Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Best way to do trash guard?

Well, I woke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, having re-read Brettski's thread on trash guard, etc. just before falling asleep. I had a nightmare of kids on bikes in a campground downstream from my pond being swept by a tidal wave from the dam giving way. All because I didn't have a trash guard on the spillway pipe. I went down to the farm today and tried to slip my trash guard device over the drain. Unfortunately, the 3-5 inches of rain yesterday filled the pond to max. Water was about 3 or 4 inches over the spillway pipe. I knew it was gonna be tough. When I got out of the truck I could hear a Ross Perot "giant sucking sound" coming from the pond surface. I got in my boat and paddled over but it was just too much suction. And the pipe was 18" instead of 15. So I had to adjust my gizmo. The drain pipe was working great. Man an 18" pipe can handle a lot of water! Looked like viagra falls coming out the drain behind the dam. I gave up on the trash guard. Figured my wife and kids would have trouble explaining how daddy's last act on earth was getting sucked into a spillway pipe. Bad mojo for a fisherman to even think about it. I will wait a day or so to let the water level drop and try again. I spent the afternoon raking big sticks and debri out of the water instead. Lucky for me, the builder did a good job. There was very little junk to worry with relatively speaking. About two hours and most all on the banks. Theo don't recommend that thread to anyone after 10 p.m.