Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Southeast Texas pond project (suggestions welcome)

I havent been on here in a while. Had intentions of renovating this pond but then it got put on the backburner. Well now I'm finally ready to start. Equipment is being brought in tomorrow. I'm looking for a little guidance from the experts here.

Quick backstory.... we bought this place in 2021 and started building our house in late 2022. The pond was 100% covered in giant salvinia but with the house build happening I just never got around to messing with it. I finally drained it in spring of 2024 but the rains kept filling it back up and I gave up. Fast forward to this summer and I drained it again and now my guy says he's ready to start work.

The pond was dug in the late 70's and it was VERY silted in. It's somewhat of a kidney shape roughly 1/4" acre in size and I want to keep roughly the same shape but double the size. Still small but that's all we can really do with where it sits. We will have two deep ends with a ridge in the middle for change of depth. I plan to have bottom aeration, possibly in both deep ends if needed, and a lighted fountain to look at while having happy hour on the patio.

We want to have this as a bass pond with some bluegill and/or perch. I know I'm limited to what I can do with only 1/2 an acre, but that is the plan. It wont get fished hard, mostly by my kids and friends' kids from time to time. I've looked at my soil test from when we built the house and we've got "very stiff red and gray clay" down to 18'. We want to go roughly 10' - 12' depth and I'm thinking about 3:1 slope.

I'll have plenty of questions about structure, stocking, aeration ect when we get to that point but for now, do yall have any suggestions based on what I've posted? Any must do's or must dont's before we get started? I've read a lot on here so I have a general idea but nowhere close to the knowledge that yall have.

Here is an aerial view and also a pic of when we first bought the place when it was covered in savinia.

Thoughts
Leave a flat area about 3 ft deep on the end near the house so people can watch spawning.

In the ridge area make a cut several feet wide and deep so fish can come and go at depth.

If you are going to use big or heavy structure, add gravel or sand do it when under construction.

Construction is the time to add ag lime if it is needed.

See the structure archive for ideas also see the construction archive for ideas.

Was your "house" soil sample fairly close to the pond? Was the distribution of subsoil layers fairly uniform where you performed excavations at the house site? Does the current pond hold water very well?

I am asking these questions, because the biggest potential screw-up in your pond renovation/expansion plan would be piercing a laboriously constructed clay liner in the existing pond that was required to keep the pond from leaking.

I very much like that you had very stiff red and gray clay down to 18'. That PROBABLY means that they excavated the original pond in the shape they wanted, scarified (disked) the bottom and the sides, and then followed with light compaction to create a pond. IF that is the case, you should be able to do any work you want on the pond, and the worst you can do is excavate out some compacted material.

My advice would be to conduct another "soil test" when your pond contractor is on the site. If he has an excavator or backhoe, go close to the pond (but in an area that he thinks is probably undisturbed from the original job), and dig a quick test trench. Make sure you have good clay material down to 14' (if you want 12' of pond depth). Also make sure you don't hit any bedrock, or sand/gravel layers. If not, then your renovation should be a fairly simple excavation, then compaction job.

P.S. If you double the size of the pond, it will create a surprisingly large amount of spoils (dirt). You can do some rough calculations on simple volume math, but then you need to add 20-25% for "fluff". Dug material always increases in volume when you pile it on the ground.

Decide with your wife ahead of time what you are going to do with the spoils. Do not pay your contractor extra money to move dirt multiple times! One option is to create some nice berms with the clay as an attractive landscaping feature. You can then cover the berms with your stockpiled topsoil, and get whatever plantings you desire easily established.

Good luck on your pond improvements. Should be great fun developing your pond over the next few years!

[quote=FishinRod]Was your "house" soil sample fairly close to the pond? Was the distribution of subsoil layers fairly uniform where you performed excavations at the house site? Does the current pond hold water very well? It's about 75 yds away. We didnt do any excavation at the house site. We brought in 450 loads of dirt for the house pad to build it UP. The pond holds water very well and has great watershed. It doesnt take much rain to get it full.

I am asking these questions, because the biggest potential screw-up in your pond renovation/expansion plan would be piercing a laboriously constructed clay liner in the existing pond that was required to keep the pond from leaking.

