going to happen...
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/17/18
Well, it is what it is, so I commence to doing what I have to do. Go deeper. Go farther into the neck on the upper end. That's it.
This is a view of the back side after filling in the ditch with dirt I'd saved back for landscaping. The cut is all cleaned out and
has been brought back to grade in ~6" lifts with plenty of bentonite mixed in. After I destroyed the box blade I put the tiller on
the tractor. That worked out really well for this stage of the operation.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/17/18
Another back side view of the cut. You can see the difference in soil color from what dirt guy took out when he cut the dam compared
to what has been packed on the back side of the dam.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

8/17/18
A wider view of the back side after hauling in and packing a small mountain of clay.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

End part 4.

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My front yard cow pond - part 5.

8/23/18
Third, and last time getting Nanner stuck. This spot has had a tiny seep for quite awhile now. Not much, but I know that anyplace
water comes in it can also go back out. I had intended to pack over it with a couple feet of new clay/bentonite mix, but now that
I've had another stupid attack and dumped all of my good clay that option is out the window. I have no choice but to dig through
and past this spot to get the clay I need to close the dam. When I was cleaning the slop and water out I discovered the source of
the seep - a little patch of red sandstone. Not good! Not good! NOT GOOD!!! So at this point I'm scratching my head and wondering
how this is going to shake out. After everything I've been through on this project the last thing I want is a leak.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/15/18
I have one place to get clay for the dam now and this is it. The upper end of the pond. I'd intended to leave a good bit of shallow
water area up here. Fred G. still on my shoulder and he won't shut up. For perspective, Nanner is 9' tall at the top of the cab.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/15/18
Staging clay for the dam, and that doggone seep just keeps seeping.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/15/18
Inside view of the dam, packing clay/bentonite in shallow lifts, and making a point of wrapping the repack around the face of the dam.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/16/18
Back side of the cut. Adding clay to the inside, then coming on the back side adding dirt and grading.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/16/18
On top looking in. Pack, pack, and more pack.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/16/18
#2 Son Clint and Jr. Red helping out with the landscape dirt on the back side.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/16/18
Inside view, getting closer to done. Pack, pack, and more pack.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/17/18
Back side of the cut starting to look like something I can get over with the zero turn and not die in the process.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/18/18
That looks more better. Of course it will settle, and I'll have to do another topping layer, but I'm determined to get grass on it
before winter and avoid a really nasty mud mess.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/18/18
I know, the inside face of the dam isn't pretty, but it isn't as bad as you might think. That side of the dam has never leaked,
and I didn't disturb it during the cleanout. Took the muck off and dumped good clay back into the toe. It's a little rough, but
that should help to hold the crushed limestone that's going to be dumped on the inside face of the dam.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

9/18/18
Ready for seed. I tossed down 2 bushel of feed wheat, 20lbs of dutch clover, and ten pounds of fescue to hold it over the winter.
Now I can take the Mrs. to sunny Florida for a nice beach vacation and not worry about the pond.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/3/18
At this point in time I hadn't found the PB web site and forums. I was thinking typical Missouri pond fish mix of BG, LMB, and CC.
So after pulling all the guts out of my ancient, dry-rotted, Monark tri-hull, I deep-sixed it for a catfish hide. I didn't really
intend for it to wind up against the side of the cut like that, but I hit a pocket of red sand when I was mining clay for the dam.
There had been a tiny seep up there for quite awhile, and when I uncovered the sand the seep got bigger. Bad, bad, and more bad!
Nothing to do about it now but see what happens when it goes under. Obviously those vertical cuts are going to slough back quite
a ways. Will it be enough to sufficiently cover that little bit of sand lens? Time will tell.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/4/18
That's about 25 ton of crushed limestone on the shelf. We call it surface rock around here. It's 1" and down with all of the
fines left in. Should make for nice BG beds.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/4/18
More cedars. I have enough cedars to fill every pond in the county and I'm starting with this one.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

End part 5.

