- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Pond Update
Posted on 8/3/18 at 10:34 am
Posted on 8/3/18 at 10:34 am
Y'all may remember our little mud hole I tried to make a crawfish hole out of unsuccessfully. It was too small for fish, and just used as a watering hole for cattle.
A cow could walk straight across it, so it was maybe 5' deep.
Well, we've been talking about it for a few years, and finally decided to pull the trigger on an expansion into an actual pond big enough to support fish.
Work started 2 days ago and I'm quite impressed. The guy we awarded to deal to had done some other small dirt work for us with cattle gaps in the past and it was apparent he knows what he's doing.
The construction you see only represents about 1/5th of the new pond.
The untouched mud in the middle with a little green water is the old pond. Notice the new levee coming in from the left. It's about 6' taller than the old levee which should make the deep end between 10-12' deep after some more digging. The lighter dirt pile on the right is just top soil. The old levee can be seen in between the new clay levee and top soil pile.
This is only the beginning. The trees to the right in this picture below are going to be removed and the pond will extend into the wooded area another 50 yards or so before turning the levee and coming back towards high ground.
About the builder knowing what he is doing, you can see where he started digging, hit clay and began piling clay on the shallow end to seal the pond and prevent seepage. The wood pile in the top left of the picture will have to be pushed farther up the hill as that is where the pond will go towards. The levee will tie back into the hill just this side of the standing pine behind the wood pile.
About that wood pile, we got some fire wood to start cutting and splitting.
I'll update as progress continues...
A cow could walk straight across it, so it was maybe 5' deep.
Well, we've been talking about it for a few years, and finally decided to pull the trigger on an expansion into an actual pond big enough to support fish.
Work started 2 days ago and I'm quite impressed. The guy we awarded to deal to had done some other small dirt work for us with cattle gaps in the past and it was apparent he knows what he's doing.
The construction you see only represents about 1/5th of the new pond.
The untouched mud in the middle with a little green water is the old pond. Notice the new levee coming in from the left. It's about 6' taller than the old levee which should make the deep end between 10-12' deep after some more digging. The lighter dirt pile on the right is just top soil. The old levee can be seen in between the new clay levee and top soil pile.
This is only the beginning. The trees to the right in this picture below are going to be removed and the pond will extend into the wooded area another 50 yards or so before turning the levee and coming back towards high ground.
About the builder knowing what he is doing, you can see where he started digging, hit clay and began piling clay on the shallow end to seal the pond and prevent seepage. The wood pile in the top left of the picture will have to be pushed farther up the hill as that is where the pond will go towards. The levee will tie back into the hill just this side of the standing pine behind the wood pile.
About that wood pile, we got some fire wood to start cutting and splitting.
I'll update as progress continues...
This post was edited on 12/22/19 at 4:08 pm
11
Posted on 8/3/18 at 10:38 am to Clyde Tipton
Posted on 8/3/18 at 11:16 am to Clyde Tipton
Looking great. The fun part is deciding on what structure and cover you’re gonna put in it. I know you’ll be tempted to sink a lot of that timber in the deeper end, but I can tell you from experience that you may regret it. Have the soil tested now and lime the ever living frick out of it. Gravel beds are your friend.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 11:31 am to TheDrunkenTigah
quote:
The fun part is deciding on what structure and cover you’re gonna put in it. I know you’ll be tempted to sink a lot of that timber in the deeper end
We talked about leaving a few trees standing in it to eventually make stumps. I started collecting broken pieces of concrete a few weeks ago to do a rock pile.
quote:
Gravel beds are your friend.
Definitely want to do some of those.
I want to do bream and bass. My mom wants to do bream and catfish. She's basically a dooms day prepper and is looking at it as a future food source if necessary.
I figure we'll do bream next spring after it fills up this winter. Let them establish then do a couple hundred channel or blue cat the following year. Then gradually start putting a few bass in from our neighbors pond that has some big ones and big genetics in it. He had bass flown in from Florida and he's the one that actually suggested we take fish from his pond. He always asks us to come catch and cull any bass under 14". I just don't know if that is advisable as it may introduce disease or parasites. His fish are damn healthy though...
Posted on 8/3/18 at 11:33 am to Clyde Tipton
it is absolutely astonishing what someone with a backhoe/bulldozer and some skill can accomplish in a day or two
Posted on 8/3/18 at 11:36 am to GEAUXT
quote:
it is absolutely astonishing what someone with a backhoe/bulldozer and some skill can accomplish in a day or two
I totally agree. We kept telling him "We want to do this, and bring this around over here. And if you could, maybe push that like this..."
He stopped us and said, "I got your general idea, but I'm like an artist. I don't know what the painting will look like until I'm done. We agree on the price/budget and hat's how much work I'll give you. Let me do my thing and I promise you'll be happy."
I said, "shite, you've dug more ponds than me... Sounds good!"
I can tell how methodical it looks that he has a plan and a streamlined procedure to move dirt.
This post was edited on 8/3/18 at 11:41 am
Posted on 8/3/18 at 11:45 am to Clyde Tipton
quote:
I want to do bream and bass. My mom wants to do bream and catfish. She's basically a dooms day prepper and is looking at it as a future food source if necessary.
There’s no wrong way since it’s your pond and depends on what you’ll enjoy, but bass and catfish will never do well in a pond that size together. They’ll both be competing at the top of the food chain and one will win. Same goes for crappie.
quote:
He had bass flown in from Florida and he's the one that actually suggested we take fish from his pond. He always asks us to come catch and cull any bass under 14". I just don't know if that is advisable as it may introduce disease or parasites. His fish are damn healthy though...
