TX Chris, Welcome to the forum. I am also from East Tx but a good way from you. My suggestion to you is if you have a small boat or know anyone that has one it wouldn't be hard to find out the depth of the ponds. Put a cheap depth finder on the trolling motor and you can tell the depth. I would suggest that you map your ponds on graph paper for future reference. There is also a backhoe that is called a long reach that can reach out and clean up or dig a hole for you.