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Looks good. You’ve definitely got me wondering about the rest of the story. Ha


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Originally Posted By: Brettski
If you are in an area that freezes, your greatest foe for dock stability will be when the wind blows the ice floe that freezes and locks up against the dock verts.


You are correct sir......sort of. I experienced a bit of this over the winter. I'll share a bit more about the project build and then cover that debacle.

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In January of '18 I began work on another project that I had stumbled upon a year before fishing a student's pond. It was a half sunk mid-80's (I'm guessing) 24' pontoon boat. Someone had, for whatever reason, knocked a hole in the back of each pontoon in an effort to sink her. She was floating nose up out in the middle of a 10 pond. We drug it to the waters edge, drained the pontoons, and loaded it on a trailer with a tractor and front loader. I paid $300 bucks for the old girl and felt pretty good about it. What would duck hunters pay for an 8' x 22'+ flat surface to build on???

The deck, seating areas, outboard motor, and pretty much anything that wasn't made of metal were completely shot. I stripped everything off of it, replaced the decking lumber and covered it with outdoor carpet. I only put the side railings on the the back half and of course put the metal roof back on. I wanted to leave the front entirely open and not hassle with putting any seating back on it. We figured we would just bring whatever seating we wanted out and put it back when we were done. I've got a 70# trolling motor that isn't being used to mount on the front. I'm pretty excited about all the open front area to be able to use for all kinds of stuff, and of course to be able to easily fish from.

I straightened out all the aluminum pieces as much as possible and patched and welded the holes in the back of the pontoons. It was far from looking like a new vessel, but it will certainly be very handy on our little pond!

Here are pictures of the project. You have to check the name out on this boat....it's a classic and has been a great conversation piece for everyone who sees it.

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That’ll be great. I’m always looking for shade.


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Originally Posted By: SetterGuy
That’ll be great. I’m always looking for shade.


I'm certainly looking forward to relaxing evenings just floating around! I need to build some sort of ladder for it so the kids can climb on when they are swimming.

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I actually use a covered 30 foot pontoon for my floating dock on my 2 acre pond. Has been working great for about 3 years now. My Texas Hunter feeder is even mounted to it. You did a good job on that restoration. Believe it or not people will still pay you several hundred dollars for that old motor for parts. Because we made ours a permanent dock I also sold my trailer. Ended up a whole lot cheaper than I could have built a floating dock. Hah!!


Dear Alcohol, We had a deal where you would make me funnier, smarter, and a better dancer... I saw the video... We need to talk.
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We also use a pontoon boat for our dock. It works great!

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Originally Posted By: s252101
I'm certainly looking forward to relaxing evenings just floating around! I need to build some sort of ladder for it so the kids can climb on when they are swimming.


We made the banks fairly steep around our pond. Not easy for anyone to climb out, especially with slick clay. The ladder on the dock is used 90+% of the time. Also means cleaner water vs stiring up the bank, and climbing out through leaves and FA.


Last edited by SetterGuy; 05/16/19 09:06 AM.

9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Originally Posted By: Flame
I actually use a covered 30 foot pontoon for my floating dock on my 2 acre pond. Has been working great for about 3 years now. My Texas Hunter feeder is even mounted to it. You did a good job on that restoration. Believe it or not people will still pay you several hundred dollars for that old motor for parts. Because we made ours a permanent dock I also sold my trailer. Ended up a whole lot cheaper than I could have built a floating dock. Hah!!


Flame, Just curious, how much food do you go through in a month? As far as the restoration goes, I need to clean all the metal railings and pontoons from sitting underwater for so long, but for now it is fully functional. I had never dealt with a pontoon and wondered why this one hadn't sunk until I discovered that each pontoon is broken into 2 separate compartments, which makes a lot of sense!

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Originally Posted By: SetterGuy
Originally Posted By: s252101
I'm certainly looking forward to relaxing evenings just floating around! I need to build some sort of ladder for it so the kids can climb on when they are swimming.


We made the banks fairly steep around our pond. Not easy for anyone to climb out, especially with slick clay. The ladder on the dock is used 90+% of the time. Also means cleaner water vs stiring up the bank, and climbing out through leaves and FA.



What is your ladder made out of SetterGuy? I made a very gradual sloping area and, when it dries out enough to get a truck in, will make a beach area.

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s25, I go through 50 pounds about every 3 weeks. I feed year around but very little in the winter. Water temp has only got below 50 one time in 4 years.But I am in deep east Texas.


