I had thought about several smaller ponds, but with where we are building the house, the views and everything else, we decided on one large pond and a smaller, .25 acre or so small pond uphill from it. The main reason I agreed to move here was the very cool pond / small lake opportunities for the property.
That area is spring fed and runs between three hills. A simple dam at one end does 90% of the work for me.
This is a sat. view of the property and the blue is where I guestimated the pond would fill with a 14' dam and zero excavation work. I used my dad's old transit that is older than me and my wife and I spent 2 days measuring and gridding the land. There is about a 14 foot elevation change from the bottom left to the top right where the pond is going to be.
Since then the plans have changed 'slightly', but not a lot.
