Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations dirt 27k, pipe 8k having your own 5 acre lake priceless

My new pond project was completed yesterday at noon. It is 4.7 surface acres,14.5 ft deep at the dam. I added two earthen piers to remove more dirt and get depth at the middle section of the pond. I also had a future house pad build next to the pier with the best view point of the lake. The dam took 20K yards and is wide enough to have the drive way cross it. The Pier has been started but work stoped when my post hole auger decided to find china and the shear pin failed. 400$ later I have a new auger and drive line. Hope to finish getting the pier post in this weekend. Plan to also start adding more fish structure. I'm going to use tires and concret block. I can't believe how cheap they still are. As I mentioned before the pond has a 300 acre watershed. I have built a smaller silt catch pond above the main one per advise I got here at PB. Thanks for everyones help and I will post again if it ever rains and fills it up. I would like to share pic's but my website is down for a while. If anyone who knows how to post the pic's here to share with everyone and would be so kind please email me and I will send them. thanks to all again.
Rocky

Congrats, RT!

Rocky T...I'm losin track of your pond progression. I thought you just finished one (actually 2...one below the other)...? Whassup? Have you been reading the Meadowlark guide to pond ownership...as long as there's diesel, there's another one waitin' to be dug?

Congratulations, RT. See if your local Junior College is giving Rain Dance lessons.

Brettski, I thought I cleared the mud on this issue via e-mail. The pic's I sent you are the ponds at my home place which almost dried up during the drought. I dug a large amount of the silt and additional areas out of them with my new kubota. The water fall/spillway was also existing but I improved it because my original was washing out. Rocks and concrete to thin etc.. The new 5 acre pond is on some additional property we own. I am presently farming it and raising hay for my cattle. This new pond and property is an investment which I plan to sale in the future when I'm thru with the improvements. As for Meadowlark he don't belief in pipes thru the dam and I just spent 8 grand on one. Other than that yes if I had a dozer I would follow in his foot steps. I considered buying one for this project but I believe it is to big a job for a beginner. Actually 25 years sense I operated a dozer.

Rocky,

Got a great laugh on that one because I've been there and done that...somewhere on Meadowlark ranch, sometime in the far distant future, someone will discover a totally buried auger out in the middle of nowhere on the ranch and wonder, "what in the world is that thing doing here in the ground?"

When the bit catches in clay and you aren't ready, there is no way to get it out without heroic measures...a new bit is cheaper.

Yep, $8000 is the going rate for pipe installation...natural spillways you have to have anyway and last forever.

Sincere congrats on your pond! I hope you and yours have many many years of enjoyment out of it.

rockytopper - Send the photos to me and I will give you hand to get them posted. I have a 5 acre pond too, in Minnesota.

If you want you them posted @ www.rockytoppers.com, I will need your ftp password.
If there aren’t too many, I will post them on my site, no problem.

I am not known as the resident Forum nerd, though some have thought it, especially Theo Gallus who once called a spatial oddity or something like that!

I have a post on the forum about a structure anomaly that happened to me. The auger problem is a sample of the cool things that could happen on your pond. Most won’t be that expensive……

This pond management thing is so much fun that it surpasses cruising in my 1959 Desoto Sportsman 2 door hardtop and it is a whole lot more unpredictable!

Doh! musta been overwhelmed by the "Incredible filling pond" episode. You did, indeed, clear the mud...it landed between my ears.
I hope Dwight can load up the pix. I too have a distinct interest in the thrill of a 5 acre'ish water feature. The $ figures sound kinda familiar, too.

Dwight:

I don't recall that incident - maybe it was "Evil Theo" :rolleyes:

ML:

You have inspired a T-Shirt design:

"I got my auger out!"

Rockytopper,

Congratulations on the new addition to the family!

Like the movie line from Josey Wales, you're not hard to track, you leave ponds where ever you go..

Theo Gallus – you may recall (or not): It was that “three sore backs” thread that I so innocently posted, hoping for some knowledgeable input.

The thread was hijacked and transformed into that quantum singularity convergence discussion with ewest, Dave Willis, Sunil, …….., you know that crew!

Actually it was Sunil who said, “You guys are far more geekier than I”, so I apologize for blaming you for calling me a spatial oddity (though it sounds OK to me).

You may get a good laugh at this post, if you haven’t seen it already: http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=002661, another thing that went a little off track.

Your reef comment still haunts me: “One puff of this demon reef will instantly transform a fish into a violent, cackling reef freak, twitching insanely with manic energy and ready to murder your baits and lures with mad abandon.”

What more needs to be said?

Ahh, Josey Wales....

"You got anything to eat in there?"

"All I've got is this piece of hard rock candy.
But it's not for eatin'. It's just for lookin' through."

Josey Wales....from the Indian Chief, one of the greatest lines of all time....

"We endeavor to Persevere "

From Chief Dan George:

I never surrendered. My horse surrendered.

No offence meant. None taken.

Now spit.

My favorite movie of all time.

He also said "Dying ain't much of livin boy"

Do you know "Rose of Alabamy"?

approximate conversation

by Chief Ten Bears - Your words of death are true - there in your irons, here in mine-- so to your words of life are also true -- it will be life (cut hand)

by JW -- I reckon so (cut hand)

both - cut hands joined by blood

Favorite Movies (in no specific order):

The Outlaw, Josey Wales
The Thing (John Carpenter's)
1941
Weird Science
Predator
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Congrats Rockytopper - sounds like you have a better plan than most...hope she fills up fast. I will email and post the pics for you.

Greatest western of all time...Lonesome Dove

Gus, "eeeyyyyeeee God Woodrow!"

Gator

(posted for Rockytopper - nice pics RT, I really like the panoramic picture)













Gator

You did good RT! You did really good!

Boy, that pond is going to hold a huge gulp of Texas rain... if any ever comes. Good luck!

...JEESH, which end of the pipe does the hydro-electric turbine install? Are the poles in pic #2 for the high-tension wires or a pier? V impressive, Rocky T....good stuff!

(....oh yeah, almost forgot) "Dirty" Harry Callahan

And just when we all started to believe that every pond is unique... It's a little spooky.

Rockytopper's 5-acre Texas pond


Captain Compulsive's 5-acre Texas pond


(with some water)