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My front yard cow pond - part 6.

10/9/18
Finally, we got some rainfall. There's enough water in there to show the elevation changes in the deep area of the basin. With
this water, the far end where the cedars are runs from nothing to about 4' depth, and the near end runs from nothing to about 3' depth.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

10/10/18
More cedars in, and more rainfall overnight. Aside from what came in the two little seeps, this hole hadn't seen water since June.
It was dry down there. The level dropped almost a foot in the week after these rains, and that had me a bit nervous, but when
I considered how dry it had been that made sense. After that initial drop in water level it has been stable. The sheer cut on the
east side (left side of the photo) of the upper end is sloughing as expected. That's the spot that gets most of the runoff water.
You can see clearly that the west side of the cut, which also was a near vertical face, has hardly sloughed at all. We have some
seriously good clay here. It is deep, and it is incredibly expansive. When we built our house the building inspector guy told me
that this clay is the 6th most expansive type of clay that has been documented anywhere in the world. I can't say with certainty
if what he said is true, because I haven't researched it myself, but can say with certainty while I was cleaning this pond out,
if it rained I was pumping before I could get back in with the tractor. It is some seriously good clay.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

11/10/18
We got some more rain, and the level is rising. Every time it rains I jam a stick in the mud at the new water line. So far it stays
where it stops, and both sand veins are under water. Maybe Lamont will luck out. Maybe Lamont will have to spend some $$$ on
Soilfloc. Lamont doesn't know yet, but Lamont is hoping he will be like the blind squirrel who found an acorn.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

11/21/18
More cedars in the upper end, a good line of them against the cut running down the middle of the pond, and I haven't even dented my
cedar tree patch.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

12/1/18
I bought 26 ton of 2"x6" crushed and cleaned limestone and placed it in the pond along the bank on the upper end. That's where the
runoff comes in. Lining that bank with stone will stop the shoreline from eroding and moving uphill, provide good hides for crayfish
and minnows, and help with the ph. Since this photo was taken I added another 25 ton of surface rock to the shelf. A week or so
prior I was down with a bad cold, and stayed home from work for a few days around Thanksgiving. That's when I found PB on the interwebs
and started reading the forum postings. And from all that reading now I know I should have put some sort of geotextile material down
before I dumped the surface rock on the shelf. I suppose I could have dug it back out and put something down, but then Fred G. wouldn't
have anything to yak at me about.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

12/23/18
I went and made nice with neighbor guy today. Figured there was nothing to lose by making an attempt, and it worked out great this time.
As we walked back to the pond I told him what I was planning to stock, and I told him the story about finding bullheads in my front yard,
and that I really wanted to do whatever I could to keep them out for as long as I possibly could. I asked him if it would be alright
with him if I built a terrace to keep the overflow from his pond out of my pond. He was completely agreeable to everything that I was
hoping to do. Might have helped that I offered to put up a new fence on the property line once we were both satisfied with the dirt work,
but bottom line... the overflow channel from his pond to my pond has been diverted, and he's no longer on my list of non-person people.
I'll need to get back in there after it dries up a bit to smooth things up, and I want to make sure I've added enough dirt so that all of
the water runs down the hill rather than puddling up and making a skeeter hole. It needs some rain to settle the dirt before I can finish
it up, but it's good for now. Merry Christmas Eve Eve to me.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]

1/1/19
Took the Mrs. to Branson after Christmas for a few days of relaxation, and to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary. Noticed things
looking rather soggy on the drive back home. Turns out we got a nice, long, soaking rain while we were away from home.
There's a couple feet of new water in the pond. More good news - the terrace I built to keep the overflow from neighbor guy's pond
out of my pond worked perfectly.
[Linked Image from i1174.photobucket.com]


And that gets the story of my front yard cow pond to where I am at present.

I know a few things, and I don't know a whole lot more than a few things.

