Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Recovering from Catastrophy

Guys,

I haven't been a very active member, quite frankly I find most of my questions have been answered before and the information is easily accessible. This time, I have a much more complicated situation on my hands.

I live just west of Angleton, Tx.. Smack dab in the middle of all of this flooding.. House is fine, we built way up, but the flood waters topped the levee on my 2.5yo pond by several feet for more than a week.

I've lost all hope that any of my fish have stayed put, but frankly I'm more concerned about what got in than what got out. I have seen schools of carp and flathead catfish and the occasional Alligator gar cruising through the yard through this thing, I can't imagine what is my my pond.. Quite a shame, because it was in great shape that's to the knowledge on this board.

Hopefully tomorrow the water will be back down below the top of my levee, and the question then becomes what to do.. My first instinct is to immediately begin pumping it dry, and just start from scratch.. Outside of intrusive species, this water is chock full of crap, and and all forms of STD's (joking), and who knows whatever else.

I would sincerely appreciate yalls guidance on how to get her back in shape.

JT

How big is your pond?

3/4 Acre.. 10-12ft deep at normal pool.

JT sorry to hear about your flooding, glad your home was spared. If it were me I'd probably pump it dry and start over. It would always bug me not knowing what's in there and I don't just mean the fish. Is this something FEMA would be willing to help with any expenses to refurbish it?

I believe I'd pump it down below 4' deep, add Hydrated lime to kill everything, and start over.

Sorry to hear it got topped!

If it were me, my first question would be "is this going to happen again?" and my second question would be "when? or "how often?".

If it is once in a hundred year flood I would start over. If it is going to top the pond every five or ten years (and it takes at least three or four years before any decent fishing after a restart), then I might consider learning to manage and live with what I got.

But that is just me.

Snub's question is my thought also. Weather is getting crazier around the world. Rainman's answer is what I would do. Berming around the pond might keep future floods out but then do you get enough water to fill the pond? And how expensive does all of this get?

Last event that would have topped the existing 2.5'Levee around the pond was 1992, prior to that 1957. So the cycle is quite long.. I'm inclined to drain, and start fresh. Should we be faced with this situation again (we typically have between 5-8 days warning because this is a river event that begins with heavy rains in central texas)I will t-post around the top of the levee and stretch a screen around the pond..

I have seen that future events cannot be predicted from past events, when it comes to flooding. We have had three 25 to 30 year flood events and one 100+ year event here since 2004.

+1

Is there anything you can do to improve the pond design with respect to floods. Bigger emergency spillway, emergency siphon(s), higher levee, etc?

Maybe try and build an electrofishing rig and see what you have? You could also cull fish that way.

Hey JTodd, Really glad you and family are OK. I agree with most posts and if you have the resources, like to control what species you have and what is or more importantly what is not eaten, other by humans, a redo would be in the works from my perspective.

It's hot and dry down there to mid summer most of the time. pump it down, rotenone the rest. Might even do a little dirt work too if a dozer and or backhoe are available. Might even be able to raise the Levee a bit more just for grins and deepen the pond a little unless you have packed clay bottom. Most of the land down there are not red clay like what we have in East TX, plus the water table is much closer to the surface down there for the most part.

Since the runoff from the river floods your pond it would be difficult to control massive river flood water and needs to be considered a part of what happens from time to time. Decades between events makes for a lot of good times in between, IMHO.

Good luck on whatever you do. Taking chances give chancy results, sometimes good. With known factors, chances are one gets known results, but as always on PB "It Depends"!

So I finally have this thing pumped down pretty good.. Not much life in it at all.. What is the best product to use to kill what remains that won't linger as I refill?

some folks use rotenone but you need a special license to possess/dispense it or hire someone to do it for you. This likely would be a high cost.

From previous posts it seems that the most common way is to use hydrated lime which will quickly increase the PH level to where nothing can survive. Do a google search for something like "pondboss hydrated lime" and you should find a few threads where it is discussed.