Since my 1st picture worked out I will post up some more and see how it works out. I will try to give you brief review of my pond.
We started construction April 2002 and officially finished the dam on St Patrick's day 2003. One very experieced dirt mover did 95% of this project by himself in 1 week short of a year. We experienced a strong drought during this period which enabled him to work alot.
After we closed up the dam we received no runoff from March 2003 to early December 2003. During this time the only water in the entire pond was a 50' diameter puddle of water. After dragging my wife on our 10th trip to inspect our "pond" my wife declared that this would never be anything more than a "Muddy Puddle" -- the name stuck!
By October 2003, I had started building our dock. By December, I had the majority of the framing done. I was just in time. Here is a picture in December 2003 of the dock just after the 1st runoff producing rain in almost a year.
Once the moisture started, it kept on coming. By March of 2004, the pond was starting to look like something. Here is a picture of the pond in March 2004:
Once it started filling, there was no stopping it! By early May, it was full! A 30 acre pond had completed filled in 5 months after setting empty for the better part of year. Here is a picture during the last storm that filled it up:
By then I had pretty much finished the dock completely. Here is a picture of the dock completed:
Here is a picture from a distance after it had completely filled:
Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out. The pond was something I had dreamed of since I was a little kid. It is amazing to look at now. I cannot believe that I have it.
I put in/left alot of cover, put in some spawning beds, and did some bottom contouring (I couldn't afford to do much by the end as I was way, way over budget!!!) I wish I would have found Pond Boss before I built the pond instead of after! I am sure everyone would!
I will wrap up this post with a picture taken from the dock on Labor Day 2006:
PS - Thanks to everyone who posted directions on how to post pictures on this site. It was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I have wanted to post up some pics for a long time but always thought it would take to long. It is pretty simple!!
Nick
