thanks for the info everyone. I talked to a few people about it and I thinking that I may go on ahead and just bust the levee myself. I can also just push the silt over the levee and let it sit on the back side of the damn if I decide to do that. I just know that I have a spot a couple hundred yards away that would probably handle most/if not all of the spoils from. My main concern with busting the levee is repairing it well enough to be able to hold the water. I am assuming using a sheeps foot/tamp would adequately pack the dirt back in place but I just want to make sure if I do all this work that the damn will hold water. That sure would be disappointing to have it refill/stock fish and then the damn blow itself out.

btw.....I have 4 other ponds on the place and I don't think that they have any fish in them. When I bust the levee what should I do with the fish in it? I know it has good sized bream in it but the bass are kind of small. Should I try to save a few of these fish to put in some of the other ponds or should I just plan on trying to get a few nets and put what fish I can on ice then clean them.