Hi all, this will be a long post with a lot of pictures, I hope I don't bore anyone.
I started my pond(s) project in the summer of 2006.
I bought a Caterpillar D6C dozer hoping that would be the only tool I needed for the job.
My plan was to dig two ponds and connect them with a culvert. This was to facilitate driveway between them, as shown here:
Pond(s) plan Here are some pictures of the very early stages of the small pond, it's only .32 acres in size:
Excavating 2006 I ran into a problem at about 8 ft deep, the gray clay was soaked, and I was afraid to get my dozer stuck. So I had to abandoned the digging for that year. I was disappointed, I wanted to get to 16 ft deep.
It was a very wet fall & winter, here is what the pond looked like the next spring/early summer:
Spring 2007 In the fall of 2006 I bought a CAT 225 excavator, as I needed to dig the small pond deeper, and knew I needed something to dig the large pond with.
The spring/summer of 2007 was very dry, I pumped out the ~7ft deep pond, and made a ramp down in, and took my CAT 225 as far in as I dared. I was able to get to ~14-15ft deep using my 225:
Deepening the small pond I finally ended up with this:
Finished small pond Now it was on to the larger pond with the CAT 225.
I am not an experienced heavy equipment operator, and it probably shows in my results, but here is how far I got with the large pond last summer:
Digging large pond Cross section of channel Unfortunately, I only got 2/3 complete with the excavation before winter & wet weather came. I can't dig in the fall/winter months if it's too wet, as my dump truck is just a Louisville tandem axle, I don't have a articulating dump. The pond stated to fill up quick:
Large pond filling Ponds pretty full late winter Finally, here is what they look like now:
Ponds, spring of 2008 Now, I know I have a lot of work to do with the banks, and the slopes in some areas. I wish I could have gotten everything done as quickly as the pro's do it, but that didn't happen.
All this time I have been concerned about just getting the holes dug, I really did not think about structure for fish.
Mainly, these ponds were dug because I needed the dirt to build up the land for 3 houses, mine, and my two brother's homes.
However, I want to have fish in these ponds.
What type of fish can I have up here in the north east? Some winters, the ponds could be covered with ice form November to April.
From my observation, LMB seem to be the only fish that can survive that...
What type of structure do I need in the ponds?
I have 1/3 left of the big pond to dig, should some of that be shallow? Most of the banks on what I have dug so far are 3:1 or 2:1. Do I need a shallower section with a more gentle slope for fish to spawn?
