New Pond

[bowhunternw]

Looking for some insight into digging a new pond. It would be just a pond filled by the water table. How would you determine the elevation of the water? Just trying to figure how deep it will have to be dug in order to hold water. This is fairly flat and semi wet terrain and the only source of water would be to go down. Would like to hear some experiences from people that have tried building one before.

[mn_bowhunter]

It's simply a matter of digging down to expose the surface water table. How deep depends on how far down to water so that question can't be answered. You saying semi wet makes me think you should contact the local administrator of the wetland conservation act. It's normally the county or local soil and water conservation district. If you do go forward and it happens to be a wetland it can be a huge headache that is easily avoided.

[WIMN]

Anyone know what considerations there are when building a pond? I don't own a home currently but will be in the market to buy some land in the next few years. I'd like to dig, at least, a duckpond, and hopefully a larger/deeper one that could hold bluegills or trout.

[nofishfisherman]

Anyone know what considerations there are when building a pond? I don't own a home currently but will be in the market to buy some land in the next few years. I'd like to dig, at least, a duckpond, and hopefully a larger/deeper one that could hold bluegills or trout.

I'm not an expert but I have looked into building a pond and there are a lot of factors at play.

Water source - spring, creek, ground water, water pumped from well

Soil type - clay, sand, etc. Can the pond retain water or do you need to bring in loads of clay or some sort of pond liner?

Terrain - is there a natural low area that already holds water? Do you need to build a dam on one side to hold water? Is it flat and you'll have to dig it all out? The more you can work with the natural terrain to reduce digging the less it will cost.

Wetland issues - If there is natural water present then you will likely need to work with the wetland laws and rules. If there is no natural water present you might be able to avoid those issues but you'll probably be doing a lot more digging and need to funnel water to the pond which could get expensive.

We have a family friend in WI that has a pond on their property. It was dug from a small natural spring fed wet land before there were rules about such things. Its on a large farm property with a large area around it that has been returned to natural habitat (forest, grassland, wet land). They have done a great job managing the pond for bass and blue gills. You can sit on the dock and catch 8-10 inch gills all day long one after another with an occasional gill up to 12 inches (I've got 3 fish that hit 12" out of there so far). You can also catch bass in the 3-5 pound range all day. They were all stocked back in the day but are naturally reproducing at this point. I'm super jealous of the guy for having this pond so thats why I want one of my own. For now I have to settle for fishing his pond once a year.

[Tom7227]

Don't do anything until you have contacted the local watershed district folks and the county.

A friend built a 16 acre pond in 1970. Three years ago a new CO started using Google Maps to check things and could tell by the regular shape of the pond that it wasn't natural. He started a legal action that was joined by the Army Corp. The claim was that the pond diverted water from a seasonal wetland. Two years of battle, lawyers, and a lien on his property. In the end he had to fill part of it back in and do a bunch of planting. About the only thing that saved him was that I found some aerial photos that showed that he had done it before all the laws restricting these things were in effect. But it was a massive PITA.

As for stocking some fish you have to get a handle on how much you can put in there and what they are going to eat. Without some supply of food you are just going to end up with stunted fish. Lots to study to make that work. A friend spent a lot of money stocking a 16 foot deep pond only to have it freeze out last winter.