My 0.15 acre pond was dug out of good clay in a flat spot, with the water level sitting about 2.5 feet below the existing grade.
My freeboard is just bare clay at a 2:1 slope, with nothing growing on it. I would have made the sides a bit less steep, and I would have immediately put down erosion mats to get grass growing before there was wave action to wash the topsoil away. I might have also put a bit of a shelf just above the water line, so that I can have topsoil right down to the water line, and then just straight clay below the waterline.
I also built a beach. It has been great, but is a little squishy underfoot in the water. I would have put down a layer of gravel first , almost like a shallow gravel parking lot, and then put the sand on top of this. I think this would make the beach feel more appealing to the average person.
Finally I wish I had some sort of “skimmer” to pull leaves and algae into one corner of the pond where I could easily remove it. Right now I wait for some wind and go around and manually remove floating organics with a rake. I wish I had a pump or something to pull all this organic material into a corner, where it could be easily removed. Almost like a pool skimmer.
