DIY Pond?

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

It's already getting a little water. The area closest is about mid-thigh now. According to the laser I should have about 5-8 feet of depth depending on where in the pond. Shallower than I hoped but as you can see by all the water, I only had so many dry days and had to beat the rain. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few drone shots this coming weekend.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

This is about what I ended up with.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

And this is about how much room it took to spread all the dirt.

 

[EddieWalker]

Impressive project!!!!

Something to consider if you want to have the best fishing pond possible is that for your predator fish to grow, you need feeder fish to survive. For that to happen, they need hiding places, and ways to escape the predators. A bass will only get as big as the fish it eats, so if you only have minnows, or fingerlings, you will only have small bass. Catfish will do better in a small pond, but they are always hungry. Another rule of thumb is that you can only have 100 total pounds of predator fish per surface acre. With .6 acres, you want to keep your total predator weight to 60 pounds. That' ten fish weighing six pounds, or 60 fish weighing one pound. This will give you the ideal balance of predator and prey in your pond.

For my ponds in East Texas, I use fathead minnows and copper nose bluegill for my prey fish. I have tree trunks, stumps, and rock piles in my pond to make it as ugly as possible, which is ideal for the fish. I also have huge ditches and holes dug into the bottom of my pond to help the feeder fish escape, and improve the habitat for my bass and catfish.

My half acre pond has produced channel cats weighing as much as 13 pounds, with plenty of 10 pound fish. My bigger pond has plenty of 5 pound bass with the current pond record being 7.5 pounds, which was caught about 4 years ago. We mostly fish to remove smaller bass to get our total weight of predators down as much as possible. If you catch a bass, you remove it. No catch and release!!!!! On a good day, my wife and I can catch 20 or more one pound bass in an hour.

If you want a dock, get it done before the water fills. You will never have a better time to do it then right now.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Thanks for the comment EddieW! I was hoping for a little more activity in this thread. It was an exciting project for me.

I've read a little about the fish situation. You explained the same as what I read about the predator vs prey fish. But, the example of "That' ten fish weighing six pounds, or 60 fish weighing one pound." put it more into perspective. Also, .6 is total, I will have to take away the island size also.

I don't *think I want a dock. I may regret that later, but for now I don't think I need one. We are planning on getting a peddle boat to play around in and use to get to the island. I guess I gotta make sure it will haul a mower...

 

[Rockbadchild]

Thanks for the comment EddieW! I was hoping for a little more activity in this thread. It was an exciting project for me.

With reason, it was a colossal project I would've been excited too... Yes its weird how it goes, some take off and you wouldn't expect it, and when you expect it to go ''viral'' it doesn't get attention... My take on it is you must've been doing something right, if you want a thread go ''viral'' then do it wrong lol... people are way more driven by negative emotion then positive one... just how it goes ... the news have that figured out.

 

[deezler]

Great pond! I love the duck island.

Did you need any permits?

Care to share your total $ investment to finish the expansion? I really want to put a 1/4 acre pond in a nice low spot of my property, but it's so hard to prioritize funding and effort for.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Very nice finished project! I'm glad it worked out. Obviously, you either got the necessary permits or didn't need them.

I have a very small "frog pond" on my 25 acres that I tried to expand a few years back. I had just started when I got a visit from the DCNR with a stop work order. The pond is so small (8' x 10'), I didn't think I needed a permit since I was only planning to double it's size. After filling out the necessary application, the permit was denied due to possible wetland encroachment. The required environmental study would have cost almost as much as my house so I abandoned the idea.

It's amazing to me what you can and can't do on your own property these days.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I didn't hang on to receipts but I would guess I spent in the neighborhood of $7,000. The track hoe used probably 5 gal an hour plus or minus a bit. Dozer was considerably less and was used for less time. The equipment did not cost me anything, but to rent it looked like it would have cost about $2,000+ per week each. Probably could have done it in 2 weeks easy with the proper planning. The dump trucks were the expensive part and I could get around 35 loads per day per truck depending on whether it was just loading or digging and loading.