Dear Alcohol, We had a deal where you would make me funnier, smarter, and a better dancer... I saw the video... We need to talk.
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Thanks for the info Flame. Our water gets a bit cooler in the winter months crazy

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Here is a video and a few pictures of some of the structure in the pond. A bunch of black locust stumps were used and of course a lot of the rock that was pushed out. I didn't have the equipment to separate all the rock from the clay so a lot ended up in mixed piles. As the body of water ages a fair amount of this structure will be surely covered up.

The two smaller concrete structures you see in the video are boats that my student's design and made out of concrete for a project. They floated with over 1,000 lbs. of landscaping blocks in them, but how practical is a small 300 lb. boat? They were a great project and will make great structure.

As you can see from the video, the bottom has a ton of structure. I tried to vary the depths greatly from 3-14 feet and plan to aerate the pond so hopefully the deeper stuff can be utilized during more than just the winter months. Let's hope that all the structure benefits the Walleye and Smallmouth that will be stocked later. It will be exciting to put my fishing boat on it and check out all the structure with side imaging.

There are a few larger rocks that were propped up in various locations and some of them are over 6 feet long. I'm hoping that they will provide cover that's a guaranteed Smallmouth any time you fish.

The second video was taken by my 6 year old from the dock. When you have waited 15 months to get the project finished and you finally get a little water, you fish!

YouTube - Pond Structure
YouTube - Fishing



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Water is still just a tad to shallow for the pontoon! Hah! Years ago I used a tractor to dig a small pond by my house. Just didn't have patience to wait for rain. My wife came home from work and found me out there trying to fill it with a waterhose!! True story about our 30 foot pontoon boat that we use for a dock...we knew we wanted a pond but had not even broke ground on it yet when we saw the boat for sale!! It was a year later before we built the pond. Talk about can't wait for things and putting the cart before the horses!! I actually did the same thing on my house. I had a custom made pool table made before I built the add on to the house to put it in!! Reading this back...I think there may be something wrong with me?? Your pond looks great!!


Dear Alcohol, We had a deal where you would make me funnier, smarter, and a better dancer... I saw the video... We need to talk.
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Originally Posted By: Flame
Water is still just a tad to shallow for the pontoon! Hah! Years ago I used a tractor to dig a small pond by my house. Just didn't have patience to wait for rain. My wife came home from work and found me out there trying to fill it with a waterhose!! True story about our 30 foot pontoon boat that we use for a dock...we knew we wanted a pond but had not even broke ground on it yet when we saw the boat for sale!! It was a year later before we built the pond. Talk about can't wait for things and putting the cart before the horses!! I actually did the same thing on my house. I had a custom made pool table made before I built the add on to the house to put it in!! Reading this back...I think there may be something wrong with me?? Your pond looks great!!


I've certainly been known to put the cart before the horse before, but like to refer to it as strategic planning. Several of my student's thought that you filled a pond with a source like a garden hose. Silly kids.

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What is your ladder made out of SetterGuy? I made a very gradual sloping area and, when it dries out enough to get a truck in, will make a beach area. [/quote]

I have little time, and low mechanical skills. So I went to Menards. Bought dock kits, and put them together and carried them down to the pond with my tractor. I bought a ladder from them also. It was too easy.. Not nearly as satisfying as building everything my self. It works great though. I wanted on I could rotate up and out of the water when we left. It has zero algae on it. No slip.


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Pics and video are great. Looks like your BOW could be called a lake (in my book). I talked to a guy that sells farms one time. I asked him how Big does a pond have to be before it’s a lake. He said it’s simple, if your selling, it’s a lake. If you’re buying, it’s a pond. wink


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Thanks for the info SetterGuy. I would like for the ladder to fold up and out of the way as well. I will probably make it out of aluminum for the dock and pontoon.

It certainly looked more like a lake than a pond this weekend after all the rain. Lots and lots of water running out he overflow pipe and emergency spillway. Good thing I had a screen up over the emergency area, I think. Not sure how many forage fish (GS and FHM) are attracted to areas like that and get sucked out? I only found 2 dead shiners up against my screen. I don't have anything over my 8" pipe to keep them from going right down. I'm pretty skeptical about having a bunch of debris plugging things up too much and keeping the water from getting too high with my fixed dock. What are your guy's thoughts on bait fish leaving through pipe and emergency areas?

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we need a pic of it full now.

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Continuing with the pond build story, we had a very dry winter in 2017-2018. About the only snow we got came as light dustings Easter Sunday and the following two Sundays after. We got a few showers that spring and then.....It. Just. Did. Not. Rain.

