I have had several stock ponds cleaned out. The guy I use breaks the dam with a trackhoe once drained he just starts digging pileing the mud/muck up in piles. Once he gets down to the original pond bottom he will dig it deeper if I want. After he is done it looks pretty terrible. Then after it dries out and it wont take that long he repairs the dam with good soil/ clay then pushes the muck and spreads it down the dam just making it a more gentle slope. I have one for sure I am going to do now. It is tough if you have a pond with good fish and it is silted in. But with our droughts I figure its a good time to get them cleaned out for the future.