There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but the results will be slower and unpredictable. I wouldn’t worry about disease, if the fish are healthy. That’s more a concern in bigger lakes. He likely had F1s stocked and the first generation is gonna show all their traits, aggressive and fast growing. Pure Floridas are rare and aren’t as hardy north of the panhandle, but it’s possible he went that route. If he did stock F1s instead of pure Florida’s, he wants you to remove the fish for two reasons. First, it prevents over crowding which is the same no matter what you stock, and two those later generations don’t necessarily have the right genes to grow big AND stay aggressive enough to still be caught on something besides live bait. If you stock a few from his pond you run the risk of getting whatever genetics those fish produce for better or worse and have to deal with them eating their own young for a few years and keeping numbers down. It takes a good while to grow decent sized fish. The “textbook” way to do it is stock your own F1s or whatever strain you prefer all in the same age class and then manage them accordingly.
This post was edited on 8/3/18 at 11:47 am
Posted on 8/3/18 at 12:01 pm to TheDrunkenTigah
I never really thought about fish genetics when managing a pond but that all makes sense.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 12:02 pm to Clyde Tipton
I always thought digging a pond was:
Step 1. Dig hole
Step 2. Let it fill up
I'm always amazed at how much really goes into it.
Step 1. Dig hole
Step 2. Let it fill up
I'm always amazed at how much really goes into it.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 12:13 pm to Jack Daniel
quote:
I never really thought about fish genetics when managing a pond but that all makes sense
It really only became an issue when people started fricking around with intergrades of Florida and northern bass to get these designer strains. Most fish in older lakes are a mix of the two but over dozens of generations their genetics have evened out a bit. Stocking F1s starts that process from scratch, but can yield awesome results. The first generation can get to 10lbs in less than 3 years and still be dumb enough to bite anything, but down the line you can start to have problems with fish getting extremely lure shy and still not having the growth potential their parents did.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 12:34 pm to Clyde Tipton
Nascar is gonna be pissed when he sees this thread.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 12:52 pm to 34venture
quote:
Nascar is gonna be pissed when he sees this thread.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 2:33 pm to TheDrunkenTigah
Don’t put in catfish if you want bass. And even if you do, don’t do it the year after the bream. Let the bream get established and a few generations before introducing bream destroyers upon them.
You may even end up with catfish whether you stock or not. It’s a weird phenomenon.
You may even end up with catfish whether you stock or not. It’s a weird phenomenon.
This post was edited on 8/3/18 at 2:34 pm
Posted on 8/3/18 at 3:04 pm to deeprig9
Looks great. I have a pond project going as well, always fun to see other people's experiences as well. Should have mine ready for filling water this fall/winter.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 3:09 pm to deeprig9
Find an aeration solution now while you are in the early stages.
Posted on 8/3/18 at 3:38 pm to Clyde Tipton
Once it is completed and is a stable habitat for fish to live, and after you stock it, I will need coordinates to the access road and gate codes
Posted on 8/4/18 at 11:09 am to Homey the Clown
Top secret location... But seriously, it's on the back side of the hill from the hwy. I like that so it can't be seen from the road.
Posted on 8/4/18 at 11:36 am to Clyde Tipton
Thats cool, i can keep a secret.
Posted on 8/4/18 at 12:10 pm to Clyde Tipton
quote:
Top secret location... But seriously, it's on the back side of the hill from the hwy. I like that so it can't be seen from the road.
I can completely understand that, makes sense. What highway we talking about? I just want to make sure we are talking about he same one.
If you tell me exactly where I'll help you put a second set of cold eyes on it to make sure it is completely hidden.
Posted on 8/6/18 at 9:57 am to The Rodfather
Update: Day 3
Well they didn't show up for work Friday which was a beautiful day to work especially considering they are calling for rain later this week. None the less, they showed up Saturday and did the work shown below. Pics taken Sunday after church. Again they were not working...
As you can see, they have smoothed the shallow end and spread the clay they had piled up. Upon further examination, they appear to be making a top soil mound for the levee then smearing clay up the sides then across the top once they collect excess clay on top of the levee.
This pic shows the amount of top soil being removed before hitting clay. I'd guess 2.5-3'. You can also see the wood pile has grown and been pushed farther up the hill as discussed in the OP revealing the new pond location. The levee is going to follow the tree line on the left. I think 3 or 5 more trees will have to be removed located in front of the equipment once the levee ties back into the hill near the wood pile.
As you can see, they still have A LOT of dirt to move...
They are back at it today, I expect all of this sandy topsoil to be down to clay by this afternoon.
I will update as progress continues...
Well they didn't show up for work Friday which was a beautiful day to work especially considering they are calling for rain later this week. None the less, they showed up Saturday and did the work shown below. Pics taken Sunday after church. Again they were not working...
As you can see, they have smoothed the shallow end and spread the clay they had piled up. Upon further examination, they appear to be making a top soil mound for the levee then smearing clay up the sides then across the top once they collect excess clay on top of the levee.
This pic shows the amount of top soil being removed before hitting clay. I'd guess 2.5-3'. You can also see the wood pile has grown and been pushed farther up the hill as discussed in the OP revealing the new pond location. The levee is going to follow the tree line on the left. I think 3 or 5 more trees will have to be removed located in front of the equipment once the levee ties back into the hill near the wood pile.
As you can see, they still have A LOT of dirt to move...
They are back at it today, I expect all of this sandy topsoil to be down to clay by this afternoon.
I will update as progress continues...
This post was edited on 8/6/18 at 9:58 am
Page 1 of 14
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News