I'm in the process of purchasing 60 acres of land in Middle TN and have been trying to figure out what my odds of having a successful pond built would be. I was hoping to build something in the 1-1.5 acre range. I had some trench pits dug today and am attaching a photo of the locations, depth to bedrock, and soil information as well.
I was hoping you could give me some inputs on the feasibility of this holding quality fish (tentatively looking at BG/CBG and NLMB, along with a few catfish).
My biggest concern is the lack of depth to bedrock (between 22 and 65 inches) and subsequent ability to keep fish alive during hot summers and cold winters. I wouldn’t mind a second opinion from you all. He says he'd have to dam it up so I'm assuming that would add a couple of feet. (minus clay depth I guess...) I just don't know if it's going to be deep enough to work.
Also with the soil description and it being on bedrock would 1ft of packed clay be sufficient to hold water or would you recommend a liner?
Here are the pictures I promised. I look forward to your thoughts.Thanks
If you build an upground reservoir type pond as noted: "build up a big berm as high as you like, and finish off by lining the sides and bottom with compacted clay. You could certainly do a 10-12 foot deep pond in that fashion." Those type of empoundments often leak through the embankment wall because the berm was not enough compacted the best way using a form of sheepsfoot roller - large heavy knobbed form of equipment designed specially for best soil compaction. Maybe even consider down sizing the pond to 0.7 ac if there are benefits to that smaller size of pond for your situation. BIG high quality fish can certinally be raised in 1/2 - 3/4 acre of water when it is managed well and does not leak.
Thus you want to take extra steps to get the basin and embankments VERY WELL COMPACTED. Maybe even have them use or rent a vibratory sheepsfoot compactor that is especifically designed to be the best method for compacting soil/clay. That is why those machines exst. If it were me, I would for a type of no leak insurance, also utilize and incorporate into the basin some of the enzyme soil sealants such as SoilFoc during the construction phase. A leaky pond is a big headache. Just look at all the leaky pond threads on this forum. Trying to fix a leaky pond can cost as much as it did to build the pond. https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=575123&page=1
Before commiting to construct with a contractor, I would be contacting Michael Gray middle TN expert and well experienced pond builder for an expert second opinion. He writes articles in about every PBoss magazine many of them about building ponds dealing with bedrock conditions common in TN.. Tell him Pond Boss Forum suggested him to you. You will get the best bedrock basis built pond from him. mgrancnstruction@yahoo.com
I can share my experience, but I'm just a homeowner, not a pond builder. Maybe something might be useful. I bought 9 acres in central Ohio in 2023 and had an experienced pond-builder dig a 1.25-acre pond in April 2024. Test holes found bedrock at 4 feet-6 feet throughout the proposed pond area. The bedrock is limestone and shale. There is a lot of good clay. The builder made a gently sloping berm or dam around all four sides using the clay spoils. He did not use a sheepsfoot roller because he thought compacting the clay with his excavating equipment would be sufficient with all of the good clay available. If I did it again, I'd probably opt for the sheepsfoot roller for extra insurance, but I was trusting the pond builder who had built ponds all over the area for 30 years. He left virgin clay of about 18" throughout the bottom but skimmed it down to 6-8" where I wanted the deepest part for a dock and jumping platform. The main dam side of 240' is about 4 feet high with the other sides being around 2-3" feet tall. Three of the sides have a core trench. The max depths will range between 6.5" to 4'. Having built this type of pond with embankments on all four sides with no hope for runoff, we knew getting it filled would be a major problem, and it was. For a year, the level fluctuated between 2-3 feet. In June 2025, I had a well built for about $8,000, 100' deep, and I've pumped about 12 gpm 24 hours a day every since. I am about 8" from max depth as of today. I don't know if there are any leaks at this point, but I can say that filling it is taking longer than a simple calculation of volume and fill rate, which I hope is attributable to a very hot summer and the well water slowly saturating the pond walls as the level rises and the clay walls sealing as the water progresses upward. There is a constant 12" high saturated dark "ring" around the perimeter walls as the level rises and the walls soak in the new water. We have only stocked it with bass and bluegill that we have caught from other nearby ponds, but at least some of the 3-4" bluegill very surprisingly survived over last winter with complete ice and snow cover and only 3 feet of water. I have been told by pond owners around me (not experts) that 6-7 feet of water in central Ohio is deep enough for bass and bluegill to survive winters, but I don't know about fish management, so I don't know what kind of quality of fish you can maintain. I now have 2 aerators running 12 hours overnight based on what some others say in the forum, but I am really just guessing because the advice is not all the same. The last pic is from a couple of days ago after seed and straw.
