Thanks for the response, y'all. I'm near Mineola, TX. I'll get some pictures posted soon.
The overflow pipe is plastic pipe, so it was added at some point. It looks to be in pretty good shape.
I'm not sure how big the roots are, but the trees are big oaks. The water runs right out from under them on the backside. I'll post pics. With all that erosion, and the discovery of rodent burrows, I don't want to put a dozer to work on the dam with any water in the pond.
As for recoring, could I dig the trench along the front? Or for that matter the backside? Seems like it would save me quite a few feet of digging and packing. The top 5 feet are all freeboard, and this pond has never gotten that high, even back when the dam wasn't leaking and it used to rain.
And if I recore, does it have to be drained it all the way down? Maybe I could save some fish that way.
