Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Pond project from the beginning with pictures

After years of dreaming about owning a pond my better half convinced me to move forward with our project. I have always been pretty conservative about spending money, but I must say I have enjoyed working on all the various projects that go with the pond building as much as anything I can remember. I wanted to share my project with pictures here on this forum because many of my ideas came from reading the posts here on the Pond Boss site. Thank you all for the ideas and for the answers to the various questions I'll be coming to you with in the future. So in late June the project began...

here goes...After a lot of help from our local NRCS agent I finally pulled the trigger to start this project and called in the loggers to cut out the interior of the pond site. My propety is all heavily timbered with hardwoods. The pond at full pool level is supposed to cover 5.6 acres. I did not want a single tree cut that was going to be outside of the waters edge. After the horror stories I had heard about over aggressive loggers I was quite concerned, but after talking to the guy I decided to use to cut the timber I felt much better about allowing them to begin. I must say they did exactly what I asked and I would highly recommend them to anyone considering such a project.

This is what the view was from what is now the west end of the dam.
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Cutting begins...

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The pond begins to take shape.

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The surface acreage ended up producing 390 tons of hardwood timber.

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Here's a view with all the timber removed except for the few trees I had them leave to mark the main creek channel.

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The excavation was under way by late August...first step was stump removal with the track hoe.

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Tree tops and stumps meant lots of brush piles to burn.

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Work begins with scrapers.

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After digging it out with the track hoe, the scrapers move clay to the core.

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The scrapers at work moving soil to shape the two islands that were requested by the better half. The islands are the planned refuge from varmints for the ducks she plans to release.

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I had my excavator open up the main creek channel with the track hoe.

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Time to move the pipe into place.

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Preparing for the installation of the Agri-Drain level control box.

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Installing the anti seep collars.

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View of installation from the East end of dam.

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Installing the pipe and collar is really not as painful as it might appear. Not any worse than a colonoscopy.

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Here's a view from where the dock will be.

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View from West end of dam.

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The pipe and control box are in place.

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View from West end of dam after completion. Quite a different look from the very first picture.

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View looking north across main section of pond.

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A new project begins, dock construction. This rental unit was very reasonable. I picked it up on a Saturday morning and was able to return it on Monday morning for a single days rental. Not only did I use the 9" auger for the dock support holes, but I also drilled approximately 50 holes throughout the pond to use for placing structure/cover.

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All of the various projects, including the dock have been a family affair. Shown here are my helpers, the better half and my two boys. This has been some outstanding family time, and we're looking forward to plenty more in the future.

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Here's a view of some old satellite antennas I have put to good use. They should make some fairly snagproof hangouts for the new residents.

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Calling all fish.



Theres lots of contour and structure throughout the project.

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One of my very best friends, Glenn, helping with the placement of cover.

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We never knew how much fun we would be having placing bricks into all the odd shapes and rooms in the new "fish motel".

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Myself and the better half under a beautiful sunset after a hard days work on the property.

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Back to the dock construction... it's beginning to take shape.

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After a morning of deer hunting, my youngest son and I returned to work on the dock. The better half was concerned about me letting him use power tools...then I pointed out to her...look at the end of the cord on the saw.

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And finally here's a shot of me putting the finishing touches on the metal roof for the dock.

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This is about all I have for now. Like I said earlier I have been having a great time with all this. Please feel free to let me know if you see anything that can be done better. I'm always open to new ideas. Thanks everyone!

Looks good Frank. I can't believe I didn't notice any of the clearing or construction while driving by your place.

Tell us more about the Agridrain level control box.

The Agri-Drains come in multiple sizes in 1 foot increments up to 12 feet in height. I purchased an 8 foot box. The water level is controlled by installing or removing slats inside the box. The slats are alternating 5" and 7" in height which allows precise water level control which is very important in some duck habitat installations. Mine was installed where with all slats installed I can raise the water level to the spillway height. I plan to maintain a normal freeboard of 1 foot below spillway to begin with until I see how that works out. I will also be able to draw down the water level a full 8 feet below splillway for winter time or dock maintenance etc. I thought the additional flexibility was worth the extra expense for the box. I suppose time will tell on my decision.

Wow...I'm sittin' here havin' a flashback. It sure looks like a nice package, Frank. Super congrat's my man.
That appears to be a whopper of a dam. Can you share the approx dimensions?

Thanks Brettski. I can understand your flashback. Your dock construction thread was my inspiration for how I built my dock. I'm really just a wood butcher, not a carpenter so mine didn't turn out nearly as nice as yours but I was pleasantly surprised with how sturdy it feels now that it's mostly completed. I'm pleased and looking forward to getting to use it.

