Thanks for everyone�s posts. I will try to answer the questions as best I can.
Answers:
I have blocked the cubic yards of dirt moved from my mind permanently but the dam is right at 5/16 mile long. The key way of the dam was the big killer! We had to dig down about 20 feet below grade to hit good clay to key into. The deepest part of the pond is right at 30�. This is at the old ditch that ran through the pond site. We were lucky to have very good clay in the pond basin. If we had not I could not have done the project.
We stocked about 200 lbs of FHM in March 04, then stocked RES and BG in Sept. 04, and LMB and CC in May 05. Somewhere along the way GSF got into the pond and they have been a battle. I removed 30,000 with traps this past summer! It has finally started to put a dent in them.
Fish on the sign is a regular old BG. This is my favorite fish to catch and eat. Give me a June evening, a fly rod with a �round dinny� popper (the best popper ever made in my opinion), and cold beer and a baseball game on the transistor radio and I am as close to heaven as I can get on earth! The sign is cut from �� plate steel so some detail was lost. We cut the sign with a plasma torch. The bird is a honker. My 2 favorite outdoor activities are flyrodding for bluegill (trout are a close 2nd) and hunting for Canada geese.
Watershed is right at 360 acres. The entire drainage area is a mix of ungrazed and moderately grazed pasture. The water clarity is very good. I don�t have a disk to do a reading but often in the summer I can into the water about 3�. As far as regs, we got the NRCS on the site early on. They were very helpful. I have done a lot of wetland projects with them and have nothing but positive things to say about their assistance. I know this is not true elsewhere in the US, but we have a great bunch in MO! As for the government regs, the dam height was just below the height that leads to major bureaucratic regs!
I am glad to share the info. I think the people on this site are probably the only ones that can relate to the amount of work I have put into this dream!
