Hi Guys,
Rocky - sounds interesting and I'll investigate that approach. I'm kind of fixated on being able to drain the pond down a few feet periodically. As I mentioned I do want to police up the beach area at least annually (after all I just had my first grandchild today - a boy - and we've got a lot of memories to start building together up there). I figure the sand will have a natural tendancy to slide downhill and build up against the wall, causing me to rake it back periodically.
Otto - I'm very excited about this. I've wanted a place in the mountains since I was a kid. We just bought it about 3 years ago, and now to think about having my own pond is just amazing. I wasn't planning on doing the installation myself, but instead draw up a plan and run it by Bill - my excavator - for his thoughts. I did figure out how to get a picture to show up finally on these threads, so I'll bring the camera up with me next time I go. We had a few pond pictures but can't figure out where we put them.
Anyway guys, now that I have a better idea of what's going on, what I think makes sense is for me to take an accurate reading of my proposed water depth at the deep end (against the dam), by projecting a level line from the current pond surface and measuring down to ground level where the new dam will be built, further downhill from where it is now. From what I've read on this site, once I know the depth I should allow a couple more feet to the top of the dam, then figure the top to be 8 feet across, then use a 3:1 slope down from the top on each side to estimate width at the base. This will let me calculate how long the drain pipe should be. Am I on the right track? I also want to get a more precise reading on the water volume coming in to have a good notion on the drain size. Now would be a great time to go up & check this as it's been raining like I've never seen this year. We went up for a 10 day vacation over the 4th and it rained every single day but one - the ground couldn't have been any wetter.
Anyway right now I'm really focused on laying everything out and ordering all the stuff I'll need. Once I'm comfortable with that I want to spend some time researching options for how I should stock it. I'm not a fanatical fisherman but I enjoy it and so do my wife and kids, not to mention the neighbors up there who sneak in when we're not around! First & foremost I want to have something nice for swimming, secondly for fishing, and lastly we can ice skate on it in the winter (it's at about 2,800 foot elevation). Sort of an all season/all purpose thing, eh?
- Jeff
