We dug a pond about 15 years ago. Soil samples told us not to.. not enough clay.. we dug it anyway and it did leak. But after about year 5, it stopped or severely slowed down. Over time it will seal its self. Depending on if you are in a higher sand content, probably longer. To help fish life, every year we would take our Christmas tree and throw it in. After many many years, when the water is still and the light is right, you can still see them at the bottom. I stocked them with about 20 bluegill I caught at a nearby pond and with the wild life that are attracted to the water, most notably, Cranes, we now have bass. Possibly others.. they eat fish and crap out any eggs they had which is where I believe the bass came from. But give it time, the problems will sort themselves out and your pond will become as natural as if it had always been there.
@@bridgergaul4089 great question.. Possibly the crane ate the the fertilized eggs or a fish the crane ate did. But i never put bass in the pond and now they are there. I was sure none of the ones i caught and used to stock my pond were all bluegill. All had the signature markings. Yet somehow bass showed up. That other pond is about a half mile away and they don’t connect.. not even in heavy rains.. Its filled by runoff for my acreage. My pond is right behind my house and in full view so not likely some random person showed up and put them there not knowing it was ours. I had heard that birds don’t digest fish eggs so seemed that the crane or some other type of bird was the likely cause.
@@jeffallen3598 man that's super interesting to me. I've heard of birds spreading fish before but never understood how. I was under the impression that fish eggs are fertilized by the male after they are laid.. Sure doesn't make sense that anyone would try to stock your pond by the sounds of it you know how to identify fish, so birds seems like the feasible option 🤷
@@bridgergaul4089 They are fertilized after laying.. The reason you need things at the bottom of the pond to protect the young (in my case, old Christmas trees) is so that other fish don’t eat the baby fish or eggs. Thats how fish like bluegill and i believe carp, can take over a pond.. They are eating machines.. But that protection only “helps” and other fish do end up eating them.. Then other wild life eat those fish/eggs and while visiting other ponds… well, you know… Nature is pretty ingenious. They don’t needs mans help. If you build a pond (size may be a factor in this) wild life will soon discover and at first use it as a watering hole.. Then birds like ducks, geese and eventually cranes will find there way. If you do nothing else, after some years, fish will start to appear.
Great Video! One way to solve pond leaks once filled is to attract/raise waterfowl. Duck poop will seal a pond bottom and nature has a magic way of pulling the waste from the ducks into the perfect spot. Raising ducks is a whole other thing, but if you’re up for the adventure, it’ll help your pond and can feed your family along the way!
I built my pond 10 years ago. I got some estimates and it ran around $30K. Needless to say I didn't go that route. I bought an old dozer and dug an 1&1\4 acre pond. It's 14' deep in the center. I hit pretty hard clay and spread it all over the slopes of the pond. I kept the stumps from some of the hardwoods I had to clear. I ended up burying the stumps in the pond upside down to add structure along with cinder blocks and pvc pipes. Since I wanted some catfish I built fish breeding structures from two five gallon buckets tywraped together with an entrance on one end and the other end buried in the banks a few feet down. I have to say I get catfish spawns every year so they are working well. After the pond was finished it filled with water within two months. I thought it would take years. I found a pond with lots of red fin shinners and I caught several hundred and put them in the new pond. Now the important part. You have to add fertilizer to green the water. In six months the pond had thousands of minnows and at that point I added catfish and coppernose bluegills. They both flourished but unfortunately I wanted crappie and although I've added them three times I don't believe any have survived. I built a pier when I dug the lake and have power and water there. I have a small air compressor blowing air to an aerator at the deepest part of the pond. I also dug a 25' well to pump water into the pond 24 hrs per day. It doesn't keep it topped up but does slow evaporation down a lot. Mistakes? I allowed trees to get established around the pond and not I'm having to cut down 6" diameter pine trees around the lake. Lots of work I could have avoided if I had kept them cleared early on. I still love the pond. I go out on the pier every night and throw out some fish food and a hundred fingerling catfish come up for it and the occasional perch. The pond ended up being my favorite area of my farm and my grandkids enjoy going out and feeding the fish.
