Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam 3 year project

Hi there, I'm brand new to your site, but I've been reading as much as I can since I found you guys 3 weeks ago! I sure wish I had this resource when i started, but I think I'm ok for the most part but I don't have water yet. I want to give you all a small tour of the work so far and hope to get a few suggestions on the next steps!

The pond is going to be about 3.5 acres when its full with about 60 drainage acres.

Once we decided to build a lake, I had a guy shoot the boundries through the timber and brush it all out with a dozer. The natural ravine was a lot flatter than I expected and that make the pond bigger than I expected! Here's the results of some of the brushing work.

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After I had the brush cleared and set a few more flags, I sold all the remaining trees and had them cut to help offset the costs.



I then spent the next whole summer cutting firewood and burning brush. It was a huge job but enjoyable. I think I hauled somehwere around 50-60 facecords of oak tops out. I focused on the oak and hickory and by the time I got it all out I couldn't take it anymore and I had the remaining hackberry, elm, locust etc...piled and burned.



The turkeys and deer enjoyed the clover I planted up where the top of the future dam was going to be.

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After I got the 4 huge piles burned off several times, I had saved enough money to have the dam built but then we had the summer of rain....but come October the dirt was finally moving. You can see my 1 acre food plot in the west behind the dozer.

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This is my wife checking out the progress on the dam.

The dozer guy really got moving and just about finished the whole dam in one week. Here's some more progress photos:

This is the south shore.



The Northeast corner and dam face.



The face of the dam with the truck for perspective.



Northwest shore



Top of the dam with black dirt spread on the back side and top.



Backside of dam

This is a cool before and after view of the food plot with the dam site in the background.

Now all I need is some time to get my dock built and put some structure in. I saw some great ideas on here about that and I've got some cedar and hedge on the property that should help. I also might try and roll some of the stumps back into the lake bottom, wire them all together and make a reef. Can't wait to get working on it!

Looking good

thanks for the pictures

Hey MW Dave! Welcome to the fount of all things pondly.
Yep, our projects are pretty similar. I look at your pics and it's a flashback of about 3 years.
You're in the right church, and surely sitting in the correct pew when you landed at Pond Boss.

Thanks Brettski, I looked at your pictures and started thinking about wood duck houses. I've got a small flooded timber section on the north shore. I imagine I'll need three layers of predator guards for all the raccoons I've got! (Did you ever get them put in???).

I had a friend tell me I should lime the bottom of my pond because its in the middle of my timber. I've read that the leaves can make it too acidic. What do you guys think? Could I get away with some lime riprap in the feeder fingers infront of the dry dams, or....?

Congratulations on your success. I know how frustrating it can be to get it all done, but in a very short time, you'll look back and wonder at the changes you created. Then when friends come out to your place, they will give you that "look" when you tell them what it used to look like before you made all the changes. It's fun to get that look because you know they don't have a clue in what it takes to accomplish what you have done!!!!

Eddie

Thanks for the photos and explanation, Dave. That is going to be a great pond. You will need some lime spread. Ask the local ag folks how much per acre. You will need a slightly alkaline pond. 2-3 tons per acre unless you have pines, then more. This is the perfect time to get the spreader truck in.

Have your soil tested.

Thanks Burgermeister, guess my old friend Charlie was right. I'm already getting some water in the bottom, I'll have to figure out how to get it in there.

Thanks Eddie, I get "that look" all the time - but usually when I've got help with me. I just can't figure out how someone can get tired when there's still daylight left!

You can spread it in the watershed if it's too wet in the pond basin. The lime needs timne to break down, so your pond will be right this spring.

It IS harder to do this time of year. Sometimes I get cold before dark.

Updated pictures, added a few.

Well, we had snow, then ice, then about 1.5 inches of rain and the pond filled up! Now if I could only find the rest of the pond?!? I basically only found 2 of my 3 acres!



The right side of the dam in this picture is higher than the one on left. The emergency spillway is on the left, but the pipe is too low.



Another view of the dam and exposed shoreline.




I put 8 bags of concrete and some stone around the pipe to hold it in place for now. I hope to raise the dam some later on and put in an elbow there. Anyones advice on raising the water level would be greatly appreciated! I plan to let the dam settle a few months before taking any action. The dam has a 4:1 backside and there seems to be plenty of material around the edges to build it up some. I would like to raise it another 3-4 feet to take advantage of the flat fingers I have on the edges in my original design.



I have a call into the guy who did my dozing work, I hope he works with me on this.

Midwest Dave, It's gonna be a beautiful pond when your done.
When your building it sometimes it seems like it's never gonna be done, and the pictures will remind you of all the work that it took, but you'll never regret it.
Are you planning on pumping water from the stream or just runoff from surrounding acreage ?

Thanks Adirondack, the water comes from 60 drainage acres, and since it filled in one month, I don't think I'll have to worry about it.

Any thoughts on how you would raise the dam height?

Good to see you should have enough drainage to keep the pond full.
I wouldn't give you an opinion on raising dam height, there are alot of knowledgeable people on this site who can help you.
Otto seems to be the expert here, you might send him a PM and ask for advice. Good luck and keep the pictures coming.

Dave, pretty setting and I admire your determination. Are the trees behind your dam far enough away? Is there a rule of thumb when it comes to distance that trees should be away from the dam? I bet your pond becomes a magnet for all the wildlife in the area.

Thanks P.Buckley, I think I have one hackberry that might be too close, but it will most likely die since its partially covered up. No idea about how far away the trees should be, I'm a rookie!

Yes, its my hope that the deer, turkeys and ducks will make this a year around home!

It's been a while since I've sent an update. I was waiting for the whole "dam" issue to be resolved...and happily, the guy who did the work on the dam returned and we got it all fixed. I took the time to put in some structure, a dock, and surprisingly, right after I put in the 90 degree elbow - we got 9" of rain in August. That raised me a full 4' and my pond is now the way I wanted it when I started!


4 more feet of dam

4 more feet of pipe



The better half working on the dock with me



Old & new shoreline perspective from the dam





View from the deer stand



Fishin' -n- swimmin' dock


Finally full pool after 9" of rain in August.

Neat looking place. You've done it right.

Beautiful place. What is the pole that is on the dock?

Great job,give yourself a pat on the back.You done good,and thanks for sharing and the update.

Thanks guys, it's been a long haul, and as you all know, it's really never done!

Jeff, the pole is a rope swing. Works pretty well too!

Sounds fun. I need to build some fun stuff on my pond.

Yes, I would suggest a trebuchet [since Theo is back on trebuchets today] with a moment arm capable of launching a 5" green sunfish into a geosynchronous low earth orbit. Of course, one wonders if the velocity required would result in enough friction and subsequent heat formation to vaporize the sunfish on the way to its destination.

You can rest assured Yolk that if I ever build a trebuchets, and if, after testing it on BG, I find that a fish can survive the flight, that I will have Theo calculate the trajectory required to bombard your pond with GSF. My gift to you.

A little more to the right, JHAP.

Good enough for Gubment work.

Who you calling a gub?

Sorry, I was having a nostalgic moment. My Dad, who was a highway engineer for the State of California, use to say that. Once we had a solution to a problem, dad would say "Good enough for Government Work."

Rest assured, Yolk, if I was going to resort to name calling it would be far, far worse than "Gub."

whatever happened to "fried to crispy golden brown and served on a sesame seed bun"?