Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? 1/2 Acre Pond Renovation

Glad I found this site. Read through a few things and figured I would just ask the HOW?

We have a family farm that has a 1/2 pond that was put in roughly 25 years ago. Originally was 10 foot deep in the middle. Was stocked and had fish for a few years. It might be 6-7 feet in the middle now with lots of silt on the edges. Last time I checked was 10 years ago when we tried an aerator in the pond and stocked again. Aerator motor went out and that plan didn't work. It was 7 foot in middle then. No fish in it that we know of now. It has a small spring that runs into it. We are in Iowa and it is clay based soil.

My father is looking at possibly having someone come in and take out the silt. From what I can gather. Draining it and starting over would probably be best. In a perfect world he would rather not break the dike and drain. Dike is the road used for farmer that rents from us in spring and fall. I do know of a person that has long excavator that does a lot of work on the Mississippi river. Is it possible to have an excavator clean out the pond without draining? New idea I have from this forum is pumping out water. Main concern is doing it the correct way so the pond has a longer shelf life for pond for fishing and family.

I'm not sure if we could go deeper than the 10 foot? Not sure how that is determined?

Let me know other variables we should be looking at. I have no idea, but it seems like I've found a great place for information.

I've got one photo attached. Tried to get a better one, but it must be the wrong type of file.

Thanks in Advance!