Recommendation: If you're in an area where you have thick ice during the winter you might try placing pea gravel over the desired bedding area during this time. As the ice melts the pea gravel will gradually fall. If the ice isn't thick enough to support the entire load you might a little each year.
Hi, this was awesome advice, im in Zimbabwe, just got some land, i want to build a few ponds along my waterways/creeks . I took soo much from this video, thank you.
This is the beauty of YT, thank you sir, this is some very helpful and valuable information. We will be starting our build this summer and you gave me a lot of great things to look out for and preplan. I had not even thought about fish habitats, a definite palm to face moment 🤦♂
Glad you found it helpful. I figure we can’t all be experts at everything and I’m not an expert at much of anything, but if we share and research then we all benefit. Good luck with your build this summer! 👊
Appreciate your insight on this my man! My family has some land that’s kind of wooded up like yours and we want to put a nice size pond on it so we are definitely using the tips you gave out!
Great video and you are one of the few that tells us "what you would have done differently." So helpful! Gracias amigo... your place must be beautiful!
deck, diving board and rope swing around the steeper edges of the pond would be awesome. Thanks for the video. I'm in the process of buying my first piece of land and want to build a pond to keep my 3 head of cattle cool in the summer. I appreciate the wisdom, subscribed. Stay blessed
Thanks for the great info. I’m planning a build for bass specifically. So I have all the habit ready to go different soil plans and structure for spawning. But I did not plan on the issue you had with the bank grade. Thank you so much for the info looks like I have more planing to do.
I’m trying to plan for a pond build on my 5 acres. I plan on a 1 acre. I really appreciate your video it had great information on it that I will be using. Much appreciated.
Enjoyed the video. I like the idea of either A. Building a deck on the steep bank or B. Cut that bank back and put in riprap. Thanks for sharing your video!
A deck has a lot of potential. You can have deck chairs on it to just relax by the water, link it to a dock with a little boat, have a barbecue for fishing days, and if one of your kids or grandkids turns out artistic they can set their easel there and paint landscapes.
OK, I'm in the process of watching the video and I just got to the price. First of all, that is a great deal for what you got! At least around here, it would have been more than that! Congrats on this beautiful pond!
As far as that steep slope goes, a deck/dock wouldn't be a bad idea. You can get some big marble or rocks to line the slope to prevent erosion and give the beams some support, and the rocks that go into the water would give the fish more nooks and cranny's to hide. And even if the ponds too small for a boat, you can do a diving board and ladder, or a patio set for cookouts, heck just having a spot to fish into the deeper parts ain't too bad. Another thing you could do is build up the bank with some cinder blocks or bricks, fill in the gap with soil, and plant some decorative tree's like cherry or peach blossoms trees to give you something nice to look at from the other bank and ironically enough cherry blossom tree's deter mosquitos and some other pests.
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead building a dock or deck, place window screen over top of your joists before laying deck boards. This will help keep mosquitoes from entering if you build a screened enclosure/patio area.
@@ltridge504 wrote"place window screen over top of your joists before laying deck boards. This will help keep mosquitoes from entering..." This is a brilliant idea, and one I would never have thought of. Thanks!
Never too small for a boat! This pond has plenty of room for a little row-boat, but even if you've just got a fishpond in your backyard the kids can have fun with toy sailboats. Imagine the fun they'd have on a pond this size with remote control yachts!
Great info. I have the same problem. When I had mine dug we ran into sand stone at the bottom that had cracks and I didn't have any clay to seal the pond. Its a 1/2 acre pond and it leaks through the sand stone. I had a well put in that's on a timer that keeps it full. One nice thing about it is the water is crystal clear basically spring fed. It stays cool in summer and hardly ever freezes over in winter.
Great video. Great advice! For the steep slopes, you can use rocks/boulders to step up the slopes. It will be a ton of work, but it's doable with your tractor. Erosion control is a must to keep the dirt out of the water. I'm planning a 1/4 acre pond in North Idaho.
