Update.!! The pond is full 8ft 1/2. I drained the pond by cutting a slot in the overflow pipe. The pond dryed except for a stream from the two springs and run off. I hired a backhoe contractor for $1600 to clean out the 10" of silt and redress the dam. Checked with county watershed authority and I did not need a permit. I cemented in a new plastic drain 15" pipe as the stand pipe and closed a 4 inch drain pipe that I used to keep the waterflowing while we worked on the stand pipe and dam. Total Cost $2100. Tomorrow I go to buy fish. I am having the water tested but it is full of frogs aready.

Thanks for the advise and the magazine is great.