Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Dan's Pond

We have a family friend thats Dad has a pond right behind his house. Our friend decided to renovate the pond because the dam leaks. He also wants to raise the dam about 3 feet.

Here is a picture looking down towards the dam.



This picture was taken while standing on the dam. The blue line will be the future water level.


We drained the pond so that we can clean it out. The pond had no structure except for a half dozen willow trees and one stump.

Here is a video of the water draining. I found a few dead warmouth that got stuck. We tried to get all of the water out to see what fish were left but couldn't get the pump started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYE7gYSykow

Future fish plans are to have a big sunfish pond.

Where does the dam leak if at the toe then this is a large project more info is needed to guide you if you raise three feet where the back hoe is you will need a good deal of fill to back it pond spoil is not usable there are many other factors so more info

Looks like a nice little pond... Will those two trees that appear to be getting a flooding in the future, destined to be cut down or are you going to see if they will survive the flooding?

Yes they will be cut down.

I forgot to add that we found a couple dozen mussels that were 4-5" long. I was surprised when we saw those.

That is a sign of good water quality, so you can't complain about that. I am sure if you stock RES, they will love eating them... Any idea what species mussel they are?

Nope. I will get a shell the next time I am down there.

There are so many species, I get lost when I start trying to figure out what they are... Them being in a pond helps narrow it down greatly right off the bat though.

Thanks for the post.

I cannot ever figure out if you are in school on spring break or how you get pictures on a Monday.

Otto

Sounds like an interesting project. Shame to do it now with all the rains that we're getting, but then again, there is no better time then today to get started!!!!

Will the backhoe be the only piece of equipment for this? I built my 3/4 acre pond with my backhoe. It was pretty much 2 straight months of going back and forth for a load of dirt. Probably about as boring a project as there ever was, but I stuck with it and got it done.

The silt will probably take a full year to dry out, so you'll need to find a place to put it. Once you get that out of the pond, there should be plenty of soil along the shoreline to build up the dam. Be sure to remove the grass from the dam before adding new dirt to it. I'd either completely removed the dam and start over again fresh to be 100% sure there wasn't another leak, or key the top of the dam for the additional dirt and redo the pond side of it for that leak. Done right, it will last just about forever. Take a shortcut and you'll just have to do it again and again until it finally holds water. Cheaper to take the extra time to make sure it's right this time.

Good luck,
Eddie