Amen Brother! Thanks for sharing your findings. I wish you well. From my experience, I would only swap your number 2 and 3 around. I would prioritize landscape and erosion control above fish structure based on our experience. You’re spot on, and thankful for you sharing. God bless you guys…you got a new subscriber! The value in the pond for the memories and experience with the family far outweighs the expense….whatever it costs.
Just did a 1.75 acre pond and went really deep (28 ft max, about 22 ft average). It’s for trout and I have aerators in the pond so they can use the entire water column. It fills from runoff from a few hundred acres, but living in South/central Alberta, just outside the foothills, we don’t get a lot of natural moisture. I had a well dug near the pond and it produces about 11 gph. Not a big producing well, but with a submersible pump in the casing it can keep the pond full in between rains and doesn’t have to be run all the time, even in prolonged heat waves. I did line the pond bottom with clay and had a layer of bentonite spread over that. In the pond are 3 huge boulders, one is about 1 foot below high water, one is about 1 ft above high water and enough expose for 3 or 4 people to sit on or one to lay on. The 3rd was right at the surface but blocked one side of the pond from the other when combined with the other 2. Water would flow back and forth naturally but our small trolling motor powered boats (9 - 10 ft Jon boats & inflatable boats) couldn’t go back and forth. We had to blast this rock so there was about 4 ft clearance at anticipated low water levels. It was a fun day & cool to watch, but a bit expensive. We started with a planned 1 acre pond. We did test holes and missed every boulder!! 😂😂. The cabin is roughly where the edge of the glaciers were in the last ice age so occasionally an unusual boulder, or 3, can show up. To get the water volume and aesthetics we changed the dig to include another 3/4 acre. The budget was higher than yours, of course due to the size, but in the end, we went 40% over our budgeted $30K Canadian. There was no dam, but the spoils had to be hauled off site and clay hauled in. 😮. We planned shelves in the pond around the edges. There’s no natural spawn nor do we need fish for the trout to feed on. They feed otherwise once the natural insects and aquatic bugs arrive on ducks & geese as the use the pond. There’s a trophy lake about 2.5 miles away as the crow flies that is about 200 acres. There’s lots of birds and the bugs (and leeches ughhh) are starting to show up in the water. We stocked some trout this fall, but they need feed as there’s not enough to sustain them yet. Next spring we will get 30 large brood stock (rainbow trout hybrids) and a few more stockers. It will take a bit of time. I can sit on my deck on the cabin and look at the pond. We set the shallows opposite the cabin as we are in bear country (black bears and grizzly bears) and they like the water. It worked out nice. We have watched both species sit in about 3-4 ft of water on the shelf opposite the cabin on the far side. They are never together because when a grizzly shows up the black bears leave, even though there’s not a lot of size difference between the adult species in our area. A huge bear on either species is 500 lbs or so (some claim there are 700 lb grizzlies in the area, but I haven’t seen any nor pictures. I saw pictures where they overestimated the size though,,, 😂😂. We all are human after all. There are no kids to enjoy the pond very often, but the adult nieces and nephews enjoy it and their kids are too young for now, but in the future,,,,,,,. My wife and I couldn’t have kids so the nieces and nephews get spoiled a bit. A big bonus I enjoy is the water is clear, which is a plus for the trout, unlike bass and sunfish (which are prohibited in our area as they are not natural to the area even in lakes holding pike & walleye), and I have been swimming in it!! The temperature made it to about 74 Fahrenheit (23 Celsius). Now it’s about 50 degrees and we have snow for a couple more days. I did swim in it at 52 degrees (11 Celsius) but that was about 15 minutes and I was mildly hypothermic!!😂😂. We are having an unusually warm fall like many ares so we are going to have daytime highs around 55 F (13C) for the next week or so. I’m ramblin now, sorry. I hope you find a sealer for your pond that’s in the budget!! Please, you and yours stay safe, aye!
