Ive been looking around for a while. So I decided to sign up and make a post on the progress of my new pond. I have 19 acres with 2 small existing ponds, one for livestock watering and the other is a old tank battery levee that holds about 3 feet of water (wood duck haven). I mow 6 acres as yard so I decided to put a pond in the front yard for fishing and aesthetics. Here is a rough paint sketch of the layout. All the down trees, fences and little shed have been gone for years. The old driveway has been completely removed other than at the road where they are hauling out of and the new one is in use.



Total surface area is a little over 1.5 acre, with 3-5 acre of watershed. Slopes are 3:1, the end by the house is 10-12' deep, the end towards the road will be 15-18'. There will be a bridge to the island.

These pictures were captured with me standing on a stock pile in the middle of the front end of the pond.






From the front corner by the road





Looking between island and peninsula:


On island looking towards berm where standpipe will be


Looking corner to corner:


On berm:


Over island:


I already have plenty of questions on aeration, If 6" PVC will be large enough for my standpipe, how long to wait after the pond is full to stock it. I will post those in the appropriate forums.

Hello drumz2129 and welcome to Pond Boss. Great first post!

Indeed!

Some great progress already... What do you plan on stocking it with?

Welcome!!

My first thought is if 3-5 acres of watershed will keep a pond that deep full....In my area, 15 acres of watershed is needed fo a surface acre of pond.....No doubt you get a lot more rain than me though. Regardless if a 6" pipe will handle a good size rain event or not, build a more than adequate emergency spill way for the torrential hurricane rains you are sure to get.

It is a very nice setting you have to work with!!...Please keep us posted on your progress!

Great pics!!! One question..Did you fall off the stockpile right before the picture was taken? I know my eyes are getting bad but I can't find you "Waldo". JK,JK..but I did have to squint to find you.

Again great pics and a great project!!!

Thanks for the compliments!

CJ, I plan on stocking it with Blue gill, red ear, and LMB.

Rainman, most ponds in this area have little to no watershed to fill them, most are fully levied and they seem to stay pretty full with little fluctuation. Our water table is very shallow here. This past February NRCS came out and did a boring for me and hit water between 6 and 8'. It is very dry right now and we have not had much rainfall in almost 2 months. When they cut the trench in the 10-12' end the water began rising. It is clear turquoise blue water and rises at least 1" per day. Most ponds within a mile of my property are spring fed if they were dug deep enough. I am hoping that when the get to the deep end they will hit a little more water. My property is on the edge of a salt dome that was the largest sulfur producer in the world in the early 1900's.

If anyone wants to see more pictures or higher resolution ones click the link below and select the day of progress from the left hand side under albums.

http://s626.photobucket.com/albums/tt341/drumz2129/Pond/

Here are some updated pictures
View from on the levee looking into the 'shallow' end


This one is looking at the overflow pipe. I still have to add the Tee for the standpipe and plug to lower the water level if needed.


View from the deep end looking towards the house.


Looking towards where previous picture was taken


Looking towards road

Great looking project, drumz!

They are done with the pond we got the pilings in place this past Saturday, bring on the water. This weekend we are placing about 6 old concrete culverts for more structure.


Pilings for bridge and dock:




Structure:

Looking good! Can't wait to see it full!

I placed a little more structure. I still have about 35 concrete piers ranging from 8" to 24" tall to build a reef out of and alot of scrap 3/4" PVC to make some trees or bushes out of.

Bench between island and peninsula. Not pictured are 4 24" concrete culverts placed in a row. at the base of the slope towards the dock piers.


2 more benches and large culverts placed on the shelf.

That is some beautiful looking water!

How does one achieve that color?

It is something with the soil. All the ponds in the area are that color and clear very quickly. Maybe one of the soil guys could chime in.

We have finally received some rain. I will take some updated pictures later today. Most of my structure has been placed. my structure thread
All that is left is the aeration system and bridge/dock construction.

Here are some updated pictures. The water is now 24" below full pool.

I got in late on this project, but just want to say that you have done a great job. That really is a nice addition to your property. Did it turn out to be 1.5 A?

Thanks for the compliment. I have been very pleased with the outcome of the project and support from the PB community. I now have some forage fish in the pond, should be adding some more next month, and hopefully stocking LMB this spring.

According to google maps which is sometimes off, the surface are ended up being about 1.25acres. The dam was built a little wider than planned, even though at full pool it is only holding back 3' of water, better safe than sorry.

We had some rain over the night, and it is now 8" from the top of the overflow pipe. Here are some updated pics from this morning. (Ignore the grass, I know it needs to be cut)

Stand pipe:


From the dam:




Behind the dam: (the standing water is not seepage, it is from the AM rain.




The island:










[img]http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt341/drumz2129/Pond/5-16-2012/4557d49c.jpg[/img]

Looking great!

Awesome! Congrats on being at full pool! Looks great!

Great Stuff!!!!!!

Really nice bubba!!

Very nice - great job!!

Thanks guys. Hopefully this rain pulls through. I am ready to see something flowing out my overflow pipe.

This is a thought from a novice.

Would you want to rip rap the "shoreline" of that island? I was just thinking about erosion. I don't know if it will make a difference or if there is something better to do.

Like I said, I'm not expert when it comes to that kind of stuff.

That looks like a nice island. Hope the tree is tolerant of wet feet though!

Beaverboy, that is an awesome sig. LOL.

Haha Thanks, hopefully as my dreams come to realization, I'll have a place with so many dams that I can just call it Damville.

It has been a while since I took pictures, but the grass has filled in nicely to the water line in most spots. Erosion does not appear to be a problem. There were two spots on the south bank where a significant amount of watershed was causing erosion so I built a treated lumber bulk head and back filled with concrete at each location. I have not had any issues since.

The tree on the island is a live oak that has filled out nicely since the pond filled and seems to be enjoying the water. The base of the tree is about 24" above the waterline at full pool. I have many more, some much larger, live oaks on the property and some are exposed to more water than this one with no problems.