The NRCS estimate had my dam at just over 8000 cubic yards. It is 460 feet in length with 3/1 slope on the front and 4/1 slope on the back, with a 12 foot wide top. It was amazing to me to watch it being built and I'm still impressed with it's structure after knowing how the terrain looked before it was there. I'm really glad I moved forward with this project!

Wow Frank its great! It will not be long before your glad that you took the time to "do it right" and do all the little things to make it better! You will have big fish in no time.

Thanks for the pictures. The ones with your family and friends are always the best. I must say some of the structure is unique.

Great project and pics, Frank.


Why do I suspect it was caused by one of these two pics?

Frank, your pond is going to make ours look like a puddle...
Do you live on your place?
Great job - can't wait to see it....!
George

One of the first questions the NRCS agent asked me was "How big do you want to make it?"
I knew I would only have one shot at this so I told him I wanted it as large as this location would allow without flooding the neighbors property.
We currently have a camper adjacent to our shop that we stay in on weekends. We are considering building on the property in the future. I had my dozer guy clear out a spot near where the dock is located for the potential home site.

The drain pipe pic is absolutely a classic! Can we borrow it, Frank?

Sure, be my guest but please, be gentle.

What a great and very wise wife! If you think working on the pond construction is fun, just wait until the first time you catch a fish on your very own pond. You will have many, many years of good times and great memories on this pond.

Congratulations Frank, and thanks for creating this thread. Oh and visit the human habitat thread, sooner or later you'll build a cabin there.

Frank,

Very nice. I love the fall colors and can just imagine how nice it's going to look next year.

How long have you had the land? My brother has been looking at places around Paris. He spent a week there two months ago and should be here this month or next to look at some more properties.

If you just bought, do you have Realtor that you can recommend? He's using two guys, but one didn't show up and had some other guy in the office take him out. The other one seems pretty good, but is kinda new. I'm down here in the Tyler area and have never been to your area.

Eddie

Eddie,

I agree with you about the fall colors. Fall is my favorite season without a doubt and I'm really looking forward to the view next year when hopefully the pond will be close to full.
The better half and I looked for a couple of years at properties in this area before deciding to purchase this place in July of 2006. I used a local realtor here in Paris that worked very hard for me looking for recreational properties. Have your brother check with Peggy Finney at Lone Star Realty. She is a member of the multiple listing service and has access to almost every property listed in the area, even if it's not with her agency.

good luck,
Frank

Fantastic pond FRPeeps. I love the satellite dish structures. Nice touch!

I just started a 5 acre pond in Hopkins Co. Your property looks alot like mine with the post oaks. How much was the auger for a weekend and do you have any more dishes? I am going to look into the agri-drain. What convinced you to with that style of drain?

Don't you love that nice clay we have in our area?

Hi DavidV, welcome to Pond Boss. Thanks for joining in!

Great post,dont know how I missed it.But your going to regret that comment.Gentle,these guys aint

Welcome aboard DavidV. Congratulations on starting your pond. Be sure to post some pictures...we all love pictures!

I was able to pick up the Auger on a Saturday morning and keep it until the following Monday morning for $250, which is a single days rental. After I used it for the dock post holes, I used it to drill about 50 holes for structure in the pond. I wish now I had drilled more holes.

I work for a communications company and we retired a service which required the dishes. If I had any more you would be welcome to them. I used what remaining stock I had for my structure so I won't be getting any more.

I had seen the Agri-Drains used at some WMA's, and a friend of mine installed one on his pond. I just thought the flexibility might come in handy.

The clay in our area really is nice. What little rain I have received has held up very well in my pond. I hope this continues to be the case.

Tom G - I have learned not to take too big a peek between the gloves...this bunch never misses a chance to land a punch!

"All of the various projects, including the dock have been a family affair."
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This was and still is a driving factor in my "projects" also. We decided to try and create a place the kids and esp. grandkids would want to spend alot of time. Hope you did a better job shooting your dock than I did:


It's a wonderful feeling seeing it full for the first time! Nice job.

Oops.

I doubt that you are seeing the dock underwater these days.

Thanks FRPeeps,

Thought I would post a few pics of my lake project but I don't have a website. Can anyone help with this?. What are you supposed to do with all the sand (topsoil)? I will be making some structure, ridges, in the lake. Is it OK to use that sand as I need to get rid of a lot to get to 4' deep within 12' of shoreline per Mr. Lusk.

Welcome to the forum. As a rule shallow water is the enemy. Spliting the difference on the shoreline is a good idea. Topsoil has got some value, you hate to just cover it up with water but sometimes there is nothing else to do.