Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? any thoughts on...

Adding a peninsula to an existing pond? Would need to be approx 45-60 feet long into 16 feet or so of water. Draining isn't an option.
By the way i love this site, have been "lurking" for months.I don't own my own pond but i "manage" a few for some elderly ppl in the area.

Have you considered installing a dock instead? A peninsula would require an immense amount of soil, and would really reduce the water capacity of the pond.

Ya i asked them about that..the owners werent opposed to it but would prefer a peninsula..also, dirt and water are 2 things they have plenty of. The pond is about 4 acres, about 350 x 600ish, shaped like 2 squares side by side. shallow end is about 220 by 150, then opens up. Theres alot of open water, which almost nothing uses. If i could drop a peninsula in it would "functionally" enlarge the habitat the fish find usable. No pelagic baitfish, just lmb, bg,and a few bullhead that i havent seen in 2 years(i know there in there somewhere).

Don't be so sure fish don't use open water. I have a lot of suspended fish in my ponds.

I believe a long floating dock would provide better habitat for the fish and structure can be attached to it.

I disagree, but im just an idiot with a passion for fish, im no biologist. Adding a dock would be great and much much easier but this pond is seriously lacking shallow structure. I thought that by adding a peninsula i could give the fish a windbreak, alot of much needed spawning area,a nice long edge to chase the bluegill and with the bottom contour and shape of the pond a nice bottleneck for ambush feeding. That being said, it would really be something watch a 5 pounder hammer a bluegill from below, 15 feet down if I/we decide to go with a dock. Much to think about.Also, to Cecil, im sure some fish suspend and use the open water but not a very high number in this pond. Ive been all over it with sonar and all i ever see is an occasional bg feeding on insects on top and a very few small fish about 6-8 feet down. Not saying the predators never use it but i believe it to be the exception in this case. I desperately want to introduce a "set" of pelagic fish, such as alewives/hsb but the money isnt there and im not a huge fan of alewives, which other than gizzard shad are about my only option. A little wordy but i really wanna do a good thing for this elderly couple, I'm not making any money doing this.

Pa we make great use of peninsulas. For example I have 2 that run at an angle to each other with 50 ft between the ends. I block the end with a net and have a large growout area. I have several others that are under about 3 feet of water (pond enlarged) and are great for spawning and fishing. Like a dam or an island they are great deep water structure.



before refill




Now underwater

I know the dirt is free, but is there inexpensive equipment available to use? That will take a LOT of dirt and a lot of diesel fuel! Figure that the pinnensula should be 3:1 slope or so (maybe less) for shallow habitat. That's a mound of dirt that would be roughly 100' wide at the base in the deepest part if the flat part on top was 10' wide.

We are all idiots here. One big happy family of fish idiots.

I'd agree with esshup about the slope, but since you would have to build this peninsula in up to 16 ft of water, I wonder if the soil wouldn't tend to slide out even farther. You would just end up with whatever slope the natural repose of the submerged dirt would hold.

I've been fortunate to build peninsulas before we built the dams, so we were able to properly shape them, then protect them with rip rap from wave damage.

ewest thats about the same setup i was thinking about but ill be able to use the existing shoreline as one side.If i make it 20 feet shorter ill be able to stop it in about 8-9 feet,but then i lose the highway effect from deep to shallow.I dunno maybe its too much to take on with the pond full. Maybe a long dock with angled pvc would be more realistic? A peninsula would take me til september to get done probably.