Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - New member & New Pond

Hi everyone. New member here and appreciate the wealth of info I've found here so far. This crazy year with Covid had both my businesses down and lots of free time on my hands. I own a trackloader and decided to build a watering hole for deer while things were slow. Well covid continued to drag on and I continued to dig. What started as a watering hole has now turned into a 1+ acre pond big enough for fish. I've been working on it a day or two a week when I could find time. The pond is a wooded build where two small ravines converge. Finally to the point where the build is wrapping up and ready to start thinking about structure. Will start to post some pics shortly to get the build up to speed and hopefully get some help added some decent and correct amount of structure.
Jeremy

Pic looking across the dam after digging the core trench.

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Tree removal and work beginning to fill and build up the dam

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Test run - Pond is only a about 3 feet deep in this pic but wanted to let some water fill and make sure the soil and surrounding ground was going to hold well before spending more time on it. Will try to get some additional pics uploaded later today or tomorrow to get the project caught up to where it is at now.

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Jk96 your going to have a very nice looking spot. Love the look of a pond surounded by trees.

Here's the last few pics bringing this project up to speed.


Looking across the dam from the NW corner

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Looking North toward the dam. All of the walk paths around the pond are cut in.

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A before and after pic

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This is where the project sits as of this morning. Hoping to get the trash pump out today and drain the water from the pond then get back to work on the dam. Working on bringing the slope out close to a 3:1 on the water side. As soon as that is finished I'll be ready to work on habitat.

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Was able to get the muck out of deepest part of the pond and some good clay dirt worked in before the freeze for some peace of mind. This area was dug through some limestone and wanted to make sure and get a good seal here.

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Tried to work on my fish structures today. I quickly found out pvc is really brittle when cold. Almost impossible to drill without breaking. Looks like temps next weeks in the 40s with a day or two at 50 so will make another attempt then. I need to get it done soon. The deeper part of the pond is about full and and close to the flats. I also put the trail camera back up. Lots of deer and turkey sign.

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The pond continues to slowly inch up as we loose what little snow we had. Good sign as it means the bottom of the pond that penetrated the bedrock is sealed up well.

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Also here's one of the osage orange stumps that needs moved to the pond.

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Looks like we finally have some rain in the forecast.  Next four days looks like a decent chance.  At the moment it doesn't look like anything heavy but it's a start.  Hopefully we will get enough to at least get the rest of the bottom covered.  Used the last two 55 gallon drums I had today and a roll of 3" drain tile to make one more artificial habitat in a shallower area of the pond before things get wet. 


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Still waiting on the rain here so decided to add a few more items while it was dry. Added another tree crossing and a couple more fish habitats from some old 6" to 10" firework mortars and stone from the dig. At some point I'll get some rock under the ends of my two log crossings to help keep it from rotting as quick.

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