I had one full day that I was paying $2.58 per min plus fuel. I was a nervous wreck that day.

 

[crashz]

1st, nice work and must have been a fun project! 2nd, nicely documented here. I hadn't seen this until now, but very well done. Looking forward to the house build!

 

[EddieWalker]

Very nice finished project! I'm glad it worked out. Obviously, you either got the necessary permits or didn't need them.

I have a very small "frog pond" on my 25 acres that I tried to expand a few years back. I had just started when I got a visit from the DCNR with a stop work order. The pond is so small (8' x 10'), I didn't think I needed a permit since I was only planning to double it's size. After filling out the necessary application, the permit was denied due to possible wetland encroachment. The required environmental study would have cost almost as much as my house so I abandoned the idea.

It's amazing to me what you can and can't do on your own property these days

How did they know that you where working on your pond?

Back when I lived in CA, I had a friend with some land that was next to the Park. He and the Park people fought each other constantly. They accused him of something, they locked his gates, they blocked him from getting to his land and so on. He sued them, he won, he and his lawyer got paid. This went on year after year. In a good year, he would make $60,000 just suing the Park District. One year he found some receipts in their dumpster and was able to get a bunch of people fired for embezzling Park money. He loved it!!!

When he dug a pond on his place, he didn't get a permit, or tell them anything. He just brought in a dozer and had the guy clear the trees and dig the pond. The Park showed up the next week with helicopters and accused him of destroying wetland, endangered habitat and causing erosion to spawning areas ten miles away. He told them that the pond had always been there and that he was just cleaning it out. Since it had always been there, he was allowed to fix it. They had tons of pictures of his place, but none of them showed a pond with all the trees in the way. He won that one too!!!!

 

[Rockbadchild]

Very nice finished project! I'm glad it worked out. Obviously, you either got the necessary permits or didn't need them.

I have a very small "frog pond" on my 25 acres that I tried to expand a few years back. I had just started when I got a visit from the DCNR with a stop work order. The pond is so small (8' x 10'), I didn't think I needed a permit since I was only planning to double it's size. After filling out the necessary application, the permit was denied due to possible wetland encroachment. The required environmental study would have cost almost as much as my house so I abandoned the idea.

It's amazing to me what you can and can't do on your own property these days.

unfortunately we don’t own our land we have the illusion of owning it … it is rented out by the government…

 

[bdhsfz6]

How did they know that you where working on your pond?

Back when I lived in CA, I had a friend with some land that was next to the Park. He and the Park people fought each other constantly. They accused him of something, they locked his gates, they blocked him from getting to his land and so on. He sued them, he won, he and his lawyer got paid. This went on year after year. In a good year, he would make $60,000 just suing the Park District. One year he found some receipts in their dumpster and was able to get a bunch of people fired for embezzling Park money. He loved it!!!

When he dug a pond on his place, he didn't get a permit, or tell them anything. He just brought in a dozer and had the guy clear the trees and dig the pond. The Park showed up the next week with helicopters and accused him of destroying wetland, endangered habitat and causing erosion to spawning areas ten miles away. He told them that the pond had always been there and that he was just cleaning it out. Since it had always been there, he was allowed to fix it. They had tons of pictures of his place, but none of them showed a pond with all the trees in the way. He won that one too!!!!

The pond location can be seen from the main road and I probably told too many people about the plan.

 

[harrydarwen]

Going to be tough topping that Christmas gift. Good luck with the rest of the pond build.

Tutuapp 9Apps Showbox​

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

This weekend

 

[bdhsfz6]

This weekend

View attachment 772322

Looks like the ducks are getting impatient.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Here is a view from up above of my whole place. Looks a lot smaller from up high.

This is the smoothed out piles of dirt that came out of the pond. It's smoother than it looks. The different color in the middle is the shale that is still piled up for the house build. We are going to put the house right in the middle of the property.

 

[sandman2234]

Nice project!
David from ja

 

[EddieWalker]

You built the pond before the house. I like your priorities!!!!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Nice