I was recently contacted by a Farmer and his contractor who are looking to build a 1.5 to 1.8 acre pond. I am hoping I can treat this as a learning opportunity so that I will know what is going on later down the line when I look at constructing my own pond.


Here is the little information I have so far...

The pond's primary purpose is to act as an irrigation catchment and it will be fed from a well on the huero huero river nearby.

When I asked them how large and deep they were planning on building it, the reply was a little under 2 acres, and 30+ feet deep.

That sounds a little deep to me, but I have no hands on experience with pond building (slopes, etc) or irrigation for that matter.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of setup?

I am supposed to meet with the landowner and the contractor tomorrow to see the proposed site.

The owner seems to be interested in a LMB / bluegill fishery.

I will see what other details I can come up with tomorrow so that I can post some images of the land and NRCS soil info.

Since I have never done this sort of thing before, and I have no idea if the contractor is an experienced pond builder, what kind of questions should I be asking?

What questions are important and need answering.

As a side note I was referred to them by an Aquaculture / biology professor at our university because he knew I was interested in farm ponds. I figured why not see what I can learn with this experience.

I'm just going to throw stuff out there, I've only got about 15 minutes before I get going.

If the water level will fluctuate, I wouldn't go steeper than 3:1 slope on anything that will be above ground. It's too hard to walk on, and someone might have a hard time getting out of the pond if they fall in and can't swim.

Will the land hold water? Look into doing a bucket test for a quick (within a day or so) idea on whether the soil will work or not.

I'm sure you get a bunch of good advice from others.

Irrigation ponds often are pits with steep sides. This is a safety hazard and not best for fish. However, a dual purpose pond is certainly possible depending on how much irrigation is needed and replentishment rates. If this pond will is in reach of tresspassers, then a fence may be needed (don't get me started on why the law works this way). The possible depth of the pond will depend on the soil structure. If you dig through clay and hit sand, well you can figure that out. Lots of variables...

It sounds as if it would almost be best to have an irrigation pond, and a separate fishing pond. What you have described does sound dangerous RAH. It really does sound like a safety hazard.

Keep the advice and thoughts coming. I really appreciate the replies.

In general, anything deeper than 10 ft is pretty well dead water regarding fish. However, it is tough to have too much water during a drought. Pull the irrigation water from the deepest part.

Before doing anything, I would figure out the water quality coming from the river. Does it contain anything that might clobber crops?

Gflo - Farming is a dangerous occupation that demands continous diligence.

Irrigation ponds are often fenced. If may be possible to fence a deep and steep-sloped area, and have a more normal slope and depth for fishing in the rest of the pond.

Exactly my thoughts Dave. I wasn't sure if they have suggested 30+feet because they really needed it for irrigation or if they thought it would benefit the fish.

I will ask about the water quality. I am under the impression that the river is the current water source, but I assumed and didn't ask. That is a very important consideration thank you for the heads up.

I am not so sure they are going to like the fenced in part. It sounded to me that they were trying to go for something aesthetically pleasing, but in my opinion safety should always come first.

I will try and post some more details tonight to paint a better picture. Thank you all for your help so far!

You guys are great!

Another thing to look/ask is how much (gpm) and how many hours per day they will be irrigating vs. the volume and rate of water coming in from the river.

That combined with the porosity of the soil and the evaporation rate for that area will give you a good idea on how much the water will fluctuate.

All of my ponds are steep sided to keep weed growth down and yes I do worry some kid or moron is going to trespass and fall in. I've fenced in most of the property surrounding my back three ponds but not all, as the privacy fence I am using isn't cheap...

However farming areas, especially out west, are usually pretty remote so perhaps trespassers aren't an issue?

Dead water could be alleviated with a windmill aerator if there is no power or like Dave said pump out the deeper water for irrigation.

Here are my three back ponds with the privacy fence I hope to surround them.

I went and looked a the site and met the owner and contractor.

The pond site itself is very well planned. There have invested quite a lot of thought and $ into engineering the pond, and they are just waiting on the permits. To paraphrase their sentiment, "We are going to do this correctly the first time, because we only get one chance and failure is not an option."

The water is coming from an aquifer, and 1,500 gpm can be pumped out of it. The water quality is excellent (to the point where someone could probably raise some trout in raceways. In the past there was a striped bass farm down the road, but that operation went belly up 20 years ago), and I am told that the water level will not fluctuate.

The pond is going to be constructed with "33% slopes" and they are prepared to haul in whatever amount of clay that is necessary to deal with any seepage. They have so far dug a test hole down to about 6 feet, and so far so good, but they will be digging down 20 or so additional feet, and will send off the soil samples to a lab for analysis.

So basically to summarize, all I have to do is worry about the biology of the pond and what fish to stock. Everything else is pretty much taken care of. That is great news for me.

The pond looks like it is going to be around 1.2 to 1.3 surface acres. That is what I gathered by eye balling the site.

The backside of the property where the pond is located is already fenced in (all sides of the pond). Basically you have to drive up a one mile private driveway to get to the pond site from the main road. I do not see trespassing being an issue whatsoever, which is great.

I am going to post back here within the next day or two with pictures and I will be linking to other threads that I am going to create on topics ranging from plant selection, structure, spawning beds (more importantly fish selection), and aeration.

I am really excited about this project. They have a real great piece of property. It is almost unreal. I am pretty jealous to say the least.