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Joined: Sep 2020
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I am renovating a ~three acre fish pond in far southern Georgia. After it's initial construction and stocking ~30 years ago, it was decent fishing for several years, but then it seemed like we started catching fewer and generally older/larger fish. I have always had the sense that it held fish alright - the water is on the acidic side of things, which is typical for this area, but invertebrate and minnow populations always seemed healthy - but that they simply were not reproducing. This was reinforced when, about seven to ten years after the pond was built, we had to drain another pond and we transferred a good number of ~1 to 5 pound bass to this pond. We continued to catch what I suspect were these same fish for years afterwards (increasing in size, but decreasing in number as time went on), but very rarely caught any smaller fish. Ultimately, the quantity of fish declined so significantly it really wasn't worth fishing. The last successful fishing outing that I heard of was for catfish

I attribute this to a mucky bottom. When the pond was built, a small "valley" was simply dammed, and while I was not involved, I believe the sides were cleared of vegetation below the water line, but otherwise basically left as is - forest soil. I get the sense that over time, the soil from the sides has slumped - this is fairly readily observable in a couple spots, and I assume present elsewhere less dramatically. Additionally, over the past 10-15 years, water hyacinth overtook the pond and then was killed off sporadically, contributing to a build-up of organic muck. Wading, prodding and generally mucking about was enough to convince me that there was virtually no exposed clay or sand on the bottom - only a layer of muck and fine silt from 6" to 1'+ deep. We've now drained the pond, and confirmed this. So I have a number of questions:

1) Does my theory that a mucky bottom has essentially prevented reproduction hold water?

2) Assuming we scrape the bottom to remove the existing muck, are the sides going to continue to slump, or would the new slumping likely decrease significantly given that the area has been submerged for thirty years (i.e. would most of what would slump have already slumped)?
Would cutting the sides back to clay prevent this (this being south Georgia, it's there somewhere, and often not very deep)?
Building up and and compacting the edges?
Lining the areas where slumping is most significant with 1'-2' chunks of limestone?

3) If preventing the slumping isn't feasible, could raised mounds within the pond basin or concrete culverts scattered around possibly provide adequate bedding? How many and what size? How much bedding area is needed to make a three acre pond productive?

4) What would you expect in terms of cost? This is ~2 acres with ~0.5'-1.5' of muck that would need to be removed (so worst case ~4,800 cubic yards), plus we would like to excavate another ~3/4 - 1 acre that is too shallow by about 2'-3' (so again worst case ~4,800 cubic yards of sand/clay soil). There is little place to put any of this material within the contours of the pond or around the edges, so it will have to be hauled ~200 yards under conditions that would likely require off-road dump trucks (up what passes for a steep hill around here, without a proper road).

5) Any suggestions on execution? How best to dry out the muck prior to getting heavy equipment in? Would slurrying and pumping it out possibly be a viable option, less expensive than excavators and dump trucks?

6) What is minimum recommended depth for south Georgia? I can find pretty specific figures for other areas, but not here. (This is not generally an issue for most of the pond, just potentially one small section).

A lot of questions, I know, and any insight is appreciated.

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I'm no pro but I think the pros will want to know how deep it is now and what the average depth is? Most of the time when I hear people complaining about muck it is because it's making the pond to shallow. Was there good cover for the small fish to survive?


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Have you tried adding habitat and an aerator? Might be cheaper than dreding.

Start wwith habitat for the forage like FHM


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I would get in touch with Bob Lusk, he will know where you might get a company that will dredge the pond. I think American Sports fish advertises dredging. If nothing else it would be worth spending for a consultant fee as to how it can be done for the least expense. I don't think it will be cheap. If it cost 30,000 budget to build a two acre pond , I think the cost for clean up will run at least that.


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Could the dam possibly be raised? (It could be less expensive than muck removal.) This would increase depth & volume and give your new shallow areas for spawning, which could be prepped with gravel or whatever if you so choose.


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Thanks for all the responses and suggestions.

