Thanks for your reply. There is a possibility that plan A still may work, but I'm not willing to take the risk. As you mentioned, the watershed is not adequate to fill the pond and this location would rely on some ground water influence. There is a chance that we would uncover a ground water source during the excavation, but the fact that we dug the deephole in the center of the cattails and it did not produce made us leary. The plan B location is a low lying area along the creek. After the trees are plucked with the trackhoe, the contractor is going to dig a deep trench and re route the stream in it. This is in an effort to drain off the saturated low lying area. After a few weeks the excavation of the pond will begin. I will be able to give more details on the the layout after the trees are gone and we are able to survey the site. Right now I'm envisioning a dike that is abour 2/3 the size of the pond. Mainly I'm looking for ideas of folks that have designed a similiar pond. Suggestions on flow (both in and out). Seems like we could go with a natural spill way vs. a piped set up if we are able to control the flow. One of my initial thought was 2 ponds. The main pond being just downstream of a "silt pond". But I think the costs will be to high compared tot he layout the neighbor has. And yes, I do feel lucky that we have a site at all. I've heard plenty of horror stories to appreciate our pond site.
Thanks, Chris