Thank you all. Funny enough, I got grass to grow on the dam fairly well. All I did was take a stone rake to it to loosen the clay, threw down seed, and it took off. The trouble is my backyard. The contractor that dug the pond cleared the entire field (roughly 9000 sq ft), and it all washes into the pond every time it rains. I feel like it's going to take some serious work (and money) to fix everything.
I also don't feel like it's holding water very well, either, but that's a topic for another day.
Amazingly enough, this does happen more frequent then you think, Clay will grow more then you think, the difference is the clay on the dam was disturbed and aerated where water can penetrate the surface, often times when the top soil or surface is stripped of dirt the remaining clay hardpan is impermeable by moisture, water, its why farmers will take a deep shanked ripper and loosen the top ft to 16 inches of the soil. will make an amazing difference in the fertility of the soil. its also the reason that sometimes, especially when things get hot and dry where a ditch line that has been dug up and loosened will have much greener grass then the rest of the yard. at least thats the way our soils work her in MO. Good Luck!