I very much like that you had very stiff red and gray clay down to 18'. That PROBABLY means that they excavated the original pond in the shape they wanted, scarified (disked) the bottom and the sides, and then followed with light compaction to create a pond. IF that is the case, you should be able to do any work you want on the pond, and the worst you can do is excavate out some compacted material. Looking back to 1975 on google earth, it appears the sole reason for digging this pond was to use the dirt for the previous house pad.

My advice would be to conduct another "soil test" when your pond contractor is on the site. If he has an excavator or backhoe, go close to the pond (but in an area that he thinks is probably undisturbed from the original job), and dig a quick test trench. Make sure you have good clay material down to 14' (if you want 12' of pond depth). Also make sure you don't hit any bedrock, or sand/gravel layers. If not, then your renovation should be a fairly simple excavation, then compaction job. We have already done this near the pond and confirmed good clay

P.S. If you double the size of the pond, it will create a surprisingly large amount of spoils (dirt). You can do some rough calculations on simple volume math, but then you need to add 20-25% for "fluff". Dug material always increases in volume when you pile it on the ground.

Decide with your wife ahead of time what you are going to do with the spoils. Do not pay your contractor extra money to move dirt multiple times! One option is to create some nice berms with the clay as an attractive landscaping feature. You can then cover the berms with your stockpiled topsoil, and get whatever plantings you desire easily established. This is a fairly low laying area. We brought in lots of dirt for the house and have since built a barn that required another 150 - 200 loads of dirt. With that said, there is plenty of elevation change and slopes/hills that I think we can spread all this dirt to somewhat level out the property

Good luck on your pond improvements. Should be great fun developing your pond over the next few years! I am getting pretty excited. I'm glad my wife finally got me motivated to tackle this thing

I 2nd the thought of figuring out what to do with the spoils before a bucket of dirt is moved, and also digging a test hole in an undisturbed area that will be the pond. The deeper you go the better. If in a drought, the more depth you have will be your friend to retain water. I would encourage 12' instead of 10' if at all possible, 14' is even better if you have the distance.

I also agree with the 3:1 slope but I'd suggest making part of that slope by the house 4:1-6:1 to allow you to walk into the water if needed - more of a beach area even if there is no sand on it.

When you say "Perch" do you mean Bluegill or do you mean Yellow Perch? In a 1/2 ac pond you will be much better off trying to grow big bluegill vs. big bass. You can have all the bass you want in a 1/2 acre pond that measure 12"-14". If you want one or two bigger bass, I'd recommend fin clipping one or two that way you know what ones to release if caught a 2nd time.

Aeration will be needed in both deep holes.

I would plan NOW for cover in the pond, and put it in place with the heavy equipment before it leaves the site. It's much easier that way.

Run electric to the pond when construction is finished asap. Determine where the fountain will be, and where the compressor will be for the aeration. The underwater 1/2" - 0.6" ID aeration line is running around $1,80/foot plus tax and shipping. Underwater cable for the fountain is more than that per foot. 220v. is less expensive to run than 120v, and the fountain needs to be in the widest part of the pond. Do you want lights with that fountain?

Thank yall for the replies.

esshup, to clarify on the "perch", yes I meant Copper Nose Bluegill just based off what I've read on here. Is that the strain I'd want? Or is there a bigger/better strain? I told the contractor that I want a shelf on each end for BG spawning. We're doing a 3:1 slope on most of the pond but I want 2 areas to have a shelf maybe 5:1 about 8' out and maybe 10' wide then continue to the bottom at 3:1. Then I can put gravel on the shelf part to serve as a spawning area and also create a ridge to the bottom. Is that a good idea?

Also my barn is close by and I can come off the sub panel for power. Are you suggesting I run 220 rather than 110? Yes the fountain will have lights.

I'm being realistic with my expectations on fish quality. I realize I'm not going to have a trophy bass fishery with 1/2 acre pond. I'd just like some kids to be able to go catch some decent fish. If I could have some decent bass and BIG Bluegill that would be cool. I'd like to learn more on what it takes to grow big bluegill.

You are correct. CNBG (Coppernose Bluegull) are what you want. The shelf idea is a great idea, cover it with 6"-8" pea gravel for spawning beds.

Correct 220v is less expensive to run rate wise, and most fountains that are 1 - 2+ hp run on 220v.

Feeding the fish a good quality fish food will grow the fish big and quicker than not feeding them. We are in Northern Indiana, but we ship fountains, aeration systems, feeders and all other pond products all over the country.

While this is a Hybrid Bluegill from a customers pond, he has Northern Strain Bluegill in there that are just as big.



