Pond…. Is IN!

Finally got enought dry days in a row that they were able to get the dozer out and work on the watering hole. I think it will end up being about 1/3 acre and 11 feet deep at full pool. It should hold bass and bluegills, but will most likely need some sort of aerator.

Anyway, here are a few before and after pics of it so far. They are doing some finishing touches today, so it isn’t totally complete in these pics, but close.

I had them also pile up a bullet stop at 100 and 50 yards from my shooting bench, so I should have a nice range.

I keep forgetting to get food plot pics, but I have beans, forage beans, and corn, as well as a hundred or so seedling crab apple trees directly up the hill from the pond site.

Looking forward to fall!

Very cool! What kind of landing are you putting in? Do you think I’ll be able to launch my WX2100?

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Very cool! What kind of landing are you putting in? Do you think I’ll be able to launch my WX2100?

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Dirt only. Better launch with a 4wd tractor to be safe. Probably will be difficult to get to cruising speed, though.

Leacore trolling would be tricky, too. Lots of tight turns.

where do you get the seedling crab apple trees at and how much do they cost

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where do you get the seedling crab apple trees at and how much do they cost

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Try your county extension office. My count offers them, but they cost about twice as much as the state DNR. (No minimum, if I recall correctly) If you go through the DNR, though, the minimum order is 1000 trees. (Can be a combo of pines, crabs and other trees/bushes.) DNR prices are something like $45 per 100. Pines are roughly $25 per 100

http://dnr.wi.gov/forestry/nursery/order/TreeApplication-Webversion2420031.pdf

Order early for the crabs, they do sell out.

Very cool!!!

Looks great!

Any plans for structure in the pond? A buddy of mine built one on his property and dropped a bunch of rock on a shoreline and dropped a couple of rock piles.

Some rip rap this week, maybe some stacked pallets sunk with concrete blocks once I get ’em… Its not a real big pond, so I can always add more as I get the material.

Very Nice

Someone asked about what it was lined with….

We are blessed with great soil where I live. 3-4 feet of black dirt is what they found when they dug. Underneath was lots and lots of clay. This photo shows a “test hole” he dug to see how much clay he could find. The whole depth of this hole is clay, and I don’t think they ever hit “the bottom” of the clay material.

Clay was used for the bottom lining as well as for the keyway/core areas of the dam… Then black dirt was put on top of the clay to be planted with the erosion control/wildlife attractant mix of my choice.

http://www.pondboss.com/item.asp?id=11&r=store%2Easp%3Fc%3D8

If anyone is interested in a pond, I highly recommend this book….

Cool pic’s

Update:

Seeded with oats, a mix of clover and a grass mixture. I was able to use my ATV and a drag to lightly go over the bigger oat seeds after broadcasting them. I then broadcast the clover and grass seed (small to tiny seeds) on top. The soil was still fairly moist and fairly airy in most spots (from the previous dragging), so I’m hoping for good, fast germination. By planting a variety of plants I’m hoping the various size seeds will find a spot to germinate and grow FAST. I’m also hoping the perennials really take over in the spring and that we have a nice mix of wildlife attractant combined with erosion control. All that pure dirt with no roots or ground cover is one big pile of erosion waiting to happen.

6 inch drain tile going in next where the hillside runnoff spills into the pond. It has already made an erosion ditch in that area, and I need to get it under control before the fall rains and spring runnoff.

Anyone know how to best tie the upper end of the drain tile into the ground/seepage area so that all of the water is successfully diverted INTO the tile instead of running under or around it? Rip rap, stone, concrete, gravel??? Haven’t started my research on this yet, but I’ll need to get it take care of soon….

I’ll be curious to see what you find out on this. I’ve driven through western Mn a lot and witnessed countless miles of drain tile. I always wonder how they tie them off at the run off point. You see all kinds of posts/markers out in the fields so they don’t get tilled up.

I could be wrong, but I think they tend to use a lot of perforated tile, which when place correctly, will gather water over the length of the tile (it seeps into the whole length of the tile vs just the inflow mouth) and diverts it to the proper outflow area…

I already have a very distinct, concentrated inflowing area which I need to make sure this runoff water “stream” flows directly into the drain tile and out the other end. I am not using perforated tile. I’m thinking (hoping) that the 6″ corrugated tile will be sufficient for my purposes. If not, I might have to replace it with bigger 8 or 10 inch smooth-on-the-inside tile and/or find better ways to tie it in up top.