Digging a pond?

[Mongo59]

Be aware that even if you don't stock your pond, there WILL be fish there when you do. Birds carry them in their feathers when they come in and you are off and running.

If your county extension agent isn't up to it, contact Purdue directly. If nothing else they will want to know why the extension agent isn't helping.

Trust me, there is no reason to try and re-invent the wheel here. All the answers to all your questions are already printed and filed, you just need someone to give it to you. And providing it to you is their job description.

 

[Old Dog]

Be aware that there is more to building a pond than just pushing dirt .
If done wrong , you will the most expensive 1 acre mud hole in the county .

I know where there are several $12-20K mud holes, where all the soil and engineering work was done properly and mother earth just turned the tables on us with some unseen feature. I always told landowners that a pond was a 50/50 proposition... either it will hold water, or it won't. I was not trying to be a smart arse, but it was just the raw truth. Soil with a high water-table and good clay can yield a good pit pond; however you just never know where the next sand seam may be.

 

[42769vette]

I'm asking here, not telling.

If you ran into a sand vein, couldn't you just seal it with clay?

 

[Sniper 79]

Think of a man made pond as a large aquarium. Requires lots of time, attention, work and a constant cash flow.

Looked at a house with one. Definitely was a deal breaker. Just policing it and trying to keep people out. Yikes.

 

[ws6duramax]

I'm asking here, not telling.

If you ran into a sand vein, couldn't you just seal it with clay?

Yeah , it's definitely possible . It all depends where it is and how large the vein is . It can cost a fortune chasing something like that once in awhile . Other times it could be no big deal .Water has a way about finding a way out if it wants to . There is tremendous amount of water pressure once a pond a full .

 

[cg21]

Think of a man made pond as a large aquarium. Requires lots of time, attention, work and a constant cash flow.

Looked at a house with one. Definitely was a deal breaker. Just policing it and trying to keep people out. Yikes.

wont have to worry about people

 

[woowoo2]

wont have to worry about people

Rouge skinny dippers.....

 

[cg21]

Rouge skinny dippers.....

Well in that case my trail cameras will either be a blessing or a curse

 

[Old Dog]

Yeah , it's definitely possible . It all depends where it is and how large the vein is . It can cost a fortune chasing something like that once in awhile . Other times it could be no big deal .Water has a way about finding a way out if it wants to . There is tremendous amount of water pressure once a pond a full .

The above is the truth. I once spent a mans $24K to seal a 1.5 acre pond. After installation of a 3' blanket of local clay mixed with 40 tons of Bentonite clay the first rain filled it to 18'. Looked promising.... 24 hours later it was 2' deep. 18' of head pressure pushed through the blanket and a siphon formed, emptying the pond. 30 years later it still will not hold water.

 

[Restroyer]

Trust me when I tell you Doug's the guy to get . He will come and give you all kinds of ideas you probably never even thought about . Digs test holes before he commits and if he doesn't think it will work , he will tell you . Top Notch

Does Doug Bergman work in Dearborn County also? I saw you are in Batesville and I'm about 30 minutes east of you and didn't know if your recommended pond guy comes out my way.

 

[ws6duramax]

Does Doug Bergman work in Dearborn County also? I saw you are in Batesville and I'm about 30 minutes east of you and didn't know if your recommended pond guy comes out my way.

Most definitely . I would say he travels 2-3 hour radius , depending on the job of course . He does a majority of his work within an hour of Batesville . General excavation , driveways , footers , basements , stone hauling all the way to commercial building sites . Pretty well rounded .

 

[avboiler11]

I talked to Doug today...hopefully we can get together in the next week or so for him to look at my place and work up an estimate.

 

[Notropis]

I beg you to consider a couple of things....wild water needs no management or time or chemicals. Nothing worse than nude ponds (without vegetation) and messed up stocking. Bass bluegill and channel catfish are not a balanced system and not interesting . If you go to your most local creek (and that's very important) and simply net every fish species you can in an hour and release them in your pond a year in advance of bass and gill stocking, you will have done more for seeding your pond with balance than anything a state stocking program can offer. Minnows, minnows and more minnow species are super important. Next I'd ask you to go to your nearest wetland and find as many aquatic plant species as you can and get them in your pond. Food for thought. Oh, follow state and local laws...blah blah...and avoid common carp when netting. Really, avoid common carp at all costs. I really envy you as this is the stuff dreams are made of.

 

[steverino]

After the County Extension agent, try a commercial fish company. Jones Fish of Indy is one. Much information in their literature.

 

[maxwelhse]

The only do or don't I know of came from a guy that straight up bought his own 1960s era bulldozer to dig his (which was massive, something like 5 acres) because it saved him some stupid amount of money, plus "free" bulldozer.

He piled all of the dirt up into 2 massive backstops where he told me he practiced with his .50BMG Barretts. Never went to his place, but I believe him. Showed me a bunch of pictures of it.

What I REALLY came to say though is the coolest thing he did was leave an island in the middle. He had pictures of little BBQs and fires and such on his island... plus he now owns his own private island. Anyhow, it looked like an awesome place to hang out. With young kids, or grandkids, I could quickly see it becoming the paintball or airsoft fortress.

Anyhow, good luck to you!

 

[flyingsquirrel]

Beware of some hybred bluegills. 1/2 head and taste ugly

 

[Restroyer]

Most definitely . I would say he travels 2-3 hour radius , depending on the job of course . He does a majority of his work within an hour of Batesville . General excavation , driveways , footers , basements , stone hauling all the way to commercial building sites . Pretty well rounded .

Great info. Thank you!

 

[Tandem160]

We had a pond “re-bowled” because the previous owner hired a drunken dozer driver that had put in ponds before. His price was 9,000 to get the pond built originally, three years later we (new owners..us) had to get the pond re-bowled 12,000. The original pond never held water from the get go. Re-bowled meant breaking the dam, removing the pvc over-fill that had collapsed “probably on day one they put it in”, excavating clay from else on my property to line the entire pond, due to the drunken dozer driver getting into the sandstone rock layer, compacting the clay with a sheep’s foot roller for what seemed liked ever, rebuild the dam, install a spillway that needed re-worked a year later due to not having a chute that would take the water away from the dam before dumping it of to the side., buying 1200.00 worth of fish only to watch herons gobble up your newly purchased stock. I’d do it all over again. PS when your talking to the dozer driver it’s called “consulting” at 100.00 an hour keep your conversations short.

 

[cg21]

Just met with my operator today... he is coming out with his mini excavater in 2wks to do my test hole!

 

[Clay319]

I put in a one acre pond 15 years ago. Cost me $15,000 at that time. We did hit sand which we covered up with a couple feet of sand. It holds water no problem. The pond is spring and runoff fed. If we have a very dry summer the pond will lose two feet by the end of August. No big deal. Install rock at the water line or the shore will wash out.

I put in 200 channel cats. Waaay too many. Should have only put in 100. They are now 15 years old and 24"-28" long. The hybrid bluegill couldn't reproduce fast enough to feed the bass so I added regular bluegill. Problem solved. The few stripe bass in the pond have done very well and are fun to catch. Most importantly add 8 grass carp per acre. They will absolutely eliminate the need for expensive coppersulfate treatments. Screen the overflow with 1" screen of some sort to prevent the fish from washing down stream. Smaller screen will plug too easily.