Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? dirt removal

Here is a picture of my pond and the area I have decided to allow the county to remove 20,000 yards of dirt. The fenced off area that has been scraped clean of topsoil is the only area I am allowing dirt removal. I wish we could have done this when the pond wasn't full but I am not going to let any water out. Water is too hard to come by here in Texas. Most of the dirt should come from areas that are very shallow and could benefit from being made deeper. I hope this wasn't a mistake.

James how deep will the new area be ? I assume there will be a barrier/berm between the pond and the digging up until the end when the berm is taken out. In other words they will start at the high end and work toward the pond. That would reduce erosion into the pond.

Eric that is correct. The plan is to remove all of the dirt that was piled up during intitial digging first and then go below water level leaving a levee that would be removed at the end. Unfortunately I don't know what 20000 yards of dirt looks like after being removed from a relativly small area.

20,000 yds of dirt is approximately a 12 ft deep 1 acre hole. how big is that small area?

It is about one acre maybe one and a half acres but it is starting out about four feet taller than the surrounding land. Thanks for telling me what to expect. Having some deep water in the west end should be good. I have found that the best areas for holding big bass have been areas that are about five to eight feet deep with deeper water close by with cover in the five foot of water. Most of the water in the west end is less than six feet deep.

James

THAT IS NO MISTAKE.

hey mike you know this project better than anyone. any suggestions?

Mike most of the dirt will come from the burms you pushed up on the far end but as you know this is the worst time to be digging here.

James I will be close today and look first hand. It will not be perfect but if they add an acre of water you cannot go wrong.

thanks

Oh, and btw...
That second pic is evidence that James has created a magnificent, palacial piece of pond heaven. For those of you that are unaware, James has very recently completed construction of the castle you can barely see, tucked away into the timber at the far end.
Nysche Payckage, man.

thanks

O.k. Here is what was done in one day. I am really getting nervous for two reasons. ONe I think they will need more than 20000 yards of dirt and two they are digging eighteen feet down. I hope my clay is that deep. We are getting some leakage under the levee would that worry you? The other thing that worries me is having enough water to fill this up. What about the shape does it look ugly would you change it?

-
-
If you wear vertical stripes, it will be much less noticeable

James, ugly is only when there is no water in the hole.

If they hit sand or gravel, make sure it gets well covered with clay and firmly packed.

brett if I wear stripes will my bmi go down?

With the new hole that close to the existing pond, I think having that small amount of seepage is pretty reasonable.

Definitely avoid horizontal stripes.

Jame are you limited on space? Why not have them dig the hole bigger in area rather than so deep?

Dirt removal update. We have had a lot of rain my only wish is that the digging could have been completed before the dry summmer.I lost the trees I had planted by the dock and that made me sad but oh well. The perspective is hard to see but so far the hole is 80x350x18 I would not want to be the guys operating the track hoes on that cliff.

Looks good

Are they going to take out the berm or just cut a gap in it?

they are supposed to romove it

How are you going to extend the pier?

The construction company is supposed to build a bridge out to it but right now they are bringing the trucks in and out in front of it.

I would move all fish from big hole to little hole. I like densely populated hungry fish. Let me know when I can bring Jared to help in the relocation efforts! G.