A little more detail: the "main pond" is ~1.75 acres, which probably averages ~8'-9', with the deepest section at ~12'-13'. This is the portion that has issues with the mucky bottom. At the head of the main pond, there is an old, old dam (which has a 8' wide cut in it) and there is another ~0.8-0.9 acre of water above that. This area - we'll call it "the shallows" - is 3'-5' deep, with a well-defined 8' deep central channel (probably 4' wide), and actually has a better, firmer bottom than the "main pond". This section has been 80-90% covered in a dense mat of water hyacinth and other floating vegetation for around 15 years, and 100% covered for the last five years. (When the hyacinth first showed up, my father put a chain-link fence across the cut in the old dam to try to prevent the hyacinth from getting into the main pond; I was against this from the beginning, and have always firmly believed it was a mistake - it didn't stop the hyacinth, but it did cause this dense mat of floating vegetation to form, effectively losing us ~1/3rd of the total open water surface of the pond. I assume that with light completely excluded, this was not particularly productive water.)

As to specific questions/suggestions:

A) I don't think depth is an issue in the "main pond." In fact, I suspect that if anything, with the "shallows" lost to hyacinth/floating mats, there is too little shallow area. We have a larger pond that is partially drained and reflooded every year for ducks, and is a very gradually sloped basin with probably 75% of the water at <4' for the summer and <7' during the winter. It is leagues more productive than this small pond on a per volume or per surface area basis, despite the fluctuating water levels.

B) Habitat/structure/cover definitely were an issue in the "main pond", and are certainly one of the focuses of this renovation. The pond has a good amount of edge contour, but as to cover (other than the water hyacinth, which at various times covered up to ~75% of the pond) there was a dock, a few wax myrtles that had fallen into the water, and a couple areas where vegetation had developed and that was really it. I intend to add raised mounds covered in gravel, broken concrete and clay culverts, limestone boulders, and areas of limestone rip-rap, and am in the process of researching vegetation for habitat (so another area where suggestions are appreciated - plants that add good habitat, but don't take over).
The "shallows" has some great hard structure - dozens of old embedded stumps from whenever that portion was originally flooded, plus the central channel itself - and before it was taken over by hyacinth, had a good diversity of plants, as well.

C) The riser and emergency spillways could be raised another foot fairly inexpensively without having to raise the rest of the dam at all. This would increase the volume of the pond, of course - by about 2.75 acre-feet - but would add relatively little total area (probably roughly 2,000 sq', compared to the existing ~120,000 sq' surface area) or shallow areas, since the pond is created from a "valley" and the sides are relatively steep. We are, though, considering doing this to deepen the "shallows" from its current 3'-5' to 4'-6'.

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I think you'll want to plan on some brush piles as well. I look forward to hearing what some of the pros have to say, but it sounds like the inlet side is the main problem. Which I would think will be the easiest part to work on. As you said it is firmer ground. I'm not sure what your plans are but I think I would remove almost all of the old dam and just leave enough to make a peninsula on both sides. I would also plan to put in a sediment pond above it that can double as a forage pond.
Try to post some pictures if you can. Everyone likes pictures.


Bob


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Thanks. That is just what I was thinking regarding the old dam - just leave enough of a peninsula for some edge contour, but otherwise open it up. The muck actually does not appear to be coming from upstream, but from the sides of the "main pond" and from the vegetation (mainly hyacinth) that has grown and then died back. I was thinking of closing off the pond on the top side, and then having the inflow come in through an overflow pipe. This is more to have a road/path completely ringing the pond, but would also have the effect of creating the small sediment pond you suggest.

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Another consideration would be to leave that pond as is and build another pond above, below or in another location.

Of course if the pond is strategically located already exactly where you want it, then rebuild may be the only option.

The reason I mention this is it may be as economical to build a completely new pond as it is to recondition the old one. With a new pond you can control all the variables.

Then you would have two ponds to fish.


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Given the initial quote we have gotten on this, I suspect you are right that we could build a new pond for the same money. It is a matter of this pond being where it is because that's where we wanted it in the first place. The one other location that comes to mind would be a full excavation job, and thus could never be drained except by pumping, which I am leery of. But it is something to consider. Thank you.

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Sounds like you've got good spawning substrate in "The Shallows" (at usable depths), if you got rid of the water hyacinth.


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Yes, I think that area is suitable. I guess the final question is whether having appropriate spawning ground of let's say 0.75 acres, all concentrated in one section, is sufficient for a three acre pond?
Thanks again.


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