Hi All,

I am a long time lurker and pond dreamer. i grew up having 3 good sized ponds on my family property as a kid and now 30 years later I am finally at a point where I want to build one on a new 9 acre property. I miss being able to fish on a private pond and hope I can finally have one for my family to enjoy.

I have attached a snipped picture of the umarked gis that shows contours and water features as well as existing buildings. The blue water lines area shows a seasonal creek and the outer shading lines show the 100 year flood zone which makes up around 1.7 acres total.

I plan on using the pond for fishing so was planning on making the pond as big as is realistically possible knowing I may be pretty limited given the entire plot is only 9 acres to begin with and I should avoid the flood plane areas.

The soil is typical central NC heavy clay. I would appreciate ideas on the best location and size and any other tips. I have read through the USDA pond guide but obviously have tons to learn.

Thanks for any help!

Hello from another NC guy.
I'm not able to help with layout or design. I can attest that our clay soil wants lime and lots of it.
I'm constantly fighting to keep PH/KH in acceptable levels.

Hey thanks for the reply. i figured I would find some other NC folks on here. Thanks for the tip on the lime.

The best book on pond building that I’ve found is Mike Otto’s “Just Add Water”. He’s one of the owners of this site and has done a good job.

Also, assure that whoever does it knows pond building. There aren’t many good ones.

Thanks for the tip on the book. I will definitely check it out.

Judging by the contours, looks like you may have a terrace or two going across your place, you could build a dug out pond at the end of one of the terraces...? To build a good embankment pond, you really need a field drain or other channel coming into it. There are some places that will let you build in the floodplain as long as it is a pond for agriculture. Meaning that you have livestock and the pond is a “livestock sized” pond, most of which are an acre or less. Check with your local floodplain admistrator. They work for the county in Texas.

A good local dirt work (pond) contractor should be able to steer you in the right direction.