Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Newbie from Georgia

First I would like to say, thank you for an excellent site for thoughts and ideas.

I am a married, middle aged, wife and son. We live on the coast out side of Savannah Ga and have saltwater fished forever. Due to the population growth in this area, we decided to trade the boats for goats and purchased a 35 acre parcel of land in the country.

The property has planted pines and is exceptional raw land. We plan for a small home, flower and vegetable garden. We believe in wildlife conservation and will be working with the local WMA and county extension division for assistance.

The property presently has a "water hole", about .9 acres and is about 4' deep. We have ideas of increasing the total area to about 2 acres and 12' deep. I am sure the depth will possibly change after learning from the members on this site, but I would like to plan for an exceptional environment to raise bluegill.

Thank you all in advance for advice and comments.

Al

Welcome Al, I'm new here myself. But if you don't know anything about ponds, you came to the right place. Made a many atrip to you state, visiting my son at Ft. Benning. Lot of history there. Our place with the pond is also brand new to us, Haven't even taken possession yet, should in a couple of weeks, hopefully sooner, I'm eager to get started. I'll keep up with your progress here on the forum, but won't be able to contribute anything, cuz I don't know anything. Good luck

Good morning and welcome Al. A couple of considerations. Draining and deepening the pond is a good idea but it isn't always quick and easy. The first consideration is the runoff area and the assurance that it will support the sized pond that you want. Second is draining and keeping it dry enough for a dozer to get in and work to clean it out. That takes time and hot, dry weather. It sometimes makes more sense to build another one just uphill from the existing one. The best information I have seen on pond building, deepening, cleaning out, is Mike Otto's book "Just Add Water".

BTW, dozer drivers are plentiful but make sure that you get a person who has a LOT of pond building experience.

Thank you for the response.
We are excited about starting this project. Hopefully, I will have some good information to post as we move forward.
Hope yours proves to be a great success.

Al

Al, I had a pond built in planted pines a couple of years ago. I strongly recommend you get current water tested, especially pH, and alkalinity. Pines prefer acidic soil, which leads to acidic watershed and acidic water. You may need ag lime to correct this, and it is cheapest to add it before the pond fills.