12.5", 2.15#

For the kids, I'd recommend stocking a few hundred Hybrid Bluegills in addition to the CNBG. Feed the fish and the grandkids will be catching 6"-7" HBG next year at this time. That's stocking fingerlings. If you were to stock 4" CNBG/HBG, then they'd be catching then that big in early summer next year. I'd recommend stocking 10# FHM, 100-200 RES, 500 CNBG and 50-60 LMB along with a few hundred HBG. Make sure the LMB are 1/2 the size of the BG/HBG/RES when the LMB are stocked. You don't want the LMB eating the panfish right away.

That's great information eeshup thank you very much. I'm surprised that many fish would fit in a pond the size I am building.

In your original post you said, "the pond won't get fished hard". However, fishing (or removing fish) is a critical part of pond management.

The recommended stocking rates for ponds generally assume at least moderate fishing pressure. However, even if you stocked at a very low rate, in a few years your pond will tend to reach the total mass of fish it is capable of supporting.

At that point, two bad things become MUCH more likely to occur. First, you will eventually have an uncommon stress event like six straight windless days during a hot stretch of weather in August, or you have big, cold spring rain after your pond has recently warmed up. Both can cause a severe low-oxygen event, and the result is a massive fish kill in your pond. Secondly, when your pond becomes "full" of fish, there will likely be stunting of your preferred sport species.

However, none of those things are difficult problems. As you fish the pond with kids, just be observant of the length and weight of your fish (and read a thread about relative weights). If the fish start to look skinny, or appear to have large heads, or you are catching fish that are all the same size, then start keeping some good catch records and report your results on Pond Boss. We have multiple experts that can give you advice about how to improve your fishery at that point.

Thanks again for the replies.

FishinRod, I just meant that this small pond wont get too much pressure or overfished. We will fish it and cull as needed. I will lean on yall for advice when we get to that point.

Here's some pics after 1.5 days of work. And also a rough sketch of the plan. I'm getting excited. I've got some elevation change in my backyard, so we are just spreading all the dirt to level it out. My wife was real happy to see that I am ruining all of our grass LOL. But I had a find somewhere to put the dirt. Most of it was just pasture weeds anyway. It will come back.

I guess I need to start gathering stuff for structure/cover. There's a guy near me that has about 8 free concrete culverts. I was going to grab them and put them in a pile about 8' depth. Another guy has a bunch of free wooden pallets. I was going to build them into a triangle shape (like a tent) and place them in 6' - 8' of water. Also headed to our ranch next weekend and am going to cut down some cedars and haul them back. Pond will be 10' - 12' deep so thinking some 6' - 8' cedars standing upright at the very bottom in concrete buckets. Will probably lay some horizontal and stake them down in shallow water for brush piles. Any thoughts on my plan for structure so far?

What's yall's thoughts on the Honey Hole stuff? I'm liking the HH tree and the HH reeds.

I don't know why some of the pictures are upside down. Could someone help me out and flip them over? I cant figure it out.

Welcome to PB. Regarding the structure, don’t use oak. Newly cut oak has tannins that are lethal to fish. I found that out the hard way when I killed everything in a 3 acre pond. Cedar is my go to structure.

Trying to post some progress pics but the pics are upside down or turned sideways. I'm not much of a computer guy but I know how to post pictures on a forum. They are saved correctly on my computer.

You can post them to Imgur and see how they come out. Then edit before saving. Then just post the link to each pic here, that is what I do. There is a tutorial in the archives about posting pictures.

The contractor said he should be pretty much done tomorrow. I'm really liking how it turned out. Now I guess it's time to add structure. I stated my plans a couple posts above but didn't get any replies. I'd like some insight to make sure I'm doing this right.

I'll have two 10' x 10' shelfs that I will cover with pea gravel for BG spawning. I also saw the old structure thread on here and they made some little sticks with a piece of wood attached to the end and stuck them into the side of a ridge. Looks like a little fan you would hold in your hand and wave to cool yourself off. The thread said it was for FHM. Not sure what exactly it does, but easy to make so I'll do that too.

Going to cut down some cedars and plant them in buckets with concrete and set them in the deepest parts. The tops will sit about 3 feet below water level. I will also lay some horizontally along the shore lines for brush piles.

