Ifishnow,
Welcome to PondBoss! Your situation is one that has been discussed on this board in the past. A search on the topic should yield some helpful suggestions.
Here are some thoughts. You didn't mention how much silt or bottom pudding you are trying to deal with and why. If your goal is to increase the depth of the pond, and the pond has a dam, the easiest and most cost effect way to achieve this is to increase the height of the dam. Moving dirt is more costly than adding to the dam. Hopefully the dirt contractors here will corrrect me if that statement is incorrect.
If you have a limited amount of muck, an aeration system may be one approach to deal with the situation. On the other hand if removing the silt is your only option, have a gameplan in place to deal with the spoils. Some members here have used the material to build islands in their ponds which helps keep costs down. Others have used the material to fill in low areas of their property. It was amazing to me to see how much material was excavated from my two little ponds (.25 ac and .10 ac).
Lastly, if it were me and I had the option, I'd try to avoid breaching the dam, especially if its structurally sound and doing what it was built to do.
Good luck,
Russ
