i have thought about and tried to witch the water but just cant seem to get the hang of it. i can see where that would be a great help. and i highly agree with bill and essup its very hard here to find a good HONEST contractor. most of them around here stear clear of nrcs ponds because they get checked on their work.if you got one like bill does take care of him.
i had a lot of help over the years getting to the level of knowledge i'm at now. and i have a ways to go yet. i got hooked up about 15yrs ago with a fellow that had built over 2,000 ponds for the nrcs. he said back then he lived in a camper and moved from pond to pond and that the nrcs man was with them all the time checking compaction and resetting the front and back toe flags about every 3 ft up.he still uses the same dozer a 1961 d7-17a with 68,000 documented hours. its still an impressive machine that will run day after day. he retired a year ago due to his wifes health but cant go a full week without seeing what i'm doing. as far as getting compaction with a dozer he knows techniques that are impressive which i could write and write about if anyone ever wants to know. he said they figured out how to do this stuff with the nrcs man taking compaction test every lift at every pond. he took me to new levels of pond building experience quickly.
i have no new pictures its still raining here but hope to soon and thanks for all the responses.