I am 35 years old and I am talking the worst drought for filling a pond in my lifetime for this immediate area. My wife was not happy that we had cut down all her "green trees" and dug a giant hole but I had explained to her that most ponds that are built and ready to go for spring rains are filled in a few months. Boy was I wrong.

Attached are a few pictures of the pond that spring and summer. It got to be a pretty depressing sight as the ragweed slowly took over the entire basin. On the bright side, there was almost no silting in! It got pretty desperate for me, as I would stand at the back sliding door every morning for 7 months hoping for rain. If you've ever seen the movie Christmas Vacation, I was like Clark Griswold staring out his kitchen window visualizing his pool in his back yard. In case you were wondering, I never had any red bikini top smack against my window. The pond never got more than 3 or so feet of water in it at one time, and by mid-August was down to less than two feet.

One of the pictures shows the drought areas for the state as of August 28th, 2018. I live in western Livingston county which is a part of the cluster of counties in the exceptional drought. In fact, when the exceptional drought area started as a fraction of a county a few weeks earlier it was directly over my area. I grew up on a farm and my family still farms, so a silly pond sitting dry was one thing, but row crop and especially livestock farmers were really struggling.

We got a few little rains in September and then finally relief came in October. We received several inches of rain in about a 4 day period that put a lot of water in the pond. The water was turbid and nasty looking and a lot of it was due to the dead ragweed covering the entire basin, but hey, it was water. Volume wise, we guessed the pond to be a little less than half at this point. It was finally a good start for a pond that was almost 9 1/2 months old.

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Originally Posted By: roundy
we need a pic of it full now.


I'm hoping to finish sharing the story and be caught up with current pictures in the next few days.

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With the pond filling, there were a few more projects to tackle before last winter hit. We had decided to put a small shelter area on the island and I wanted to build some Smallmouth spawning structure, if for nothing else, added structure for fish in general.

For the shelter area, I dismantled and relocated a 14' diameter grain bin. I used five 4x4 treated posts to support the top ring and roof. When you are working by yourself there is a fair amount of redneck ingenuity involved. Eventually, I was able to get the ring raised, secured, and the roof put back on in 3 different sections. Getting the holes to line back up proved pretty tricky. I used some treated spacers and old barn wood from my wife's grandfather's barn that was torn down to wrap the posts to give it more of a rustic look. We are happy with how it turned out and aren't sure what the plans are yet for the rest of the island. We definitely want a fire pit and sitting area somewhere eventually. A project for another day.

For my Smallmouth beds, I used large plant pots left from landscaping and buried them so there was a good 6-8" sticking out of the ground to keep them from silting in anytime soon. Then flat rock was stacked around the pot and built up around the shallow side of the bed to support a black locust log that would sit above. The pot and area around it was filled with river rock to create the actual spawning bed. The logs were placed on top of the flat rock and wired on each end with 100+ lbs. of chunk rock. I made 6 of these total all over the pond, facing different directions, and in depths from 3-6 feet (at full pool). Like I said earlier, even if the Smallies don't spawn on them, they should be great structure for all fish alike.

Also on the list of things to do was add on to the drain pipe. When the pond was built, I wanted to leave it low to have flexibility with the island, dock placement, dam freeboard, etc. Since all of this stuff was taken care of I was able to add about 16-18". Again, working by myself, redneck engineering to hold the pipe in place was necessary.

I forgot to add, a little ancillary benefit of not having rain for so long meant that a large number of the stumps that were piled up in various spots dried out and lost any remaining dirt from the root ball and floated to the surface with all the rain in October. I was so mad and feel like had we gotten rain when the stumps had some moisture and dirt on the root balls they would have stayed in place, but I could be wrong. We went around on the Miss Behavin' and sunk several of the best stumps by wiring rocks or landscape blocks onto them. It didn't take much to send most of them down to their watery graves.

We had received some more runoff in the form of rain and snow by this time (Jan. '19) and the pond had come up another couple feet. At this point I felt like we were in the clear; most projects were done and we could relax and let the rest take care of itself.

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The grain bin gazebo is too cool.

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Love the grain bin gazebo! We have some friends in Chilli that have one by their pond. They have a few other friends that all have them. I think they’ve formed a grain bin gazebo society. Or something like that. We’re all in our 60s so it could just be us old folks involved. Ha!
Also, my SMB have reproduced, and my SMB beds are not nearly as nicely made as yours are.
My county isn’t listed as dry as Livingston, but my place was that dry. But the drought is now, way more than over. More rain coming through tonight.
Love to see the kids swimming early. We did the same. Looks great.


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Originally Posted By: Augie
The grain bin gazebo is too cool.


Thanks Augie. We hope to get a lot of relaxing use out of it.

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