Hello PB. We recently moved to a rural property with a pond site. I have fished farm ponds my whole life, and now I am living the dream of having my own pond (and money pit). Having come from the suburbs, I have a lot to learn.
I believe the pond (almost an acre in size) was naturally occurring, and Mother Nature slowly reclaimed her to a shallow muck hole by the time we moved in this past summer. The previous owners built a dock and left rowboats behind, so the pond provided recreation back in the day.
My goal is a proper fishing pond. I wish I came upon this forum sooner. However, I plowed ahead and hired an excavator to dig out the pond and clear shoreline. Digging ended this week, and the contractor will return in the spring to grade the shorelines and spoils.
Much of the spoils are loam and peat with layers of blue clay and brown clay mixed in. The maximum depth of the pond is about 17' and it was all clay at this level. This is a dug pond, no dam nor embankments. I am a little nervous about the ability of this thing to fill with water and leaving me with a very expensive hole in the ground. The contractor is confident that seepage and runoff will do the job, and my neighbors on both sides have similar dug ponds. I assumed the water was devoid of any fish, but as the water was pumped out, about a thousand one inch minnows were discharged from the hose. Attached are arial photos - before and after the excavation, and the minnows.
I will have lots of future questions on stocking, fish structure, plants, algae and erosion control. Thanks for listening!
Last edited by Knobber; 12/22/2210:16 PM. Reason: photos