Man that sounds like an absolute dream! I would love to see that! All of the wildlife and different fish sound amazing too! I appreciate you sharing your story. I have to think that you really got a lot for your money with that build! Have a great week!
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead - I did forget to mention, I didn’t get the landscaping done and figured I would do it with my John Deere 3 series tractor….. . I don’t know now,,,,,, haha. I had a few loads of fill brought in to kind of level out around the edge of the pond and direct the runoff a little better. I did a decent job of that, but the poor tractor. Haha. It was not green anymore. I am waiting on 4 loads of topsoil and with the recent snow, am in no hurry for it. It will be wet and dumping it will have to be at the entrance to the acreage as the trucks won’t get to where I would prefer they dump while it is wet. Hopefully next week. Then I will seed it and see how things go with the spring runoff, that will be the test for the swales and if I got them right. If we get the winter I suspect could happen, it will be too warm for most agriculture, but I will get early germination on the grass seed I will put down. It will be under a bed of flax straw so it should start stabilizing the bare soil there. Fingers crossed, but truly I would prefer we get big dumps of snow to catch up on the water reserves for the dry land farmers and ranchers for their pasture land in the area. I can live with some soil washing if it means they will have a good year! You were absolutely right about the landscaping though. I was wondering if rip/rap was in the budget for that exposed area of steep bank you were talking about. It will also stabilize that soil to keep it from eroding. They (or you with your equipment) can do a fabric stamped to the slope and then drop rock. Two channels can teach you how to do the rip/rap yourself, Letsdig18 and Elite Earthworks. Chris is with Letsdig18 and is a masterful operator, Brandon has done very well on his own and taken the time to learn techniques from Chris and others he watches. That has translated into some excellent improvements in his skillset and he is very good as well!!
@@shitloveaduck I used to watch a lot of Letsdig18. He knows his stuff! Riprap I think could possibly work well. I’m going to think on it for a while. Might be a good opportunity for me to rent a piece of equipment and play with it a while to rework that side and finish it out. I appreciate the input.
I dug a two acre pond it filled up in one day we got 6 inches of rain in one day loved it. But it held water for about two weeks . Then it was like a stopper was pulled out water gone. Sink hole. Money gone too. I sold the house. Had my heart set on that pond just couldn’t look at it anymore it was beautiful a dream come true. Still hurts to think about it. Good luck with yours it’s nice when thing come together.
Nice pond, you can never go wrong with a pond and thanks for the tips. I wish we had a pond that was spring fed, I'm afraid that's hard to find. Thanks again!
horsetrader: we don't have a spring-fed pond, but the animals, fish and frogs come anyway, along with all the greenery. It's more like a big mudhole sometimes but you can put a little boat out there and be very happy. Planting dogwoods, redbuds, rhododendrons and lots of bulbs, and beauty will abound!
Came across your channel not long ago and love what you're doing. It's also really awesome to see you and your son fishing and hanging out. Reminds me of when I was younger with my dad as well as the fun I get to have with my own kids now. These are great memories you're making! Anyway, a thought about the steep bank on the camp side. Now, I'm not experienced in this but my first thought was to cut the bank down to sort of round over the edge more. In woodworking, when you have a sharp corner on a board you'd chamfer the edge, so something like that but obviously on a much larger scale. Not sure if that makes sense.
I appreciate the comment! We have a great time! Your idea does make sense. I am thinking something along those lines might be the answer. It may be bigger than my little Kubota can handle. Might be a good excuse to rent a bigger machine sometime. Anyway, thanks for stopping by!
I had a pond built on my property and made a siphon system for the overflow. That way it pulls the toxic water out of the bottom couple of feet. Very interesting to watch it kick in when the pond overflowed.
If you want grass on the high bank, hydroseed is the way to go! We live in the mountains and have a long, steep driveway. I had the driveway banks hydroseeded and it worked great. The bare banks left after the driveway was constructed was mostly sterile soil and rock. The hydroseed was an excellent solution for our steep banks! It's been six years and the grass is still there and growing. Congratulations on a nice pond!
