This thread certainly opens up some ideas I hadn't thought about.

I have several "holes" that I dug to keep debris and leaves out of my pond. Here is an ice covered hole that is about 10 x 25 feet. It sounds a lot like the one that Bruce is contemplating. The hole is about 6.5 feet deep, although it probably now has at least 18-24 inches of oak leaves on the bottom.



In the photo above, you can see my main pond to the right. This little hole sits about 150 feet from the main pond, and it's top level is probably about seven to nine feet above the main pond top level.

I've dug two more smaller holes between this hole and my main pond. This is the hole I dug just where this particular water vein enters my main pond through about a 10-inch by 15-foot long pipe.







It is about a 3-foot deep hole that gathered at least 12 inches of leaves last fall and over the winter. I figure I'll dig out the leaves during the dry time in August or September.

I never got to finish the first hole because it started raining. It filled with water shortly after I started digging. The edges are much steeper than I planned. Three sides are almost 1:1. I hope to expand it once it starts to dry out. As small as it is, I had planned to core the dam, but . . .

I dug the hole late last March with the front-end loader and backhoe on my tiny tractor. Even during the driest parts of last summer's drought, it had at least 3 feet of water.

It is heavily shaded by trees. I would guess that it won't get a lot of sunshine induced oxygen during the summer. So, I hadn't really thought much about trying to keep anything in it except maybe some fatheads or rosy reds.

I don't easily have a way to get well water to this little hole. But, I'm now thinking I could use something like a small windmill to pump several GPM of water uphill from my main pond to this hole.

I may just try pumping this spring and summer. I'd probably try it with about 25 8-10 inch catfish. If that works, I may try single-sexed BG during the summer after next.

Thanks for the ideas. Let's try to keep this idea alive.

Ken

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