I found a local guy that has a bunch of concrete blocks. They are 6" x 6" x 20". I'm going to pile them up a few blocks high all along one shoreline. I've read on here that rock piles are excellent structure. I think put them 1' - 2' below water level and extend down to about 4' - 5' depth.

Going to make some triangle shapes with some free wooden pallets and place them roughly 5' - 7' below water level and weigh them down with the concrete blocks.

Do yall have an opinion on the Honey Hole products? I like the HH tree and especially the reeds. I'd like to get a 5 pack (15 reeds) of the reeds.

EDIT : I'm actually thinking about a 9 pack of the HH Brush as well. It seems like that would be more snag resistant than actual brush piles. It would last considerably longer too. Any negatives about artificial habitat?

You must have hired a heck of a construction contractor. I can't believe how his guys can operate a dozer on such a steep slope as shown in your first picture.

Congrats on getting your pond constructed!

You probably need to put down some weed barrier fabric on your shelves before you put down the pea gravel. Otherwise, a large proportion of your pea gravel will sink into your pond bottom and disappear surprisingly quickly.

Also, highly recommend reading some of the links in this thread!

Structure & Cover in a Pond - Pond Boss

That is a fundamental thread on Pond Boss, and the original is quite old. Consequently, some of the links are busted due to old age. Just keep clicking on links that you think might be informative for your pond situation.

IMO, Step 1 after completion of your pond is to re-establish your preferred ground cover over all of the newly exposed bare ground. If your contractor stockpiled any topsoil around the pond, have him put at least 6" back on top of any clay or sand now exposed above the expected water elevation of the pond. Then get your plants established. An early, big rainstorm will erode a lot of material from your bare dirt exposures and deposit it right into the bottom of the pond. Eroded material is a nasty b*tch, and fully intends to steal depth from your pond - if allowed to do so.

Step 2 is then to do all of the projects that are located in your pond basin. These are MUCH easier before your pond fills with water. Install all of your structure. Build your dock. Putting in a big flat rock on a point for the kids to fish from, do it while you can still level it with dry ground on the pond side.

Step 3 is to enjoy the labor you do to complete your ideal pond. Step 4 is of course the most fun ... enjoy your new pond with your family and friends!

Good luck on finishing your pond. I hope your greatly enjoy Step 4!

That's the info I need FishinRod. I would not have thought about the weed fabric and would have messed that up. Thanks!

We're getting close. They are letting all of the spread dirt dry out and then will do final grade. Then I will hydroseed some grass. I'm planning on hydroseeding everything above water line. Should I put any on the inner banks of the pond or leave that bare?

Love your pond site!

Pond in an open area, but with mature trees away from the pond as part of your landscape.

Very much looking forward to you posting good fish pics in a couple of years!

I would plant winter wheat as cover on the inner banks.

We got a quick hard downpour yesterday and water is already standing in the bottom of the pond. It's funny, for the next week or so I am praying for no rain, then after that I want all the rain we can get haha.

I've got a hydroseed company coming next week to put seed on all the exposed dirt in the yard and about 3-4 feet into the pond banks. I ordered some Honey Hole brush, trees, and reeds from pondking.com. I'm picking up a BUNCH of concrete blocks next week to make rock piles. Also getting some wooden pallets from a friend. Headed to the ranch this weekend for bow season opener and will bring back some cedars to make brush piles. Things should start taking shape in the next couple weeks. I'll continue to post updates. Keep the suggestions coming if you have any.

Pond construction is complete. I had everything hydroseeded yesterday. I'll keep everything watered and hopefully the grass comes up good to help with erosion and hopefully help filter the water runoff that goes into the pond.

I'll spend the next week or two putting in cover. As mentioned previously, I've got some artificial cover, rock piles, some wooden pallets and numerous cedar trees. Then pray for rain. I didn't expect it but this project has gotten me really excited. I'll keep yall posted.

Looking forward to seeing updates on this one. Keep em coming!

As someone currently going through a pond restoration, I agree that it is very exciting! Addictive even LOL.

After months of waiting, we finally got some much needed rain and some water in the pond. I'd say it's roughly 2/3 full. Within days duckweed started showing up.

The initial bermuda hydroseed didn't take for whatever reason. By the time we figured that out, it was too late in the season for bermuda so we had to go re-do it with rye. It came in good but once it warmed up it all died. Now it's just weeds coming up which is fine, that's all it was before.

I guess it's time for aeration. Then start stocking baitfish.

Sorry for the sideways pic