Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction What did you do at your pond today?

So that was the picture that I saw Overtons post! The fish will love it.

Rod, I remember seeing a very nice LMB on a shallow nest in cattails. I was flyfishing & decided to see if she would bite my bead head fly. Dragged it by her again and again and again, nearly forty times until she got annoyed enough to inhale it. Happened so fast that the first thing I noticed was that the fly was no longer visible. Great fight, and she was returned unharmed.

Must say I'm really impressed with the design of artificial lilies, how they will rise & fall with the water level. Also have tubing to protect connection from hooks. Ethan remarked that he was skeptical of them at first, but has become a fan.

Thanks, I didn't see it. Where is their post?

It was on their FB page. Anything there look familiar?

Thanks! Different pond, but similar habitat. Using the lily pads to mark sunken structures is a game changer, don't know how long they've done it.

Ethan's a very deep thinker. Be sure and ask him all the hard questions you can.

I used those cheap Walmart boat bumpers to mark brushpiles. Something that looks like a Lilly pad would be nicer to gaze at.

We use duck decoys to mark stuff

Made another ford across a small stream using 240 cement block. I am getting too old for this... My 1st ford using this method was made over 30 years ago and is still good. Keeps the water clear and the stream healthy when driving across. Should thank my lucky stars that I am still able.

I am glad you survived. Constructing that ford probably counts as your workout for the whole month!

Can you post a pic or diagram?

I would certainly like to copy and adapt a ford design that has lasted for 30 years!

This is a ford from a few years ago:

I envisioned the blocks the other way to let the water flow thru them.

No strength in that orientation to vehicle traffic. The holes will fill with sediment over time. Need boards when taking metal-tracked machines across them though.

RAH,

Thanks for the pic.

Do you put any underlayment fabric beneath the blocks?

Your soil there looks pretty clay-rich, did you just tamp clay for a relatively flat base and then lay blocks on that foundation?

I like the curvature of the top surface of your blocks that comes up and "meets" your road. Did that mitigate big channel ruts forming due to erosion of your wheel tracks?

Now that I have a full-size backhoe, I remove the muck down to the gravel base, including an area wider than the stream where it is soft on top, and lay the block on that base and a bit up the bank. The big risk is that the block most downstream dislodge during flooding, This is why I lay the block parallel with the flow of water (to resist tumbling), but sometime I need chunks of concrete downstream to stop that anyway. I also smooth out the tops of the blocks by pressing everything down with the back of the backhoe bucket, which cuts down on hand digging before laying them. I did not have the backhoe when I built my first one, but I was 30 years younger. You still get wheel tracks when everything is real wet, especially if sand deposits on the banks, but it's not too bad. I have had poorer results using culverts before I had the backhoe because water was able to work its way through outside of the pipes due to poor compaction (by hand), or passes over during flooding. The fords hold up better for me and reduce debris getting stirred up when crossing. Our main goal is wildlife habitat restoration, and this seems most compatible with that, These are really drainage ditches, but when all you have are ditches, you call them streams:) The price of block has almost doubled, as has diesel, so they are a lot more pricey to construct now. I have put most projects on hold, but wanted to get this one done while I can still move block.

Thanks for taking the time to type out such a detailed response!

The equivalent crossing on my property would be constructed on almost pure sand, and sometimes subject to much greater water flows.

I think I would probably have to pin my edge rows of blocks together with bent rebar and some concrete in the cinder block cells.

I agree with you that any type of culvert design I attempted, would be scoured out during the first flood.

Thanks!

While the water flowing over my oldest ford is normally inches deep, it has flowed 7 feet deep during the worst flooding. A covered walking bridge that we built a decade before the big flood did not fare as well when a tree trunk smashed into it during one of those floods. The bridge was 5' above the normal water level. I no longer have that bridge. During the peak of the flood, water was running 2 feet over the bridge deck.

Beautiful bridge!

Too bad the floodwaters rose that high.

Moving water is a powerful force. Always better to try and work with it rather than against it. I guess that is called "going with the flow"...

Refilled feeders today, one on the fritz so I'll have to get a replacement part. Not really a big deal, but frustrating. For some reason, this particular feeder tends to get bad corrosion where it mates up with the battery.

BG still feeding fairly well when I tested, but not with same enthusiasm they did a month or two ago. Didn't see any LMB or HSB activity whatsoever.

Pond is even lower now, down 3' from normal full pool. Wonder if this is a good thing -- prey flushed out of usual haunts -- or a bad thing -- extra stress. We'll see when it fills up again. Makes me really glad to have a relatively deep pond by Texas standards!

Removed 37 GSH from 9 to 11" today via a light wire #14 hook with a piece of Optimal Jr wedged between barb and shank. Surprisingly, I had 3 SMB between 11-14" take a piece of Jr too.

Interesting! Floating? Weighted? Just curious.
Thanks

Jr normally floats but the hook was enough to slowly sink it. They hit it about 3-6" under..

do you know if GSH school in pods on the surface like shad? Still seeing three pods in the evening hitting the surface

GSH don't usually school in large numbers like shad. They will often be in groups of smaller #s but don't feed like shad (large schools early morning and late afternoon on the surface).