I know that the pond must fill up to the level of the currently existing overflow before I'll really know if I have any leaks.
I don't know if there is a core key under the dam, but considering the age, size, and original use of the pond, I believe that
it is rather unlikely, but I suppose that it is possible. Before the cattle got on it, all of the ground around and below the
dam stayed dry, except during periods of wet weather when the pond would overflow. There was a period of time, much later in
the life of the pond, when the ground below the south side of the dam had a tendency to stay a bit wet. The pond was full of
muskrats then, and the dam was in terrible condition from being stomped by cattle. There were also several large trees that had
grown up due the damage inflicted by said cattle, which made the dam unsafe to mow. Those trees were removed from the dam after
we bought the property, and it's been dry on the back side since then. It's my hope that any voids resulting from the decay of
those tree roots have filled in due to the passage of time and all of the heavy machinery traffic that has happened there since
the trees were taken out. The several-feet-thick clay cap that was placed when the back side of the dam was landscaped should
help out as well. I haven't forgotten about the two sand pockets that I hit while mining clay to close the dam. It's very
possible the pond could leak through those as the head pressure increases. If I wind up with any leakage, I'll get my wallet out
and throw a unit or two of Soilfloc in the water.

I don't know where the full-pool water line is going to wind up, exactly. I know where it was before I started the process of
de-mucking, and I'm certain that it will be below that level now due to my use of the historical overflow as the entry ramp into the
pond. Literally thousands of trips over that area with a heavy machine have compacted the soil quite a bit. That, coupled with the
erosion that occurred due to the grass sod being beaten down to bare soil for a five year period of time has reduced the elevation
by at least a foot, and very likely more. I never shot the elevations. I couldn't change the footprint of the pond, so I didn't really
see much point in it. I'll wait for it to fill up, see where the water line comes on the dam, and decide at that time how much, if any,
I want to raise it from there. It won't be difficult to rework the overflow area if I decide to raise the water level a foot or three.

I had originally intended to do the normal Missouri BG, LMB, CC mix. I mentioned that earlier, I think, but after reading on the PB
forums all of the success folks have had with YP, RES, SMB, HSB, and WE, that's what I've decided to do. I've got no shortage of
places where I can go to catch "normal" pond fish, so I'm going to do something different. Will doing so require more intensive
management compared to doing what's easy and normal? Probably. Surely. But that's OK. If it hasn't become obvious by now that I'm
the kind of guy who enjoys a challenging project you haven't been paying attention. As far as that goes, I pretty much have to have
a project of some sort in the works or I get bored. After eleven years here almost everything else is in maintenance mode, so the timing
of this is all good for my mental health and happiness.

The plan is to stock the forage base (FHM and GSH) in the spring of 2019, and follow up in the fall with the YP and RES. SMB and HSB
will be added in spring of 2020, then I'll add the WE in the fall. Before the sport fish go in I want the pond to be at, or at least very
close, to full pool. If the rest of this winter and early spring turn out to be dry, I'll wait until there's adequate water. That would
give the forage base more time to make babies, and that would be fine. So I'll see what the weather does and I'll stock it when Mother
Nature tells me that it's time to stock it. I've contacted TJ about getting some grass shrimp in the spring. I'm also thinking I'll
add some scuds, but it would probably be best to wait until the pond has filled and the water clears up, so that will wait until next year.

I'm working with the owner of a local bait-n-tackle shop on the stocking plan. In addition to the tackle shop he does pond and lake
management on a commercial basis, and I'm confident in his ability to source good fish. I've fished several of the lakes that he manages.
The fishing and water quality in those lakes are both quite good. I do still need to find out if the hatcheries he buys from sell
pellet-trained fish. If the answer to that question is "no", I may reconsider where I go to buy my fish.

