I can't keep the dog out of the water or I'd have set one of the traps the PO left. 17HMR also make quick work of them.
Did you see the attached satellite photo? Summertime shows no plants other than some algae on the mud bottom. When we looked at it maybe early fall I didnt see any either. I'd think the muskrat would have eaten them all plants that were edible and did see some grass clippings around some of the holes which there are a lot of.
As far as the time involved, well I have all summer to piddle around with it here and there. Sure its not efficient but if I enjoy it then it could take 200 hours. That said I'd like to focus on some key areas and clean the muck out, specifically around the dock, rip rap on the dam. As far as the pump draining the pond if has a lot of flow coming in since we've purchased the property, probably enough to keep an 8" pipe full. I would be able to run the pump an hour or two at a time without impacting water level too much.
Corner to corner on the dam is 145' and dam to water coming is in 345'. The hillside to the north is nearing 30 degrees slope near the top so it naturally could have been fairly deep with just the dam. I didnt measure how tall the dam is to the bottom but I'd guess 20' and the overflow runs under that.
