building a pond

[slodge77]

i planned on diggen a 1 to 2 acre pond around 12-16 feet at the deepest im digging out a wet swamp if i can get the permit how much will this cost and i was thinking about getting bass and catfish how much will that sustain. and if its a wet swamp will it fill completly up.

[Nick Kuhn]

I have a friend with a half acre pond in a similar area that filled to about 12 feet deep and keeps bass and sunnies (17" is the biggest in there last I checked). No idea how much it cost though...

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Bass will make great meals for the Catfish...

Not sure if it's legal to just create a pond and transfer fish in there.

[fish with teeth]

permit is a must to disturb swamp land. i would assume you would purchase the fish from a hatchery. are you planning on digging it yourself? what kind of equipment? i would think it should fill back up with ground water if its already a swamp. what kind of soil is in your area?(sand, clay, rock) i like the idea but overall i would think its not going to be cheap.

[fisherking01]

A one acre pond excavated to sixteen feet will produce about 25000 cubic yards of dirt. Depends on what you are going to do with the dirt. If you are just going to have a large excavator throw it up in a pile, it will be cheaper than moving the dirt to another location. Assuming you get a permit, I would venture to guess you will not get it excavated for less than a couple bucks a yard, depending on who you know. Might be cheaper to move to a lakehome!! Mind you it takes a very large machine (excavator) to excavate 16 feet deep.

[fivebucks]

We had a pond dug on our deer land up north but we could not dig it deep enough for fish. We went from one classification of wetland to another and the permit only allowed us to dig it a couple of feet deep so it was attractive to ducks. Follow your county permit rules closely so you don't have to "repair" anything you did. The toughest part is disposing of the stuff you dig out. You cannot berm up around the pond because that takes wetlands out of production, at least in our case. We had a no net loss of wetlands restriction. Good luck and expect to pay a couple grand to get a backhoe in there. If it is a wet year it will be harder to do.

[youngie22]

I would hate to know how much some people have spent on a fishing pond for their land. THere is a farmer from town that has land in 'Sconie. Just over one acre and 17- 21 fow in most of it. After dug they put in a rebar and cement for structureand covered diff areas w/ gravel sand and mud. You can flip on the areator w/ a switch near barn. Pretty cool place, fun to fish w/ a kid in a paddle boat.

[WaveWacker]

You have to be careful here if you want to do things legally. Legally according to state law (wetland conservation act) if excavation occurs in a wetland area and depending on what type of wetland (type 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) the max you can excavate (once again depending on wetland type) will be 2M or 6.6ft. This depth is generally considered the deepest water regime that still meets "wetland" critera. Excavation of an existing wetland deeper then this would then technically be a conversion of existing wetland to non-wetland and hence an impact which would have to be mitigated for.

Point being, if you want more information on what you can/can't legally do in an area contact your local Soil and Water Conservation district.

[gregg52]

not sure where you are but my fishing partner works for morison county soil and water been there for 20 yrs and the post above me is right you have to get permits and al that

depending on the type

And i'm in the excavating field depending on how wet it is you would wanna do it with wide pad dozer pushing it out once

with hoe it would have to move the same dirt several times

probably would need both in there to get it done in a reasonalbe amount of time you shoulda thought of it last fall actually would be a good winter job for someone when it was froze and approved plus u might get someone to do it a little cheaper

as some one said above if could get it done for 2$ a yard you'd being do really good 75-100$ an hr for a hoe and dozer a piece

pretty spendie fish ?/ lol

[mrjigger]

not to overtake this thread, but I am also considering building a pond in my yard. I not looking to go nearly as deep though. Maybe 4' deep max. More of a wildlife pond, no fish.

I have a low spot in my yard that collects snow melt each spring. Once the frost gives, it soaks into the soil. More of an eyesoar for about a week than anything. But I was thinking it would be kind of a nice area for a permanent pond. What do you think it would cost to build like a 50'x25'x4' deep pond?

Also would it be possible to build up the existing soil enough to get by without a liner?

[Sandmannd]

Jigger, you aren't going to get around having a liner at all. If you have a swampy area that holds water that's one thing. If you are doing it in your yard, the soil is not going to stop water from just soaking into the ground. FYI, use all the dirt you dig out to build a waterfall or two.

[Shawn Kellett]

Our MI Chapter looked into it a year ago and it's expensive. I think the round numbers for a 2 acre pond were in the $75,000-$100,000 range to do it on the up and up.

[fisherking01]

If you're in Becker, you have pretty well drained soil (sand) and a liner would be necessary. best for a small pond is a rubber liner or a heavy poly liner. Wayy too expensive for a clay liner.