While the shallow areas are still dry land, I'm going to build pallet structures for the FHM, and spawning beds for the SMB. I have most
of the materials to do all of that already on hand. Now that I've been able to build a terrace to keep the overflow from neighbor guy's
pond out I'm not as worried as I had been about his bullheads and what-not getting into my pond. It is just a matter of time, I suppose,
that some undesirables will find their way in. I will deal with that if/when it happens, but it is my expectation that my stocking plan will
result in a healthy predator population that should be able to deal with a handful of mutt fry. I understand that the balance of life will
change over time, and I'm prepared, within limits, to accept that. If it gets too far out of whack to suit me, I'll draw the pond down, nuke
it, and start over. I'm going to toss more cedar trees in the upper end of the pond until I decide there are enough in there. I've got a
perfect spot to build a forage pond, and I'm hoping to find time to work on that this coming summer.

I'm going to install an aeration system in the spring. I've been in touch with KASCO, and they have designed a system that's suited to
my pond. I have spoken at length with the folks at the closest distributor. Haven't decided if I'll go with that one, or buy a system
from my local guy. Right now I'm leaning that way, but I still need to look at what he's got and get a bid.

I'm going to build a 12'x16' floating dock, anchored with mud poles, and connect that to shore with a gangway. The dock will be decorated
with permanent bench seating, a bait cage, a big livewell cage for fish that are destined for a grease bath, a cleaning station with a
whopper-size poly cutting board and a chum grinder, a folding swim ladder, solar accent lighting, solar/battery/invertor system for powering
additional lighting and a music system, etc. This is going to be our happy place, and I intend for it to be comfortable.

As weather and time permit, I will cover the inner face of the dam with 2"x6" crushed limestone, or maybe something a little bigger.
Based on what I placed along the north shore, that will require 100-125 ton, maybe more, depending on how thick I dump it. I'm also going
to need to do another landscape topping on the back side of the dam to account for settlement of the material that was added earlier this
fall. I still have a sizable pile of spoil that came out of the pond during the early stages of de-mucking, so I'm hopeful that I won't
need to give dirt guy any of my money. Other than what he got when the dam was cut all those years ago I've managed to avoid financing his
new dozer, and I'm hoping to keep that streak alive.


So, there it is. That's where I'm at today with my front yard cow pond. Certainly there's something I've forgotten to mention, or never
thought of in the first place, and I'm hopeful that you folks will fix my thinking (or not thinking) where I've messed up. There are some
things that simply can't be changed/moved/redesigned/etc., but there's still a lot to be done, and none of what remains is set in cement,
so please, I want to hear your thoughts.

Going forward, I'll post my progress to this thread in order to keep it all together and hopefully somewhat coherent so I'm able to share
my successes and failures, and easily find all of the good advice that I hope to receive. I've attempted to edit my ramblings to the extent
that it all makes sense. My brain tends to run far in front of my fingers, so there's bound to be something up there that will cause you to
scratch your head and wonder if American is my native language.

Thanks for reading.

Greg

Last edited by Augie; 04/17/20 06:45 PM. Reason: fixing the pics
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Greg, thanks for the fascinating saga you've written describing your past many years. I think this will be one of the most memorable stories that I'll read in all of 2019.
And since I hadn't already said so, welcome to PondBoss.
Roger

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Your wife is a saint!
The only thing at this point that I would modify about your stocking plan is to add the YP and RES with the forage base (FHM and GSH) in the spring of 2019. All will co-habitate well. With this, the YP and RES will spawn in spring of 2020 to enhance the forage-panfish base. The WE and YP may struggle in your maximum pond depth. Keep us updated about your fishery project.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/01/19 08:48 PM.

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Thanks Roger.

I've certainly gotten a lot of enjoyment from reading other people's stories over the short couple months since I found this place.
Your comment alone has made all of the time I spent working on my story worthwhile.

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Thanks Mr. C. She truly is better than I deserve.

The stocking plan I described above isn't set in stone. I'd prefer to add the YP and RES this spring if the pond is at, or at least close, to full pool. Would you recommend I go ahead and put them in this spring based on the amount of water that's in there now?