Hey Bill, just getting around to seeing this post. I laughed when I read it…Michael Gray was recommend to me and ironically I met him this morning at my property for a site assessment. He’s going to give me a way ahead and try to get a plan worked out for me. I appreciate all the advice!
Another stocking option IMO for the tws3 pond would be in Spring (Apr-May) to stock 100-200 4.5"-6" BG into 1 acre. Then in Fall Sept-Oct stock 50 3-4" largemouth (See another option below). For this plan of using larger and fewer stocker fish, it is important to stock the 4"-6" BG size for a general fishing pond.
For anyone for whom this might be helpful, here's a quick update to my 1.2-acre "upground" or "above ground" shallow pond built over bedrock in Delaware County, OH.....When I started pumping water from my new well into the pond on June 15, 2025, the pond was 3'1". With some heavy snow yesterday, December 2, 2025, the pond finally maxed out and flowed into the overflow pipe at 6'5" (deepest areas). My well pumps about 12gpm and I've been running it 24/7 since June 15th. That's 170 days. So I've added about 2.9 million gallons from my well. It has rained about 18" in that same period (650,000 gallons in a 1.2-acre pond). I'm not sure how to accurately calculate the capacity of the pond, given slopes and varying depths, but I'll just take a guess at 5' being the average depth. If that's true, then the capacity should be about 2 million gallons. There were some days/weeks long stretches during 90-degree weather and a drought in August when I was hardly gaining any depth. I flipped off the switch to the well pump last night and now I'll monitor the level over the winter/spring so I can better manage it in future winters/springs. If I see I'm losing a lot of depth, I'll know I have a leakage problem. A reminder - most of the bottom has 18" of virgin clay compacted over the bedrock with the deeper parts skimmed down to 6" of clay, and no sheepsfoot roller was used. I previously said there was a core-trench on 3 sides. I don't think that's correct. I think only the main long dam was core-trenched. I have a fishery a mile away, and the owner said he'll help me stock it in the spring.
Thanks for all the info, Bill. I'll study the videos.
My reason for stocking fish from other nearby ponds....I plead parental exhaustion. It gave my 15- and 12-year-old sons something to do while we were in the process of building the house. No strategy or plan was involved, and it wasn't a lot of fish. I hope to develop a real plan now that we are living there and at full capacity and listen to advice from others, because I really don't know what I'm doing.
I'll have to ask my pond builder why he did not use a sheepsfoot roller. Given his 30 years of experience with building many of the nearby ponds, I guess I just trusted that he knew what he was doing. So far so good, so I don't have a reason to doubt him. Yet.
Hey Mr. esshup. For larger LMB check with farms that grow LMB for the food market. One small Fish Farm close to me and you that grows food size LMB sizes of 10" - 12" and 12"+ is Remlinger Fish Farm Kalida OH (Mark and Bruce). However you will have to wait until the ice melts in Spring for them to be harvesting any fish. Tell them I referred you to them. Maybe you could even deliver some of those larger bass to tws3 in Delaware OH north of Columbus? Note to all readers - larger size fish take time to grow to that larger size. So it is like buying trees from a nursery larger ones cost more for each one.. It is like paying the Dumb Tax. Not doing it right the first time has some sort of penalty.
Another and better option for tws3 Central Ohio pond and agreed to by another forum member here for the stocking of the LMB would be to stock a larger size bass than the 3"-4" fingerlings. This is because the eariler "bucket angler stocked" sunfish likely already produced some type of spawn of sunfish(BG) and the recruitment that has no doubt occurred in 2025. The bucket stocked "sunfish" could have spawned in both Summer or early Fall.This means the new offspring would have grown a few months and will need a larger size of bass to eat the 2025 crop of new sunfish. These new sunfish type recruits could easily over populate the new pond and cause prey - predator balance problems. IMO the best size of LMB to stock in Spring of 2026 would be those bass 8"-10" long. The main problem with this is finding a fish farm that has 8"-10" LMB for sale in Spring of 2026. If it were my pond, I would stock 20-25 of the larger size of bass.
If anyone has a differing opinion for stocking this 'casual' bucket stocked new pond please add your ideas. There are several ways this pond could be "officially" stocked to provide a fishery for the goals of general fishing of the owner.
