Mid September and finally FULL POOL. And holding water.....hooray!
Notice I have very little dam above full pool. Actually only a foot, with a six inch overflow pipe and the emergency overflow set at the top of the 6" pipe. So 6" of dam left after the pipe is at full flow. Risky? Probably. But this is a very small pond with very limited runoff. I built it and if it breeches the dam I'll fix it. So I can take risks that a contractor dare not. Plus if it fails the main pond is a mere two foot lower level and the forage will run into the main pond. For me having the extra depth in the forage pond was worth the risk of pushing the limits on the dam. Judgement call. Not professional. Not recommended. No self respecting engineer would do it. Luckily I'm a farmer instead of an engineer. I think it will work.
Some FHM produced from the mini forage pond. I have not weighed what has been taken out of the pond so far but I would guess it to be at least a half of a 5 gallon bucket full. Still plenty of fry left behind to grow up before winter.
Saw some of the RES on beds earlier in the summer. They looked to be about 5" long. Have not seen any recruitment so maybe the youngsters were just practicing for next year.
Edit: the big pile of dirt in the background is dirt taken out of the main pond shallow spawning area while the pond was low. I decided did not need that much spawning area. It is not part of the forage pond project. Whole different story.
