Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Tons of weekend fun

I decided with the drought we are in to do some work to the pond. My budget is limited, so we decided to get creative. The pond is about 5 acres total but too shallow to deal with the recent droughts.
This is a photo that was taken in May of this year, which was the last rain over a half inch. All the water is now gone except for a small area next to the dam, where we had some work done about 5 years ago. The black lines represent the water line when full.


After reading all that has been listed here and in the magazine, as well as discussions with Bob Lusk during a World Tour, the plan went something like this.

We started with a Trac-Hoe and piled all the spoil in the middle of the pond. At first I wondered what kind of mess I had gotten into, but it started to take shape. On the second day, we the dozer showed up, but without an operator. The contractor gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. If I would run the Trac-Hoe, he would run the dozer. Took me a while, but I soon got the hang of it and I moved a lot of mud out of the pond while he dressed it up.

In the end, we maybe lost a half acre of surface area, but now we have an island, a peninsula, several points and shelves, and deep channels and layers. Next will go in cover, from cedar trees to perhaps on of those neat "Sputnik" bowling ball things. Hopefully there will be some room in the near future for a load or two of gravel and perhaps a beach.

Which leads to a couple of questions: How much pea gravel do I need to make a couple of good sized spawning areas? Do I need to make any special ground preps? What about a beach? Has anyone ever put in a beach before?

Thanks for all the help, everyone. Just by posting on this site, everyone helps a ton.

We just put in a 45' x 90' beach zone on our new project. Some of the preparation details are within the beach preparation thread.
There is another link within that thread that leads to more prep. discussion.
...some installation details and pics on this thread page

Shawn, just looking at the drought effects is painful. However, when it refills, you will really have a nice place.

I've never found that you need gravel to create a spawning area. I believe it is a good idea but sunfish seem to spawn without any artificial additions. In a spread out 5 acre area, I'm not sure you could really make much of a difference. I might do it but I wouldn't get much of a guilt trip over not doing it.

BTW great picture, Shawn. I didn't see it at all last night; must have had some slow downloading going on.

When she fills back up a "then & now" picture would be great.
Good luck!

Thanks, everyone. Brettski, I'll check out that thread on beaches. I think the wife would really like it. Dave,'ve seen the BG create "moonscapes" with all their spawning beds, but I was hoping that a gravel bed or two might concentrate them a bit for better fishing. Thanks on the picture compliment, Theo, I'm proud to say I took it myself. A friend owns a little plane and I go on a photo junket once in a while. Remedgar, I have a few "in progress" pictures from the ground that I will add shortly, and I hope to get back into the air to get some of the "before she fills" pictures and then once filled a nice "after" shot. Thanks again, more details will come soon.

This is another overhead picture that shows the pond a bit lower than before. As you can see, the pond separated into 3 different ponds when it got low.


Some in progress pictures. We are pretty much done and looks like we will actually come in below budget! Still a little bit more of dressing up and we'll be done.

Well, the big work is done, but of course, we are still missing the water. I am very proud of my dirt contractor, I gave him a budget, did everything I wanted, and the final bill was still 20% less than what I budgeted.
The before:

The after:

The outline is the approximate water level when full. At this rate, in 3-5 years maybe I'll be able to show an actual full pond pic. As you can see, I lost some surface area, but I gained a ton of bottom topography and depth.

Future plans will include trying to get a hold of at least some of the property next to me and raising the dam. By raising the dam, I can easily flood 2 or 3 times the current area, just at a much more shallow level, but I bet the ducks would love it. All thing to dream about. Here is one last picture, thanks for bearing with my ramblings!

I like the island, and I REALLY like the peninsula. You have made a ton of great lemonade from your drought lemons.

That peninsula has Keg Party and Sandlot Volleyball written all over it.

Well maybe not a keg, but certainly a few cases of premium beer.

Thanks, guys. I am really pleased on how it turned out. Hopefully it will be full soon and I will be able to get some more finished pictures up. The end of the peninsula is not big enough for my extended cab pickup to turn completely around, but a short 3 pt turn handles it well. I really like the volleyball idea, and I'm sure the area by the pen. will be called "Coors Light Cove!"

Yepper, that is really something Svoberts. The diversity is awesome...well done. The perimeter outline is wild enough to be a Picasso. It looks like...like...I don't really know. It kind of resembles 3 guys playing jazz...no, not that. Maybe a sultry woman in distress...nah. A winged horse in a Chicago plaza...nope.
This one is a true Svoberts original.

You don't want to know what my co-worker thought the "before" picture looked like! He was a bit disappointed that I changed the outline so much!

Are you sure you're an engineer and not an airborne psychiatrist? That's a Rorschach pond!

FWIW, the new outline looks like a Pierson's Puppeteer on steroids.

Well, this is a picture of the pond finished and pretty much full.



Lessons learned:

When building an island, peninsula, levee, etc., consider packing. We talk about it with dams, but internal structures that we want to utilize above the water line is just as important. Also, if you think it is tall enough, add another couple of feet. How do I know this? When I was brushhogging the island at full pond with water trickling over the spillway, I nearly added pond structure in the form of a '64 model JD 4020. Even though I was at least three feet from the back, the seepage into the new structure made it quite soft. Packing and building it higher would have limited this problem.

Newly moved dirt grows weeds. Keep up on it while short because it will get out of control, FAST.

To do it all over again, I would have completely removed all fish and started over. I know have several larger bass and nothing to feed them. I've transplanted several larger BG from my other pond, but a dozen fish in a 4 acre pond is gonna take a while and any new fingerling stocking is going to be mostly SNACK! See these other posts:

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=9281&Number=97241#Post97241

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=2211&Number=24029#Post24029

Thanks to everybody for their interest and their remarks.

Wow, Shawn! That is one fishy looking place!! Great job. Once you have the great habitat, you can make the fish community work.

Svoberts that's a very nice looking pond,I really dig the shape and structure. Congrats on making the mag by the way.

Very nice Svoberts! That peninsula looks like a great place to fly fish.

If you have LMB that are short on forage maybe consider trying to feed train them. I'm a novice, so take it for what it's worth.

Thanks, Rockytopper, but I feel like such a novice when it comes to the level of writng talent we have in writing for us now. I'm honored just to be allowed a small contribution.

I'd love to try to feed train, but I just don't have the time. I live 500 yards from the pond and maybe get to see it once a week. One of these days life will slow down!