Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site 100 acre lake

i just bought 215 acres in northern georgia, and i want to build a lake around 100 acres. im trying to find out how much this would cost before contracting the job. so please someone let me know. email me at jillnsteve2003@yahoo.com, or reply here on pond boss. i want to build a trophy bass lake, and ive done all the research on stocking, and bought the best pond video ever "big fish small waters", so i have a good idea of what i want to do. being in GA, i dont really need a deep pond, but i do want to have it 14' at its deepest with channesl, islands, drop offs, and plenty of structure and cover, at least 20% of the surface area. i know this sounds large for a private pond/lake, but bigger is better right? so please give your thoughts and any help would be much appreciated. i want the lake to look natural, so not a soup bowl or rectangle. i want plenty of inlets and points and ive already figured out where i want my shallow areas, and the deep area. thanks.

steve

Heck, I thought I was being ambitious w/ my 6 acre pond. Mr. Lusk you need to start a new magazine, "Lake Boss". The pro's should respond to you shortly, but I don't believe you've given enough information to accurately estimate your construction cost. I'm gonna assume that your going to build a dam. You're going to have to survey your site, establish how long/wide your dam will be, what your soil types are, ... Best of luck, sounds like a great project. Search the site, tons of recent information on calculating pond construction costs.

Heck, I thought I was being ambitious w/ my 6 acre pond. Mr. Lusk you need to start a new magazine, "Lake Boss". The pro's should respond to you shortly, but I don't believe you've given enough information to accurately estimate your construction cost. I'm gonna assume that your going to build a dam. You're going to have to survey your site, establish how long/wide your dam will be, what your soil types are, ... Best of luck, sounds like a great project. Search the site, tons of recent information on calculating pond construction costs.

My man....we need to talk!......you say you are in north GA, and want to back up 100 acres of water??? Please let me ask a couple of questions, if I may. First, how long have you studied pond and lake construction? How good are you at looking at land topagraphy and topo maps? I get a lot of people in this area who ask me for help in their lake or pond project, and I would love to talk with you and help you in any way that I can if you want.

Steve:

At 100 acres, I'm figuring you are probably looking at a big enough overall investment ($$$,$$$?) that you should spend the extra for a professional to walk you through the entire process and make sure it is done right.

I think some of the experts who hang out here live somewhere down there. It seems like Greg Grimes may be located real close to your potential site.

Jeff

Yea, Greg's the guy I'd pick!
Somehow I keep following you Jeff!

ok, just so everyone knows, im not doing this myself. im still in the planning stages, and i'll definitely be getting professional help. to be honest, i'll probably have the entire "job" done professionally. but like i said, still in the planning stages. probably wont get started till next spring. all i really know is what i've learned from a few people who have build a lot smaller ponds, and the information i get from a lot other sources. just trying to get tips and thought from those willing to give them. and who knows, when the day comes that the lake is done, and the fish are worth fishing for, you might just get an invite. hope to hear from you all.

as for the construction, yes, a dam will be built, but most of the "lake" itself will be in between a few nice hills, mountains, whatever you want to call them. i'll be taking out around 130 acres of timber, some will be used for "cover", and some will be given away/sold. ive always dreamed of living on a lake, and what could be better than living on your own lake, and not having to worry about who's in your fishin area, or the boat traffic.

steve

steve

OK...
I for one, have been looking at thousands of acers of land ALL over the state of Georgia, for about 6 years!! I can tell you this it is very very hard to find a tract that will hold 12 to 15 surface acres of water. This is what I have found...

For 1 to 2 acre pond, very easy, these sites are every where.
For 3 to 5 acre pond site, gets a littel tough but still some what do-able.
For 6 to 7 acre lake site, tough but can be found if you do some searching.
For 8 to 10 acre lake site, very tough! they are very rare, unless you start running into 'wetlands' and thats a different issue all together.
Lakes that are bigger than 10-12 acres are usually built by public for parks and recreation.
Lake bigger than 25 acres would be VERY VERY expensive!! and nearly impossible to do without destroying wetlands.
Now, this is the case for North Georgia, in other words, above the Fall Line.
If you go below the fall line, and you then multipy these acrages by a factor of 2.5, i.e, for a particular tract of land that can hold 4 acres of water in North GA, can hold around 10 acres in South GA.
Now the further south you go, the flatter the land gets, hence you can back up water eaiser for more surface acerage.

Steave,
Have you looked at or studied any topo maps? I would bet that unless you dammed up a major creek system, that you are going to back up nearly 80 to 100 feet of water!! This is as deep as some parts of Lake Lanier and deeper than Lake Oconee.

To build a 100 acre lake in north Georgia one would really need to own about 1000 acres. Then would need to have about 2500 acres of a water shed drainage, that flattens out into a flat wet bottom. This mind you, would have wetlands associated with it, which has its own legal matters in its self. The project cost would be around $6,000 to $8,000 per surface acre to build so you would be looking some where between $600,000 to $800,000 in cost.

