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ponds

joshmb1982joshmb1982 Member Posts: 8,228 ✭✭
edited March 2014 in General Discussion
Who has a pond on their property? The pond I have here is around a half acre and is starting to get some pretty good vegetation growing in the water around the shore and it doesnt look all that great. Right now there are large and small mouth bass along with a few varieties of sunfish. Is there another kind of fish i can put in there that will keep the vegetation down some? in a few years i plan on giving the pond an overhaul and getting rid of the bass and sunfish and putting in trout and bullhead.

Any ideas?

Comments

  • joshmb1982joshmb1982 Member Posts: 8,228 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Who here has a pond or knows how to make/repair one?

    I have a smaller pond that I was planning on using to water my garden. problem is the pond sprung a leak last year and is now just about empty.

    There is a spring that feeds the pond so once patched it will fill back up. I am thinking of just renting a small backhoe and digging the bank out, refilling with dirt and lining the area with clay. My neighbor works for a trucking company and I should be able to get a truckload of clay delivered.

    Would this work?
  • 1FMJ1FMJ Member Posts: 1,556 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Put in a beaver,problem solved.<1FMJ>
  • woodshed87woodshed87 Member Posts: 23,478 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Shoot the Muskrat That Dug a Hole in the Bank[^]
  • MrGunz22MrGunz22 Member Posts: 2,086 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Do you have any pics of the damaged area. I think I remember you posting pics of the pond in the past. Decent size if I remember correctly.
  • woodhogwoodhog Member Posts: 13,115 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have several on my property and have built several for other folks in the past.
    1. you need a keyway and rock fill for foundation.
    2. clay is fine for overfill.
    3. You must put in a hardsurface spillway
  • joshmb1982joshmb1982 Member Posts: 8,228 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    haven't seen any muskrats in my pond. only rodents of sen are moles. maybe I can take some pics when the pond thaws out. It is a small hole that is about 3 feet down from the normal, water level. It empties into the small runoff stream on the other side of the bank about 25ft down the bank.

    The pond drains by a 4" pvc pipe that comes through the bank and sicks up the the surface. This hole in the bank is about 6ft from where the pvc comes through the bank.
  • cranky2cranky2 Member Posts: 3,236 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Find a well driller near you and get some bentonite chips to pour in the hole. That will seal the hole when they get wet.
  • joshmb1982joshmb1982 Member Posts: 8,228 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by cranky2
    Find a well driller near you and get some bentonite chips to pour in the hole. That will seal the hole when they get wet.


    Ive got 3 100lb bags of bentonite clay powder I tried mixing in a bucket to make a paste and packing the hole full of that. It worked for a little while but as soon as the water level started to rise the water dug a path around the plug and re-used the unpatched portion of hole.
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    be sure to contact the 27 govt agencies that will tell you that you cannot do what you want with your own property or become an instant felon
  • joshmb1982joshmb1982 Member Posts: 8,228 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by spasmcreek
    be sure to contact the 27 govt agencies that will tell you that you cannot do what you want with your own property or become an instant felon


    Guess which part of my anatomy those agencies can kiss[;)]
  • JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by 1FMJ
    Put in a beaver,problem solved.<1FMJ>

    Beaver don't solve anything. They eventually ran me off my happy hunting ground in Lunenburg County. If you want your property under water or only accessible by boat, then you put in a beaver.

    I hate them devils.
    The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
  • Da-TankDa-Tank Member Posts: 3,718 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Those dam beavers do need a dam permit. They must fill out the dam environment impact permit and wait for the dam gov. to review it. If approved they must show a dam good reason for building the dam there. Then request a dam permit. If a dam permit is issued. They must hire dam union personal. GOOD LUCK
  • FrancFFrancF Member Posts: 35,279 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I live in CA.(what I would have to do)[:D][:(!]
    So you don't land in Jail
    Contact-
    Dept of fish and game.
    Coastal commission.
    USGS.
    Planning commission.
    Agenda 21 (counsel of urban development)

    This would cost about 25k.
  • MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 14,163 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Something must have made the hole you see since the pond originally held water. If you dig down to the hole, you'll likely find a muskrat den(or some other animal excavation) OR there was a root or tree trunk in the fill used for the dam which has now rotted leaving a channel for the water. Digging and repairing has it's own set of possibilities for additional leakage so is not a guaranteed fix. The biggest risk is not being able to compact the refilled area as you backfill.
    If it were mine and I didn't have the heavy equipment resources to fix it properly, I'd core out an area at least 3-4' in diameter and 2-3' deep around the obvious hole and either tamp it full of clay or invest in 400-500# of bentonite and tamp a 6-8" thick plug with common clay on top. Regardless of what material you use for a plug, it will have to be tamped in place. Just dumping clay on top and spreading it out won't do much (any) good.
  • LesWVaLesWVa Member Posts: 10,490 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dig it out and rebuild the damaged section.

    Most likely there is a section of that part of the dam that has collapsed and hollowed out. Crayfish/crawdads are bad at digging tunnels in dirt dams that allow water to wash the underlying soil away. If there is a pocket it will just keep eroding out around anything you try to fill the hole with.

    If it is not to large. Barrow or rent a plate compactor such as this to thoroughly compact the soil if you do not have access to a roller (ones that vibrate work best).

    Plate-Compactor_1.jpg
  • cranky2cranky2 Member Posts: 3,236 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    You have to fill the hole and spread them around it. Chips go in dry the expand when wet. Give it a try.
  • JnRockwallJnRockwall Member Posts: 16,352 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Line it with gray or white clay. That will stop a leak.
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