Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? New Here and looking for advice.....

We're in the middle of the worst heat wave and drought I've ever seen in my lifetime. I have a pond that is about 3/4 acre at full pool. Right now, the surface area is about 1/4 acre. Silted pretty bad. Only about 3 feet deep at it's deepest point and that area doesn't cover much. Nothing in the pond that I value except the channel cats I stocked when we built our home out here. They're pushing 6 lbs now. I'm meeting with a trackhoe operator this week to see what he thinks.

I really think the pond will be merely a puddle by the time this summer is over. Probably losing an inch a day or so to evaporation. I don't know that I'll have a better opportunity to clean this pond out and I look forward to starting fresh.

Do you all have any suggestions on where to find someone that can apply rotenone? I asked a fisheries biologist with the ODWC and he said he couldn't even get his hands on any...

What are you going to do with the fish that are in the pond now?

You plan to catch as many out as you can, or just drain it down and net them?

Not sure. I was thinking they would taste pretty good with all of the feed they have had over the last few years. Really, other than the CC, I'm not sure about the others. It has some really nice bluegill in there, but also some big green sunfish. Bass are all stunted.

I've been lurking on here for quite some time. I've read about how difficult CC can be to catch. Mine are that way. Would probably have to net them out if you wanted them alive.

I do not have any concrete plans yet. Looks like I don't need to rush my decision with this weather.

Where are you located?

Get a cast net and throw it out a few times and you will surprised the amount of fish you will catch.

Aaron, if you don't know how to throw a cast net, and there isn't much debris on the bottom of the pond, a small seine wouldn't be too costly. It would allow you to seine out a lot of fish before they died. Either fill up the freezer or maybe find other pond owners that might want them. There's no reason why you should have to feed the wildlife scavengers.

Any pesticide applicator should have the necessary permit to purchase the rotenone. If you google "boatcycle" they have it listed in their catalog. I believe I can get it thru my local herbacide/pesticide dealer.

It is being cleaned out with a trackhoe & dozer this week. He started on it yesterday. Very excited!

Well, it's finally finished. He worked part time in the evenings. It turned out to be a bigger job than expected. Some areas had a solid 4' of silt. I was lucky in that I was able to hide all of that silt behind the dam. I went from a 4' silted in pond to what will be a 10' pond with a nice, shale/clay bottom. To say that I am pleased would be an understatement. Got down 100 lbs of rye just before a rain the other evening (the day after he finished). Very excited!

I just finished digging the muck out of a old pond with my two wheel drive tractor with a fel, there was four feet of muck also. I bit off more than I could chew. I was running out of places to put the stuff. It is really amazing how much material is in a 1/2 acre pond. It took me all summer