Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site How big is too big??

I might not be the one jet skiing but the grand kids any other friends and family up for it will be able to. Does no one build a pond for generations to come??

Absolutely !! All lakes should be planned for at least 3 generations. That is not easy to do and requires experience in the process. Very few people can plan for and afford a 50 acre lake. I suggest you contact Mike Otto and tell him you are interested in planning for a 3 generation lake 50 acre lake.

Joel, I sense you're getting frustrated. We've gotten a little goofy with your thread and unfortunately hijacked it somewhat. I was partially responsible so I apologize for that.

I think everyone here builds a pond for future generations. From what information I have been able to obtain my pond was built some time in the 1940s so it has been around for over 60 years.

At the second Pond Boss conference Ewest spoke quite eloquently about the heritage aspect of a pond.




The link provided above to Agricultural Handbook 590 is very useful. If you haven't already, download this Handbook and read it carefully. On page 10 there is some information about water shed and pond depth requirements based upon geographic area of the US. These are some general guidelines.

The watershed and required depth will vary greatly depending upon exact geographic location. In looking at Publication 590, just in Utah alone it looks as though the watershed requirement could be anywhere from 8 to as many as 120 acres of watershed per acre foot of pond. So if I'm reading the map correctly and interpreting what it says correctly a 50 acre pond only 1 foot deep could require as little as 400 acres of watershed to as many as 6,000 acres of watershed - and that is for only a one foot deep 50 acre pond!

The problem is that it all depends upon annual rainfall, and evaporation rates, surrounding land contour and I'm sure a dozen other things that I don't know about.

The good thing about watershed is that you don't have to own all the watershed to take advantage of the water runoff.

True but that can be a bad thing as well if your neighbors are cattle/pig/chicken/llama/musk ox ranchers.

Ducks too, don't forget about them!

Or Canada Goose, the bane of my existence.

We have an Alpaca ranch near our place.

Fortunately it is on the other side of the hill and I have yet to see excrement roll contrary to the ground slope angle.

It may be cheaper to buy a property with a pond of this size is already on the property, but you need to talk to the pond management costs on top if it to get it as you wish.

I will give my experience with lakes and ponds. First I do it primarily for fishing and wildlife habitat and jet or any other skiing has never been a consideration. If that is the primary consideration then I suppose the bigger the better. But I have not found that to be true for fish and fishing.

A 7-15 acre fishing lake is hard to beat. In fact, I doubt it can be beat. I've found that a lake this size is ideal for fish management. You can catch and fix problems much easier and efficiently with this size. Personally, I find that the larger the water the larger the problem when it comes to fish management. I fertilize the water and feed the fish, and that is just not practical on a 50 acre lake. The cost of fertilizer and feed alone would cost a fortune. And would produce no better fishing. Fish per acre and fish quality would probably be less since it would be much more difficult to manage.

The other consideration is that the lay of the land and the available watershed will do more to determine the practical size of a lake than the wishes of the owner. Any government agency or general contractor will look at this first and will use those geographical features to determine the dam location, the water line, acreage, etc.

In one way it can be compared to a house. A family could more comfortably live in a 3,000 foot house on one acre than a 10,000 square foot house on 10 acres. The routine maintenance alone would eat you up and you'd spend a disproportionate amount of time on this rather than actually using and enjoying it.

A fifty acre lake on four hundred acres is a lofty goal and with liberal resources it could be built and maintained. But don't be surprised if you soon find yourself needing a lot of equipment and sheds and barns to keep it in, and either hiring a full time maintenance man (or two), or plan on spending every waking hour taking care of it.

At the end of the year you'd find yourself catching more fish on one 15 acre lake than one that's 50 acres. Skiiing would be altogether different.

Good luck with your prokect and I hope it goes well.