The Fairly Big Dig

[deputyrpa]

The trout pond project is underway. Other than having the transporter back out a 5 o'clock Wednesday, and scrambling to find transport for a 38 Ton machine after COB for Thursday morning....everthing went swimmingly.

My friend with the excavator, Nicola, worked so fast it was hard to keep up with the camera. He moved about 3000cy, about half of it twice, in about 6hours total. My friend Shawn, who was pushing with the D4, was buried by the volume.

Enough narrative....here's some pics!

 

[ToadHill]

Had a friend who dug a beautiful trout pond and in it's forth year all the fish died. Remember trout need cold water and the streams they live in are constantly airiated (sp). Keep something pumping the water up into the air and let it fall back down into the pond.

 

[deputyrpa]

Still pics from Thursday. We hit several springs. At about 12 feet, we hit the blue clay left by the Lake Albany which covered the area after glacial retreat. We couldn't get the machine own in there, because as Nick says "you may as'a well cover her up". The suction is unbelievable. We excavated about 2' of it out and covered it with the overlying gravel.

 

[deputyrpa]

The end of Day 1. From left to right are Ron, my friend from Long Island; Steve, his son; and Nicola. My "second wife" Jodie is walking away from the scene. Ron and Steve are here for Turkey hunting. The bucket behind them holds 2 5/8 yards, and weighs 2 tons. Mamma Mia!

 

[deputyrpa]

Had a friend who dug a beautiful trout pond and in it's forth year all the fish died. Remember trout need cold water and the streams they live in are constantly airiated (sp). Keep something pumping the water up into the air and let it fall back down into the pond.

Yep. The water is spring water and very cold. The small creek next to it is a Brookie stream. Aeration is my only concern, and I am going to get a solar-powered unit. I'm also going to tap into the high water of the stream and spill the water over rocks, since I have the grade.

What kind of trout did your friend stock? Brook trout need the coldest water. Many things can go wrong with small ponds, and before he stocks again, he should determine the cause of the kill.

 

[jimmyj]

Very cool. Man, I love your avatars.

What kind of trout will you get? Will you have any other fish too?

 

[ToadHill]

He had Brook, Brown and Rainbow. They died from lack of Oxygen, he had them tested. He passed away last fall and the land isn't being cared for at this time.

 

[deputyrpa]

Very cool. Man, I love your avatars.

What kind of trout will you get? Will you have any other fish too?

Thanks. And thanks for the avatar compliment! I like to change 'em up. As a guitarist, Zappa is one of my heros.

I'm going to stock brook trout. They are the only trout that will spawn in a pond environment. However, they need the correct substrate, so I will add an area of pea gravel, over the springs. The other reason I like brokies is that they are a true native fish to this area, and taste much better than browns and rainbows.

Oh yeah, I'll provide them some flathead minnows for their dining pleasure...

 

[deputyrpa]

He had Brook, Brown and Rainbow. They died from lack of Oxygen, he had them tested. He passed away last fall and the land isn't being cared for at this time.

Yikes! What a mix! I'd never put those three together! talk about interspecific competition!

Low temperature, and then high dissolved oxygen (DO) are the two most important survival needs for trout.

It's too bad the guy passed away and his land is unkempt. I betcha' he's firing off lightening bolts at his kin for that!

 

[deputyrpa]

Here is this morning's progress. As you can see, Nicola is an animal. He had to attend a party, and he left at around 11:30. He got way ahead of Shawn, who is no slouch himself. It doesn't help that the gravel/clay is juicy though. It pushes easy, but doen't stay in front of the blade too well.

One pic shows the deeper end - about 14', and the other end shows the shallow end - about 6 so far. The shallow end will be tapered up to the surface after I get some of that slop out of the way. Yes, I get to play big-shot on the Hyundai!

We also may enlarge the deeper section before we finish. The blue clay limited our depth, but 14' will be fine.