Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Combining Two Ponds Into One

So here is my situation, one of our properties has two ponds next to each other. The larger of the the two is somewhere between 1/3 of an acre and 4/10 of an acre. There are several trees, some small, some not so small, around and between the two ponds. With the size of the two ponds and the area around, I think I can expand them into one larger pond that would be some where between 1.25 and 1.5 acre. I will have to have someone come and cut some of the trees, but I have been thinking about some of the stumps for structure. I'm not really sure how deep either is but, while working on them, they would be mucked out and made as deep as need to, with ditches, ledges, and points to hold fish.

Now the big question, once the trees are down and out of the way, how much of this could I do with a Compact Track Loader? I know that I will most likely have to hire a dozer and/or a trackhoe to do some of the construction and muck out, but I didn't know if there would be much I could do for myself and save us some money.

I will try to get some pictures of the area when things dry out a little bit around here, but with the way the weather may is talking it may be end of the week before I can get any.

Thanks
Greg

Most likely, if you bring in big equipment, they can do in minutes what would take you a whole day to accomplish... If you could even do it at all with your compact loader. Your equipment would be best used to finish grade and clean up after, IMO. What are your goals? Why one big pond instead of two? Are there fish in either now? Are they natural ponds or is there a reason they were laid out like this when originally dug? Having a main pond and a forage pond next to it isn't a bad situation to have. Is it possible to expand the ponds while keeping them separate?

Do you plan on draining or pumping water out to allow to dig the silt? Pic will be nice. You're not going to have much luck with the compact track loader digging out silt, or even a dozer for that matter. You'll have to get a hoe for the silt.

If I were to guess, I would say that they very will could be natural ponds, at least one of them anyway. They are in a depression in one of our hay fields, so it is likely they may have been used to water livestock when my great grand father farmed the land years ago.

This would be kind of a get-a-way place for our family, eventually there would be a small cabin on the bank of the pond, just as a place to go fish and hang out. I have been looking at combining the two into one large one, so that we will have one large pond with several different types of structure and habitat for bass, bluegill, readear, ect. We already have at least two smaller ponds with in 2 miles of this location that I could use as forage ponds fot the larger one if it were to be needed.

There are a few fish in the larger of the two ponds, but not many and they are not large at all as they have aren't really feed. I really don't see much of any way to get the silt out of the pond with out draining it.

We have had around 6 inches of rain in the last week and a half, so as soon as it dries enough for me to get back to the ponds I will get some pictures and post them of the area.

Greg, you won't really "save" any money with a compact tractor. As for the trees, "save" money by pushing them down with a dozer, then cutting logs. It will take a LOT more time ($$$) to dig out the stumps of cut trees.

Get some elevations to know exactly where, and how high any dam will need to be to accomplish your goal. Then make as accurate drawing as possible of the new pond's shape, and draw in any structure features wanted to give the pond builder. It cost's a lot of time and money doing things as they come to mind, versus it being all built at the time.

It would be easier down the road to manage two individual ponds than one large one. You could have different species of fish in both, maybe species that would not do well in a pond together. Say, LMB in one, SMB in the other? Or make the smaller one a kids fishing pond and the larger one for adults?