Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations When the weather sends a drought - time for pond maintenance?

Im seeing lots of pond being dug out around my area. And after watching my 8.5 acre pond evaporate down to less than 1 acre over the past year and a half; I decided on Saturday that it is time call in my contractor "clean out" the upper end and reshape the sides all the way around. I had the pond drained down 8 -10 feet for repairs when the drought started, so it was abnormally low when the drought started. There is not much more than a big mud puddle left now.

My goal is to make sides easier to maintain with a tractor. I think we will be able to push dirt up from the middle of the pond to level out the sides + add some needed depth up on the shallow end. I also plan to push down several trees to use for structure.

It�s also time to clean up a marsh below my dam which is dry for the first time.

Any comments/advice in this endeavor would be appreciated.

Gator

pond renovation law #1:
it'l start raining as soon as you start diggin

seriously gator, i hope it goes well, sounds like you got a good plan, i assume you know yer soils and wont be creating any leaky situations....post a few pics (compressed some please for those of us chained to dial-up)

Gator, that dry marsh below the dam isn't associated with the low water condition is it ? (i.e. seepage when full) If so, maybe it's time to move a little clay around too.

With the dry Texas conditions and the everchanging shoreline, I would consider putting in some deeper channels if you have enough $$$.

D.I.E.D. and Eastland,

It would be some luck to rain now (although a welcome relief).

The pond is in natural valley, the dam is at the near end and a (normally) running creek feeding the far end. It starts shallow and gets deeper as you get closer to the dam. This picture is from last year. The full water line generally follows the dirt road visible in the picture. When full, the entire area below the dirt road will be underwater. The water you see in the picture has now evaporated, due to the drought:


The issue I want to address is the perimeter of the pond. It is not sloped properly. Some areas have drop offs, others have very shallow slopes. I want to end up with a well sculptured perimeter � one that I can mow and keep the brush from taking over. Additionally, I want to have a good road all the way around the pond.

D.I.E.D. good point, most of the work is at the far end of the lake and I think there is plenty of room to dig up there without problems.

Eastland, the marsh is a natural low spot in the valley and it collects water due to the natural drainage. My pond was already low (drain down) when the drought hit last year, evaporation took care of the rest. What slope should I plan for on the sides? It seems like I need to plan on 6 feet of rise and fall due to annual summer evaporation. Is it better to have a constant slope from the full line all the way to the bottom or have ledges and drop offs?

Gator

I spent lots of time thinking about my lake situation this weekend.

I have decided to remove a big area of clay inside of my pond and use it to put a nice 3:1 slope on the inside of my dam. I am also planning to smooth a few problem areas around the perimeter so that I can easily mow it. This is a current picture:





It sure is a sad site right now�

Gator

yup, maybe sad, OTOH....its a diamond in the rough.

i dug a deep creek channel from the shallow upper end of pond connecting to the deeper areas of lower end (dam side) of pond, this way after 6 feet of evap over summer, there was still a colder water reservior for fish across the entire length of pond, it also added underwater structure during high water level. for creek channel digging, you just have to be careful of creating new leaky zones.

since my pond is in bedrock, i didnt have much choice with sculpting the pond sides. so around inside edge of pond, i enhanced existing cliffs, and built mostly steep uniform slopes to help control vegetation, and subsequently put my fish structure (fish craters) out in middle of pond. with the 6 ft of evaporation i had this year, the shallow end pond bottom actually became (created) a series of ledges as the pond level went down, and this was the prime breeding grounds for my gams and GSF, so in yer situation, i would consider slopes and ledges (terraces) along inside pond edges at varying depths to continually create structure at the proper depths as pond water evaporates.

D.I.E.D,

Thanks for the ideas - Like you, I could use more structure on the sides and I will for suremake sure not to create a leaky situation. I plan to stay above the lowest spot in the pond.

Gator

Gator,

That last picture really shows the severity of your situation. Good luck with the renovation project.

Dan, one thing to think about is the dry dirt. It doesn't pack well and has a tendency to slide when it gets moistened. Be very careful that you don't get a tree pusher type of dozer guy.

BTW, has the gator decamped?

DD,

Yes, as of last week - you would not have been able to pack anything at my place. We had a nice 2 inch soaker yesterday and everything looks a lot better now.

The gators left earlier this year - I don�t know why, they just disappeared. Weird. They did the same thing last year but during the winter months. The funny thing is that a bunch of beavers showed up and started digging up my dam. I had to initiate an eradication program.


My place feels like a regular wildlife sanctuary�gators, beavers, hogs. I have plenty to keep me busy!

Gator

The dozer and other equipment is getting dropped today for the final phase of my dam rennovation...after that "bring on the rain!".

Heres to a wet fall and winter.

Gator