Also for the deep ledge maybe you could pile some rocks and put a large pump to make it kinda like a waterfall in that area for look’s and natural benefits
Have you ever looked into coconut mats, in Portugal they use them on hillsides after soil extractions and it looks straightforward and does a very good job very easy!
Great talking video! You made a lot of good points. I am in the process of making a pond myself.... Not that big though. You are right about the clay bottom and I am finding out ways to find clay naturally in the woods and by rivers. Consider trying to do some of the things you talked about yourself with your family.
You have done a great job and come across as a REAL MAN - somebody who is not afraid to say “ hey , I’ve made a few blues ( mistakes ) but I’ve learnt from them and trying to do the best I can “ . Congratulations and keep up the great job , it looks terrific
how the heck is this a great job? he should have called professionals instead of guessing his way around just to make a "shit I did it to maself" video...
Consider shaving off the topsoil from that steep bank say with a blade on your tractor. Just a little at a time and pile the good soil off to the side to use for topping off the shaved gradual slope in a few years. A few timber/soil stepping platforms down to a floating short pier would make the picnic area great for those wanting to take a dip in the summer.
this is a lot of good information. I am planning on having a pond dug as well. And I will for sure have clay ready if my bottom is not good enough. One suggestion I may ad and this comes from a youtuber called " letsdig18" he builds ponds and clean ponds up from over growth. And one thing he hammers home every time he cleans a pond up is that there should be no trees on or near the bank area. And I noticed that behind you there are some trees near the water level. He explains that the roots of a tree near a pond will cause a pond to leak. One thing you can do but it will cause you to either have to lose your fish or maybe have them put in a stock tank, depending on how many you have, but you could drain the pond and haul some clay in to line the bottom of the pond. But I have no idea how much that would cost.
Lovely pond. That year update when it was overflow full was amazing. There's enough water there, give it time to silt up. Each time it draws down it sucks sediment into cracks. it may just go down less and less each year. The say farmers seal ponds with livestock, and that's because the hooves constantly churn up clay and mud into a slurry which, when the pond is losing water and head pressure is pushing water down through the bottom, this slurry sucks into crack and crevices. Doubt you need expensive polymers, just clay sediment and mud and churning.
It’s a superb project for the price of $9000. Here in the San Antonio Texas area you could not do that for double the amount. Congratulations. Thanks for the tips.
I started a pond project years ago and the first thing was to take the trees down and sell what I could for timber and the rest for firewood. That only left the stumpage to deal with and take out and burn it a few piles. I didn't want to deal with having large piles of trees lying around.
On the steep side ,Plant Thyme , mint, rosemary, elderberry, and other plants that like to spead out or that are easy to propagate and plant. you might consider having to build some large Boxes ( not water tight ) to have as beds for catstails to have a place for fresh water clams to help filter your pond. in a bed they would be easier to contain and just pull up any strays as they pop up.
Thanks for the tips. We're getting quotes for $67,500+ for a pond about that size around here in central Iowa, but possibly a slightly more complex site, with more of a ditch to start with, and loads of big trees (a lot like what you showed).
Not reading all the comments, but the steep bank would be rocked, if it was mine. We have a 2300 square foot pond next to the farmhouse we bought (WI) it is only about 10' deep in the Spring and drops at least two feet in the summer. We would love to enlarge it at some point, so thanks for the tips.
If twas me...i would retain wall with steps down to a "shelf" level area then cover and groom sand as a beach area adding dirt and bigger rock to edge to build it out as a sloping entry also covering with sand and gravel for sunbathers to step down into water for a swim. Adding beach umbrellas and seating. If not retaining wall then terraces it out with one wider terrace at the bottom for people to be. Ideally a sand beach on the bottom one for comfort when using that area. The smaller terracing above the base would be plantings of grasses and low creeping plants that tend to do well in your zone.