[gregg52]

something that small you could easly to your self or get some somebody w/alittle exp in running a track skid steer a 277 cat

you could do that relatively fast (277 will move about as much dirt as fast as a d-3 with a good operator)

as far as lineing it you could line it with a heavy poly

or some fabric they put down in high moisture ares when building roads and its not real spemdie

i think we pay 120 a roll and that would be way more than you would use i guess i would dig the pond a foot or so deeper than you want it

then put the fabric down then if you can get a couple loads of heavy clay and put at least 6inches over the top of the fabric

do with a track skid steer and dont turn on it when when your backfilling it all in all wouldnt be real spendy

or just hire a good landscaper..

if you are in becker it is sandy there but your close to heavy clay so a couple loads isnt going to be real bad

[opsirc]

the DNR should have all the answers, at one time they would even help with the cost of digging one.

[gregg52]

the dnr doesnt control the wet lands

[WingDing2]

I know someone who digs ponds, call Hermans in Jordan this guy will have all the answers.

[fisherking01]

the dnr doesnt control the wet lands

Huh?? you can't even drive a four wheeler through a wetland on your own land! It's illegal, right out of the DNRs synopsis. Yeah, the DNR does control wetlands.

[CANOPY SAM]

I've been giving this topic a lot of thought lately, and spending some time on-line researching options.

From what I can see, in the right situation, building your own pond isn't that difficult, or expensive - but much depends on the location, and what purpose you intend the pond to serve.

I've got about 9 acres of river bottom land that is essentially cleared and free of wetland. About half of the property lies well above the river surface (where our house sits), and the other half lies perhaps 8-10 feet above the average year water level of the river.

The "lower" section of land is flattened out well below the section where building is allowed, and gradually slopes down to the river bank. We've actually had water up in the yard in recent days with the spring flooding.

I wouldn't presume to dig a pond here for the purpose of raising fish. I can simply walk down to my river frontage and catch walleyes, cats, smallies, pike and whatever else is swimming around - we actually have a really nice hole right behind a beautiful rocky riffle area right at the end of our property. I'm truly blessed!

What I'd like to see is something akin to a wildlife sanctuary just off the river. We constantly have ducks, geese, deer and other critters crossing our bottom land, but there's nothing there but mowed grass, and my kidney shaped putting green (it's a 250 yd. drive from the house down to the river's edge where my green sits). I am truly blessed!!

The lower terrain slopes gradually enough that I could easily dig away the "uphill" slope a little, and carve out just enough of the middle, to "berm up" the downhill side of the pond. I actually don't think I'd have to move all that much earth.

My only concern is if it would hold water? I looked at pond liners and the cost is out of the question for a pond the size I'm thinking of. I was hoping for something around 1-1 1/2 acres, about 3-6 feet deep. I'd have to include a couple small islands for nesting habitat for local ducks and geese, as well as a few domestic poultry of our own.

An interesting thought occured to me. I was wondering if I couldn't lay my hands on an old abandoned windmill, sink a shallow sand point well (I'm betting the water table isn't more than 10-15 feet down with the river so nearby) and just constantly feed the pond with fresh well water everytime the wind blows. The influx of fresh water would keep the thing from getting stagnant, aerated, and like it was stated earlier, provide me with an opportunity to create some nice looking natural rock waterfalls and landscaping.

The pond would also sit directly in the path of the spring snow runoff from on top of the hill, so it would fill naturally each spring with more fresh water. An outlet would be a very simple matter of a controlled water release downhill and into the river.

If I did need it, is clay expensive, and how thick of a layer of clay would I need to retain water?

My wife thinks I'm completely insane, but I'm in love with this idea, and the thought of having our own winter skating rink is definately a big attraction as well.

[gregg52]

the dnr controls boats snowmobiles 4 wheelers

not the wet land maybe the travel on it or threw but not

excavating etc etc

call you nearest water and soil

i know they work closly but they dont control wet lands

[fisherking01]

Please follow through reading DNRhttp://www.dnr.state.mn.us/excavatedponds/index.html

From there you can navigate to the regulations page to get an idea what type of situation you have and which agencies you will need to contact for permitting.

There are in fact multiple agencies involved in the wetland permitting including local, state, and federal.

http://www.bwsr.state.mn.us/wetlands/publications/wetlandregulation2.html

[gregg52]

thats true lots of headaches

i recently treid to get a gravel pit open spent about 20 k

on all kinds of studys for the enviroment

so it depends on were you with in the city limits county

if nieghbors dont like it etc etc

[ShoreGuy1984]

i planned on diggen a 1 to 2 acre pond around 12-16 feet at the deepest im digging out a wet swamp if i can get the permit how much will this cost and i was thinking about getting bass and catfish how much will that sustain. and if its a wet swamp will it fill completly up.

Ill help you dig it if I can fish it !