I recently bought a timber tract here in North Georgia as well. Where is your tract located? What county and town? Maybe I could meet you on your tract of land to see what you have???

Mike Otto,
Is what I'v said accurate

The famous Ray Scott's personal lake is only 55 acres. Taking that into consideration and that you can consistently catch fish over 6lbs out of there. I think the biggest caught was over 14. Most people have trouble putting actual size with number of acres. Ever been to a 100 acre lake? It may be a lot bigger than you think.

Chris

You're getting some good advice here. Sounds like some of them who are close to you will come visit. I had a site picked out for my pond about 14 years ago. The professionals I had helping me set the site for the dam and the bulldoziers went to work. My 5 acre pond ended up being 2.5 to 3 acres. The water just didn't fill in all the space we thought it would. With the right professional help you should end up with something to enjoy and treasure just like the rest of us. Good luck

No leaks, no soil problems. Just bad estimates. Dam was across 2 hills with 2 springs feeding it. Water just didn't cover as much area in the 2 draws as they thought.

This is sooooo true, when I was doing the preliminary measurements for my lake, I swore up and down I had at least 10 acres! but now I am doing all I can to squeze out about 8.5 acres..so true, it never turns out as big as you think on the ground..

Guys thanks for the referral. Steve I work with a couple of guys that are well worth the money in the plannig stages. They will save thousands down the road. They can design the lake down to exact amount of cubic yards of dirt to be moved. This will allow you to get accurate bids from contractors without them putting in a big "fudge factor". I'm better with the cover/structure and work much cheaper.

One major thing I thought Big Pond would hit home with is the legal issue. It is not the 60's or 70's. Many folks still "just build it" out in the country but this is 5-15 acre ponds. 100 acres is a diff story you could easily spend 100K and 2 years in permitting a lake of this size. What county are you talking about? We are really busy until mid June but would love to help you out. If you don't know me the website is under my profile.
Thanks, Greg

posted May 03, 2004 10:03 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i just wanna thank everyone for all their thoughts and inputs. it has really helped me to open my eyes up, and not think so "big". but to answer some questions. yes, ive been to a few hundered 100acre+/- a little lakes, so i do pretty much know what size im thinkin about. but after hearing everything you all have said, i think i might wanna cut down to around 50 acres. after looking at the topography, im not sure if my land would be suited for this. and to be honest, i got a good deal on the land, and we've always wanted our own fishing paradise. so if i dont build one here due to circumstances, what state would everyone reccomend as a good place for a large lake/pond. i grew up in southwest VA, and ive seen some nice size ponds, but not many over 50, and probably maybe one or two around 100 acres. thanks again

How much would that much land cost? 215 acres thats unheard of where I live.

Depends completely on where you live. I bought 80 acres with 2 ponds, a house (livable) and two barns for 145K. 160 acres just a mile down the road sold for $60K. But then prime deer and turkey land (160 acres) went for $110K 40 miles west of where I live. But this is flat farmland in Central OK. My nearest neighbor is 1.5 miles away and 6 miles from the nearest Gas Station.

srhess,

I have a friend who has a 100 acre lake in Paulding County (Largest in the county). It's a nice lake, but almost impossible to manage. Just the cost of fertilzer and lime would cost an arm and a leg. If you plan on supplement feeding, that's the other leg.

The problem with a lake that size is trying to keep the fish population balanced. If it's properly fertilized you would have to take out about 3000 lbs of bass/ year and 10,000 lbs of bluegill/year(You'd be fishin everyday). Take half the values if it is not fetilized. I have only a 1 acre pond and I can take 30 lbs of bass and 100 lbs of bluegill a year. With a 100 acre lake, it's probably best not to fertize or supplement feed, just some threadfins.

25 Acres would probably be the biggest lake you need for trophy management.

Not to mention all the permits you will need to back up that much water. Good luck.

Bless you I would estimate a cost of 1.4 million dollars depending on soil conditions and removal of tree canopy and vegetation,and i would venture to say 1.4 is on the light side. A 10 acre lake can be just as fun and easy to manage and keep topped off. The left over money can be used to buy a plane and fish other lakes around the country.
Good Luck!!!!
Scott

Hey, without a doubt go with Greg or at least hire a civil engineer to calculate not guesstimate the exact area that will be flooded with a dam. They can usually tell you about the permitting problems/procedures involved. Don't leave a project of this size with any unknown variables. Calculate the cost before jumping in. After you know the exact cubic yards of materials to be moved you can get an accurate bid on building costs, and who knows you may want and get your 100 ac lake afterall! I'm with you big is good in this case!!!

I am building a 9 acre alke and it is costing me $43,000. Got a budy who has hired a Civil engineer, going through all the permits, has tons of water shed. He is trying for a whopping 50 ACRES!!!The engineer estimated aound $500,000 and a dam 1/4 of a mile long and 38 feet deep!

$374,495.53

Big, you might want to worry about the soil type on that property, too. That's probably what the "professionals" in one of the posts didn't think about. Leaks!