New Project

[yoderjac]

Looks fantastic!

 

[fishin coyote]

Can I ask a question? Why not leave the tile open after it fills. Is there no overflow area?

 

[H20fwler]

Can I ask a question? Why not leave the tile open after it fills. Is there no overflow area?

It’s kind of a shared storm drain type thing from a few hundred acres of farm ground to the east of me.
There is a big catch basin it ties into on the north west corner of the property in the road ditch. Being under farm ground I don’t think it’s the kind of thing I would want running into the pond all the time, will work for an initial quicker fill up. It would flood the pond out of its banks every time we got much rain at all.
We are putting an overflow pipe to the ditch on the NW corner of pond. The way the spoil piles are sloped I will get the surface water runoff from all that into the pond to help keep level stable.
The south east corner along the woods is diked up with a berm to run any farm ground surface water around pond along woods to the catch basin if there ever is a crazy downpour of rain. That will keep any unwanted chemical runoff out of the pond.

 

[fishin coyote]

Thanks for the explanation H20. I kinda figured it was something of that nature. It’s looking good thanks for the updates

 

[H20fwler]

Talked to a dump truck guy this morning and I think he is game to try and haul a load of cabbage head size rock into the middle of the pond for me and dump it in a pile later this afternoon!

I drove my truck down in with clay tile and was fine, kind of steep in and out I drove in through the beach. Got the first fish structure in, water is 2’ deep behind it already and over my muck boots.
Going out tonight to build another after/if the rock pile actually goes in.



It looks tiny out there all by itself. Took a pick of it from where beach swimming area will be.


This pic shows where the edge stone will be going tomorrow. It will go from top edge of pond to the lip you can see in the dirt, will be all the way around pond except for the beach.



Will hopefully post up more fish structure pics tonight if all goes well.

 

[H20fwler]

OK, last night I have to admit I thought I was screwed for the cool big structure projects when I saw water in it already and the forecast for rain next couple days.
But it all turned out fine!
I ran around today gathering up my big structure stuff and the truck made it in and out OK three times.
And I found a crazy dump truck diver this morning that was willing to give it a try on the big stone, that would have made a good YouTube video seeing him come out!
So this is what I worked on today in the deep end of the pond.






tile pipes have a couple pavers in them and are wired to cinder blocks



And I got my pile of big rocks!


Still doesn’t look like much when looking at the big picture


They did start putting the edge stone around the pond too, that is going really fast.

I have Friday off so I’ll be making the buckets with tubing structures and a couple other things then and getting them out there before water gets to high.

 

[H20fwler]

Another fish structure, builder put ledges on both back corners around thirty yards long ten feet wide tapered at both ends, water depth should be close to five feet on ledge.
Hard to see in pic but outside edge is where little row of stones are that I am pointing at.


The edge stone is about a third of the way done it ended up being an eight to ten foot wide strip. When pond is full two or three feet should be above waterline.


Just to give an idea of size of edge stone we used.


This pic is to give an idea of how big the rock is in the structure pile with Darcy in pic for perspective. Should be a great crawdad spot, I hope it is anyway.


And a couple pics just showing the days progress

 

[yoderjac]

That looks amazing!! I really like the approach!

 

[Bill]

^^^
Better tread light. Momma still looks a little miffed.

 

[H20fwler]

That looks amazing!! I really like the approach!

ThanksJack!

 

[H20fwler]

^^^
Better tread light. Momma still looks a little miffed.

Your right, I’m trying not to make over it to much around her….pretty sure payback is going to be hell with the new house build.

 

[H20fwler]

So as I’m sitting here winding down tonight after the crazy busy day I just had… started thinking;

Need to GPS structure spots.
Wonder which one fish will use most?
Wonder if they will be species specific to certain ones?
Will crawdads thrive that deep?
Should I have gotten two loads of big stone?

I’m just glad I was able to get those all in before the rain, what a difference a day makes never thought it would come together last night.

 

[Kdog]

You sure got a lot done in a short period of time, and it all looks great! Any plans for additional structure in shallow water, or is that where you plan to put the buckets with tubing?

 

[H20fwler]

You sure got a lot done in a short period of time, and it all looks great! Any plans for additional structure in shallow water, or is that where you plan to put the buckets with tubing?

Thanks

Yes, the oldest son and I are going to do the buckets with tubing structures and put them in small groups on the bottom in the deeper half and cut some small ledges to put little groups of them at different levels on the down slopes digging them in and putting pavers around them so they don't get knocked on down to deeper water. Son also is making some tree looking structure things out of field tile stuck in cinder blocks with tubing through it like branches.
Not putting anything in the half of pond beach is on in case we put a diving board off dock someday, but will put a couple of the tube buckets under dock.

They should kind of look like this;

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Any plans to drag in any large trees for fish structure? The local reservoir was a burr oak forest before it was flooded 25 years ago. Those trees are still great fish holding structures all those years later (some have since fallen and some are still standing, but all still attract fish). I think the natural trees like that have a place since they seem to provide homes for all sorts of water bugs and critters that also attract the fish. The cracks and crevices in the wood bark and branches holds all sorts of critters that eventually become fish food. I think a couple large oak trees and a bunch of cedars would be fish magnets for decades.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

That's an awesome looking future pond by the way. That rockpile is an excellent addition.

 

[H20fwler]

Any plans to drag in any large trees for fish structure? The local reservoir was a burr oak forest before it was flooded 25 years ago. Those trees are still great fish holding structures all those years later (some have since fallen and some are still standing, but all still attract fish). I think the natural trees like that have a place since they seem to provide homes for all sorts of water bugs and critters that also attract the fish. The cracks and crevices in the wood bark and branches holds all sorts of critters that eventually become fish food. I think a couple large oak trees and a bunch of cedars would be fish magnets for decades.

I don't disagree with any of that, we are just trying to stay away from anything that will eventually degrade or one day end up being mud.
I kind of wish I would have added another rock pile or two now. I sure am glad the truck driver took the chance yesterday, it should be a deep water crawfish dynasty down there…fingers crossed.

 

[H20fwler]

Edge stone is all in and done, they tried to work on the beach stone barrier that is for sand block to try and keep sand from sliding down into the pond but was to sticky.
It just got too soft with the bit of rain we got last night so they will have to finish up when it dries out some.
Beach area is kind of tore up just now. The driving anything into the pond window is closed for sure, so glad I was able to make it work yesterday.

Stone for the barrier


When that is in right and everything smoothed off they will dump in a couple loads of sand.

Almost got the runoff tile done


Few pics to show the edge stone good and the look of the almost completed pond.



Going to work on the rest of the smaller fish structures this weekend and get them in place.

Talked with a neighbor we know pretty good down the road about bringing his tractor down and disking in grass seed in the next couple of weeks and bringing a pickup load of straw over we can cover with.
The boys are wanting to plant a big sunflower patch for doves too.

Hopefully we get some good rains and this beast starts to fill up.

 

[buckdeer1]

copper nose for bass food and hybrid bluegill make a great eating fish

 

[Telemark]

I kind of wish I would have added another rock pile or two now.

You can always do it in the future with a boat.