Creating a Lake

[patrick_g]

I've dived down and hit those drastic temperature changes. Probably not nearly as drastic as you're talking about, but certainly noticeable.

There is a major gyre that circulates water in a large clockwise loop in the north of the equator in the Pacific ocean. It goes from the tropics up to the Aleutians and then down the coast of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Baja, and part of the west coast of Mexico before turning right on the north side of the equator and going around again. As it runs down the west coast of North America it tends to turn (right) clockwise due to Coriolis effect and these surface currents pull the warmed surface water away from the coast. The warmed surface waters are replaced by upwelling. Deep ocean waters are nearly uniformly COLD, often just above freezing for their salt concentration (roughly 35 parts per thousand.) This ensures the coast of SOCAL has cold water except for some surface heating in summer. I liked diving but the least favorite part (after JAWS) was the cold water.

We lived in NW Ohio for almost 8 years and the abandoned limestone quarries filled with spring water when they quit pumping them out. One of the larger ones my family fished was stocked with rainbow trout and even had a roped off area used for a swimming pool. If you dove from the high dive and didn't level out or turn for the surface but let your momentum take you deep you found some extremely cold water that would put chill bumps on your chill bumps. Of course this was without a neoprene suit.

Pat

 

[EddieWalker]

It has taken me 3 days of off and on reading but I have just read this whole thread from page 1 to 97 and looked at all of the pics

HeyUvaVT,

That's some serious reading!!!

I've gone back and looked up things trying to get my pics in order, which I still havent done, and still find it hard to believe what I ended up with. It was never my plan to have anything like what it is, and if it hadn't been for two years in a row of extreme drought, it wouldn't be much of a pond either. I got very, very lucky how it all turned out.

Thank you for your kind words. It's nice to know that people enjoy something that I've done and maybe figured out how to do something similar themselves.

I still have three pretty big projects on it to finish it off, but those might take me years to get around to doing. The first one I'm slowly working on is extending an area of the dam out into my land to create a huge picnic area that is level with the dam. It might end up being a third of an acre when it's done. Then there is the gazebo on the peninsula and the bridge over the spillway. None of them will be started any time soon, but the lake won't be done until those things are done.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Taiser]

He's not the only one!!!

I rarely come to this side of the forums and stumbled across this HUGE thread! Sorry I'm late to the party Eddie but geez man, that is AWESOME work. I've thought of putting a pond on my property, maybe half the size of yours, but a whole lake!!!! WOW, awesome read! Can't imagine how gorgeous that lake is gonna be with the shores all greened up and the fish jumping. Amazing work!!!!!

Mark

 

[MarkV]

Hi Eddie, something the kids might enjoy on the lake are some duck houses. We have a couple on our pond and have been lucky enough to have some young ones, Wood Ducks, raised here the last few of years. It is a lot of fun watching mom teach them how to forage and fly. They do like some thick underbrush near the lake for mom to hide the young so it may take a year or two on a new lake to attract them.

A google search will bring up some free plans for duck houses and they are not hard to build with a little rough cut cedar.

MarkV

 

[rico304]

Most of my small, 3/4 acre pond, is only 5 feet deep when full. During the summer, it can be down a foot to two when the kids and I go swimming in it. Air temps can be right around 100 degrees, but the water will vary from areas of very warm, to nice and cool. I don't know why this is, but all you have to do is find the right spot, and it's very nice.

Eddie

Hi Eddie.

Do you have problems with leeches in your small pond? Many of the ponds around here are filled with them. Just wondering if there was a way to control them.

Thanks

 

[philbuilt]

rico304,
I know that in a pond where i grew up we had leaches. Someone introduced crayfish. it took a while but no leaches. That was Little Ellis pond in Byron Me.
Phil

 

[EddieWalker]

Mark,

Thank you. I sometimes feel presumptious calling it a lake, but it's mine, so I chose to call it a lake. From what I understand, only God can make a lake, everything esle is either a pond, resivore or tank. Most people in my part of Texas call anything over one acre a lake and less then a acre a pond.

MarkV,

That will be a fun project. The kids love making things and soem Wood Duck Boxes would be perfect. I've also thought about bat houses. They eat allot of insects and are kind of fun to watch at night!!

Rico,

I have problems with snakes. I don't even want to think about leaches. YIKES. To the best of my knowledge, I don't have any. I don't know how to keep it that way, but hopefuly Mother Nature will be nice to me???

Phil,

Are Crayfisht the same thing as Crawdads? I have those. Maybe Mother Nature has already solved this problem!!!!

Eddie

 

[Bird]

From what I understand, only God can make a lake, everything esle is either a pond, resivore or tank. Most people in my part of Texas call anything over one acre a lake and less then a acre a pond.

That's what I understand, too, and I've always heard that Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in Texas. All the rest are man made.

 

[philbuilt]

Eddie yes crayfish and crawdad are one in the same. I google it and thats what it said. I don't know if that was the reason for the leaches to be gone but I know theres a bunch of crayfish and no leaches. By the way the lake is looking good. Also please post pictures of the lilly pads whey bloom.
Phil

 

[john_bud]

Leeches? Around here we use them for fish bait. Everybody love leeches! If you have fish, I can't imagine there being too many "extra" leeches around.