Pond update... Construction was progressing nicely, then it started raining again. We needed the rain so I'm not griping...

The dam is now full width and about seven feet short of the top. The contractors went with a 4 to 1 slope front and back for added strength on the dam. Lot of extra dirt, but very good clay and should be for keeps. They also did two or three extra keyways where the drainage ditch previously went through just to be safe.

We've moved the spillway location from original plan to a place where it could also serve as the spillway for another adjacent, smaller pond (maybe 1.5 or 2 acres?) that I hope to build next summer.

The rain this week resulted in about 3 feet of water near the dam of the pond and will prevent me from getting some of the topsoil out that I had planned. I really should have gotten that out before dam construction started, but we did get most of it... They put quite a bit of the good rich dirt on top of the island. I plan to plant a bunch of flowers all over the island next year. The water won't have any effect on the dam construction.

The contractors hit some rock a few feet down on part of the contour where they were going to get a large amount of clay for the dam. As a result, they are getting dirt from another area of the pond (previously hills) for the dam and removing more clay between the island and the bank (extending the gap). In effect, making the pond's surface area bigger, but with a smaller amount of deep water. The acre and a half or so where they hit rock would be under around 3-4 feet of water as is. I plan to take my trackhoe and brother's dump truck to remove some more so the water level is around 4.5 feet deep in that area leaving a lip between this area and main lake body. I will also get a few semi-truck loads of pit run rock (pea gravel, sand, small rocks) and dump in that area. Should be a great place for swimming and possibly fish spawning. Hopefully, the lip should help keep the gravel / sand in that area instead of down on the lake bottom.

I bought a pontoon boat about a week ago. Kinda looking forward to putting it on the lake most of the time. Thinking about docks, boat houses, and fish feeders, fertilizer, seeding, and keeping out tresspassers a bit more now...

Thinking seriously about stocking fathead minnows, crayfish, and grass shrimp this fall and not stocking any other fish until next spring. Having difficulty finding a source for grass shrimp (see creating food chain - grass shrimp), but do have a lead I need to check out Tuesday.

Pretty much planning to build some mini-dams near the head of the three major valleys feeding water to the pond. My thoughts are that I would build these little dams above the water level in the main pond with their own spillways into the main one. I would then stock these ponds with fathead minnows, crayfish, and grass shrimp only (no predator fish). My thoughts are that this would serve as a constant self maintaining source of forage that would enter the main pond with each rain... May be less chance this supplemental forage supply being decimated by the predator fish this way (as long as no one "helps" me out by tossing in some predators).

Well... That is the pond's contruction status. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Linked Image from i108.photobucket.com]