Please help me understand your concern about the max depth. Are you thinking too much deep water, or not enough? I won't know for sure until it's full exactly how deep it will be, but by my eyeballs I'm thinking 14'-16' based on the existing elevation of the overflow. There's close to 10' in the upper end now, with a good 5', maybe a bit more, to go until it's full.

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Wow that's quite a story. I see some similarities with my story. Thanks for posting it and letting us follow it.

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That's a very good read, Augie! very cool.. If you happen across any FHM, I'd take that opportunity to get them in. When the time is right to spawn, they'll already be in the best areas for the conditions.
This will be fun to follow.

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LOL, AWESOME man, that was EPIC!

Ping me anytime if you need some fishery management help, I love cool water species and have helped a lot of guys in the Midwest.

TJ


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Love it.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Great story. You should be really happy with your pond.

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I enjoyed the read. Thanks for the story. Best wishes for your 2019 pond start-up


Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.


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Great story.

Amazing what some perseverance and sweat equity will accomplish.


John

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Augie - I would add the fingerling RES-YP whenever you add the minnows (FHM-GSH). Fingerlings RES-YP will not compete heavily with the minnows. If you can get pellet trained YP, all the better because their growth will be faster when they ar eating pellets and when YP are larger (4"-7"+) they will eat fewer minnows because most of the YP will be eating mostly pellets. You will not be able to locate pellet trained RES. All most all with pellet eating RES, they have pellet trained them their-self.

From your pond building pictures it appeared the depth was only around 9'-10ft. If your depth is greater than 13ft then YP should be able to find some some thermal refuge during the hottest part of the summer. The YP smaller than 7"-8" appear to tolerate warmer water (85-88F) well. YP become susceptible to heat stress primarily after they grow to 12". The biggest, oldest, weakest YP will usually die first during hot spells. If in MO, it behooves you to buy YP from a supplier that raises them closest to your geographic latitude. These YP will then trend toward more heat tolerance.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/02/19 10:42 AM.

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Great story! Really enjoyed reading it. I also agree with your stocking plan. You are not very far south of me, and my fish are all doing well. (Except the HSB, and they may be doing fine, but I haven’t seen one since stocked three yrs ago, lol).
I imagine in the time this property has been in your family Columbia has grown out and around you.
Looking forward to following along. I really didn’t see that many Lamont moments..
Jeff


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
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Nice write up! I enjoyed your style.

Two quick suggestions that I don't think you mentioned in your postings...

One, check out Harrison's Fishery in Hurdland, Mo. The can't be too far from you and that's is where I got my HBG, RES, and HSB. It was a good experience.

And, two, put some pallets in your pond when the FHMs go in for spawning purposes. If your pond is still filling up, you can build the pallet stacks before the water hits full pool, you just have to guess/know where full pool will be. Otherwise, I would consider strapping thee together at a time and floating them in the pond, anchored to the shore so they do not travel around. Here is a link to what I did with the pallets...


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=458150&page=2


Fish on!,
Noel
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Very nice and quite the saga.

You can't be more than 5 miles from us. I have sourced FHM and GSH from Anderson Minnows by overnight mail delivery for a good price. They're a reputable place down in Arkansas.

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I really need to learn some of the acronyms for fish...

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Welcome to the gathering place. I'm hoping to see some full pool pics this spring. I'm currenting in the middle of what you had awhile back but I went with the 33hp Kubota and yes its taking ma awhile lol. But I also get 2 put the dirt right where I want it. Your place will be a thing of beauty come summer time. Southeast Kansas here so I hear ya on that good clay we get to enjoy.


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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Thanks QA.

I've sent a query to Harrison's. Google maps says they're an hour and 45 minutes from my place. It will be interesting to see how their thoughts on stocking numbers compare with the recommendations that I've read from the experts here.

I have access to all of the free shipping pallets that I can use. I've got 18 of the 3'x3' size stacked outside my workshop now. I just need to screw them together and place them in the pond.

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Thanks Bocomo.

I've requested a quote. We'll see what they come back with.

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