One picture will show what was the island turned keyhole shaped peninsula. The water area around it will be about 5' deep which eventually will become a problem with weeds at some point in the future. Hopefully I can reach enough of it with a backhoe should it need cleaned out. In the mean time I think the small kids they have will enjoy it and it should stay clear at least until they are in teenage years. I hope the tree will survive having that much water around it but it is a Willow so think there is a good chance. This area would have been about 18" deep had it been left "as is". When I got rained out of cleaning all the muck out of the bottom the water had not came up enough to prevent working here so I made more deep area directly in front of this area. Should be a pleasant site to fish out in the deep water area of the pond.
The small nook of water picture was an afterthought. There was quite a bit of area that would have been 6" to a foot deep water around the small oak grove. I needed fill dirt. Originally my idea was to just haul some in from the stock pile of dirt on the other side with our 12 yd scraper. Problem was scraper tractor was tied up on grain buggy for bean harvest and I had a dozer in hand. Solution was to make part of the shallow area deeper and use the dirt right there to make the rest into land. Worked out well but it does leave a very narrow BOW which will eventually likely have weed problems. At least I know in this area I can reach the whole thing with the backhoe from both sides if it ever needs "cleaned out". Owning equipment gives a pond owner options that others might not consider. The nice thing about this small neck of water is it puts the small oak grove with water surrounding 2/3 of it and makes a nice peninsula jutting out towards the island. I think it will be a very sweep spot, at least until the weeds become a problem which should at least be five or ten years (I hope).
The big dead tree area was left on purpose for a fish nursery and to add some "redneck" flavor. The family is very outdoors in nature and camps out on the nearby creek quite a bit as well as hunts deer and turkey as well as fishing. This is definitely not a citified pond. Also the tree was probably a century plus in age Burr Oak when it went down after my wife and I originally purchased the place (son owns it now) and it just seemed fitting that something with that magnificence be allowed to spend its afterlife where it laid down to die. Just seemed sacrilegious to move it. The baby fish will love the 18"-24" water it sits in and cattails around it along with the willows that have sprouted up. (about a third the way up the big portion of the trunk if my laser level is not lying). Leaving it there was just the redneck right thing to do.
I am still in the building process so blast away with what I am doing wrong or should consider doing different. I know there will likely be nutrient problems because of the left behind muck. I know there will be some weedy areas because of shallow water or narrow inlets. Criticisms are fine (I can take it), suggestions of alternatives would be welcome, ways to manage around the problems that will arise because of my shortcomings in pond design would be priceless. Thanks in advance.
Last edited by snrub; 11/15/1311:26 AM. Reason: spelling
