First post - lurked for a while. I bought some property a year ago and it has two ponds - a 7.5 acre one and a 1.5 acre one. Both are 20 years old and the larger one is situated right in front of the main house - I'd upload an aerial if I could. Bottom line is I have concluded it is suffering from 4 major problems and 2 of them are very problematic. First, while it produced 10 lb bass 10+ years ago it has not been managed since. It is full of stunted 10" bass and a reasonable number of larger bream as you'd expect. I've removed over 100 bass. Second, it has very low alkalinity (14 ppm) - I recently spread 12 tons of lime (leftover from field spreading). Third, at least 1/3 of the lake appears to be shallower than I'd like although it might partially be a symptom of the final major problem which is beavers have wallowed and rooted throughout the dam. Once the water level reaches a certain point shy of full pool it rushes through the beaver holes. I've trapped and shot beavers but those jokers are still there. I've thought about hiring someone to repair the dam. I've thought about rotenone to start from scratch. I've thought about getting a proper lime spreader to float around the lake. At the end of the day, I'm thinking it might be best for long term pond health and my satisfaction to blow up the dam (or raze it somehow), drain the pond, use a dozer (I have a JD 450C without a 6-way blade though) to sculpt structure to my liking, spread lots of lime, reconstruct the dam and add rock rip rap, let it fill up over the winter, then add proper proportions of fish species and worry about maintaining ratios and numbers ongoing. How big a pain in the rear am I inviting upon myself? Expense? Am I overly ambitious and should just repair the dam and move on? I'd love any candid feedback you can give me. Thanks in advance.
If it were me,and its not,its you,Id call me so I could play with dynamite and blow the dam.Just kidding.
Welcome aboard,we're glad you found us.What are your goals for the pond?
Bodock
Glad to have you here.
After you define your goals call Tom G and me and lets get the dynamite.
How hard would it be to drain?
You will need a little time to work it over but you can sure do it yourself.
Let us know what you want and then the fun begins.
Otto
Welcome to the forum!
If you want a pond "your way", by all means, fire up the dozer and breach the dam!
Would re-working the top of the dam to repair ALL the beaver dens/holes be feasible, then adding heavy rip-rap to prevent new burrowing be useful?
Rip-rap or chain link fence just under the surface.
Good idea Theo. Chain link cheap easy to get and install.
Unbelievable! After meeting & talking with Otto at the conference and he's still willing to let me get close to something that goes bang.Youd think he'd have a little more sense than that.On the other hand,If youve got the time Weeeee've got the beer...beer after beer.....
I believe I would siphon it down below beaver den level, take care of them, and then repair the damage. As for the shallow end, it could take years to get it dry enough to do any good with a 450C. I would then bring in enough clay/dirt to raise the dam.
I would recommend getting out on the pond with a stick to see how deep your muck is. If it is a foot deep or so no problem. If it is more than that it takes along time to dry out. I drained my pond over two years ago and I am currently digging with a trackhoe choclate pudding and toploading a scraper. I will say that the area where this muck is is where the original creek was but in another pond without a creek the muck was up to 6 feet deep. That stuff will never dry out and can't be pushed out unless it isn't very thick/deep.
You Answered my questions
Thank you all for the good feedback. I didn't consider the possibility that I couldn't get the ground dry enough to work to my complete satisfaction. With that in mind, it seems the idea of lowering the lake level, eradicating the beavers, repairing the dam (I like the chain link fence idea), then letting nature take its course refilling the lake is a sensible solution. I've got nearly 200 yards of dam to deal with (I know this because it's my rifle range) and chain link will certainly be cheaper than rip rap. I still might rotenone the lake and start from scratch with new fish.