Hello, friends. I'm new to the forum here. Thanks for providing a fantastic resource.
Here's my situation. This pond is about 7 acres when full. The watershed is about 120 acres of hay meadow. The deepest part is 15 feet when full. The dam is about 300 feet long. The spillway is a 2 foot culvert flowing onto grass. The soil is sandy loam with clay below. There is a county road near the north side of the dam.
There are trees on the county road easement that have grown roots into the dam. There is water running out from under the trees into the roadside ditch. This seems to be where most of the water is coming from, but the whole backside of the dam stays wet all the time. The water level has dropped to 5-6 feet below spillway level and won't get any higher. Since the water has dropped, I can see rodent burrows in the dam below the waterline.
I am rebuilding an irrigation pump to drain the pond. Next I plan to get the trees off the dam with a dozer. Roots and all.
There is clay on the property. I am deciding whether to recore the dam or spread the clay on the front of the dam. Recoring the thing with a trackhoe sounds like a nightmare. Does anyone have experience with that?
While the pond is down I plan to work on habitat, so I need to learn all I can about that aspect of it. I also plan to put some piers around the pond.
There are huge bass (12 lbs is the pond record), monster crappie, perch, and catfish. The fish in the pond are healthy, despite the years of drought. I hate to lose them, so I am wondering if I could catch them (electrifishing) and release them into another pond until time to restock? Just an idea. Or we could have a big fish fry!
I am open to suggestions and eager to discuss ideas. Thanks!
