Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New pond owner with questions

Hello everyone, was cruising the net looking for pond information and found this site, looks great. We jsut moved in 2 weeks ago to a place in the country on 4.3 acres, with a creek running through, and about a 1 1/2 acre pond. My problem is the banks of the pond are eroding away. Thsi pond was dug about 30 years ago, It ranges in depth from 8" to 4 1/2'. I consider this a shallow pond. We are trying to figure out waht to do with the banks, I have not measured yet but I suspaect I have atleast a mile of shoreline, this isn't just a round pond, it wraps around my property. It does not tie in with the creek but the land between the creek and the pond is only about 8 feet wide.
The banks are just mostly mud right now and ther is gapind holes under some of the ground, sometimes it goes under the ground about a foot. I am trying to attach some pictures. We ahve access to free busted up concrete from roads around here and wondering if it would be a good idea to basically rock in the banks? Would I be better off buying rock? We are on a tight budget, we jsut moved here and in 2 weeks time we have realized that owning a place liek this is expensive.
Another thing I think there is a lot of silt in the pond. My tape measure will bury itself several feet very easily. Is there some way to remove the silt without draining the pond? This pond is stocked with quite a bit of fish, so I hate to drain it and start over.
Anyone have any advice for this new pond owner? Thanks!!
Here is a link to a website I created to post some pics, just click it and go to the photos page. Thanks

http://www.kansaspond.zoomshare.com

First of all, welcome to the forum toolmaan78.

Have you learned how to use the search function yet? It's a great place to start. There may be ten or more threads concerning erosions questions. I'm not one of the shoreline/erosion experts, but I know that there's been quite a bit written on the subject.

I think you should definitely post a picture or two for us.

I can assure you, that if you are on a tight budget that there is no way to remove your silt without draining the pond. Actually, depending on how tight your budget is, you may not be able to remove the silt even if you do drain the pond.

Start posting pictures and looking through some of the archived threads. Good luck.

Bruce

I would also start by contacting your County Soil and Water Conservation District offfice. Ask if they have anyone on staff that can come out and provide some advice about the condition of your elongated stream/pond. IMO ponding a stream will result in lots of sedimentation which you have described and this is due to silt load of the stream and slowed flow (ponding). Ask Soil and water about option of removing the dam to help wash out a lot of the silt as the flow rate increases. Put the stream back to original conditions. Ripraping the bank with any types of free concrete is an option. Expect the pond to always have more problems than a typical pond due to the stream running through it. My advice is, if you want a pond, build a properly constructed pond in another spot.

Thanks for the reply, I do want to clarify there is no stream running through the pond. The stream is near the pond but there is approx 8 feet of land between the stream and the pond. This was never a dam it used to be much more than 8 feet but the bank has eroded away for years. I do plan to call the county and see if someone can come out.