Just thought I'd provide an update - the pond is dug! We dug it between Christmas and New Years. See attached pictures.
Our dragline guy stopped digging ponds so that option was out. So we ended up renting a CAT 335 excavator and an off road dump truck and dug it ourselves. Ended up the only clay we found was in our test hole (of course)...the rest was entirely sand all the way down, with a gravel vein going through the center.
Our only big challenge was the amount of groundwater continuously coming in....we had three 3" pumps running and it still wasn't enough to keep up. While I hope this will be a good thing for the pond long term, it limited the depth we could dig. I kayaked around a few weeks ago and the average depth is 9-10'. I'm guessing this is about how deep it will be come summer. Our neighbor says his pond doesn't go down more than 1-2' in summer, so hoping we're ok. We do currently have a 12-13' hole in the corner.
On to stocking this spring. Thanks for all the advice so far!.
