Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? 1.25 acre pond cleanout

cleaned out about 20 ponds last 2 months but this one was somewhat challenging. lots of rocks,mud, and a 16' tall dam height to get the mud over. then had to flip up a 2' thick rock shelf to get to the shale to rebuild the pond. we put them to use off 2 small peninsulas for fish cover. this rancher is a fisherman which is unusual. notice all the mud flowing behind the dam there was a lot of it. we had to build a 6' tall dam behind the dam to contain the mud so we could let it dry a few months to be hauled off to a low spot he wants filled in

Lots of soup there.

Tim, how many years of accumulation was that? How much deeper did you eventually make the pond? Like Dave said, that's a LOT of mud.

A river of mud ! Nice work and good pics. I like the rock piles and at different depths and in a roadbed type arrangement - peninsula (good thinking).

What else was in the job? In one of the pics it looks like a big lake in the background over the hills.

the pond was built in the late 1960's it drains about 40 acres. it was about 14' deep when we started and slightly over 20 when we got done. and that is the headwaters of skiatook lake seen in the background a few miles away. its a very clear lake with some beautiful scenery around it. most of the work i do is usually just a few miles from this lake one direction or the other.

the reason for the peninsulas was because the top of the rocks we were flipping were 3 to 4' deep at full pool and 30 to 50' out in the pond these peninsulas allow to walk out and fish the drop offs for crappie etc. the pond had a few 2 lb crappie in it when we drained it but mainly smaller fish. the rocks were placed in 3 to 12' deep water.

This is the fastest I ever seen this much muck dry out. We are in a drought still with the whole month of June in the mid 90's to 100 degrees. Its very unusual to be able to clean up muck this quick we put it all on the back slope and filled the draw in with what was left