It all comes down to a few things :average rainfall expecting. You soon would descover that silt build up from erosion would become the next setback. It is sad but for now, in the applicable season when the water level is low, bank the walls of the pond, starting with the "receiving end" probably the steepest end introduceing runoff water to the dam with rock up to around the walls, slightly embedded into the ground. Silt helped stopped the seeping but have not spread the whole area.
Thank you for this video 🙏 It helped a lot. perhaps there should be a deep part, then a less deep part, then even less deep part as you get to the pond’s edge.
Pre-planning, prior to ground breaking, is vital to the the success of the final product. You can often get the game and fish commission to offer suggestions for habitat, and a good contractor to offer suggestions for the area surrounding the pond. Making the banks maintainable should be a serious part of the discussion. While it may raise your initial cost, it's easier to do during dirt work than trying to do it later when it can easily cost much more. Just my 2c...
Local County Ag Extension Services also have lots of info on farm ponds and more. DOT, Parks & Rec landscape designers and University Botanical and Garden services are also really helpful for plants for erosion controll on banks.
Drain your pond, fence it and buy some hogs and throw in some clay and feed them well, they will root and pack the soil every day, cut some ceddr trees and eight them dow, they make really great fish habatant!! Plant ivy on there hillside, it holds the soil, and is great cover!!
Nice infiltration pond try building a Terrace on that slop with some cat tails & wildflowers. Geotextile works great too if you're banking water for irrigating of crops.
$4600 here in Wisconsin for a 1/4 acre, 9’ pond. Guys that did it were extremely skilled and got it done fast. Started at 8am, removed 4 trees and topsoil by 8:30 and kept digging till 4. 4-5pm was all clean up and final touches and they were gone. Extremely happy with their work.
I love it when people like you explain the problems instead of just creating a nice 'showy' video. Thanks
Thanks for the comment! I just want to help others out when I can! 👍
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead I agree, really appreciate the post.
We dug a pond about 15 years ago. Soil samples told us not to.. not enough clay.. we dug it anyway and it did leak. But after about year 5, it stopped or severely slowed down. Over time it will seal its self. Depending on if you are in a higher sand content, probably longer. To help fish life, every year we would take our Christmas tree and throw it in. After many many years, when the water is still and the light is right, you can still see them at the bottom. I stocked them with about 20 bluegill I caught at a nearby pond and with the wild life that are attracted to the water, most notably, Cranes, we now have bass. Possibly others.. they eat fish and crap out any eggs they had which is where I believe the bass came from. But give it time, the problems will sort themselves out and your pond will become as natural as if it had always been there.
Thanks, I’m glad to hear this. I do think you are probably right. It is already a healthy pond and the fish are doing great. We are loving it!
How do those eggs get fertilized?
@@bridgergaul4089 great question.. Possibly the crane ate the the fertilized eggs or a fish the crane ate did. But i never put bass in the pond and now they are there. I was sure none of the ones i caught and used to stock my pond were all bluegill. All had the signature markings. Yet somehow bass showed up. That other pond is about a half mile away and they don’t connect.. not even in heavy rains.. Its filled by runoff for my acreage. My pond is right behind my house and in full view so not likely some random person showed up and put them there not knowing it was ours. I had heard that birds don’t digest fish eggs so seemed that the crane or some other type of bird was the likely cause.
@@jeffallen3598 man that's super interesting to me. I've heard of birds spreading fish before but never understood how. I was under the impression that fish eggs are fertilized by the male after they are laid..
Sure doesn't make sense that anyone would try to stock your pond by the sounds of it you know how to identify fish, so birds seems like the feasible option 🤷
@@bridgergaul4089 They are fertilized after laying.. The reason you need things at the bottom of the pond to protect the young (in my case, old Christmas trees) is so that other fish don’t eat the baby fish or eggs. Thats how fish like bluegill and i believe carp, can take over a pond.. They are eating machines.. But that protection only “helps” and other fish do end up eating them.. Then other wild life eat those fish/eggs and while visiting other ponds… well, you know… Nature is pretty ingenious. They don’t needs mans help. If you build a pond (size may be a factor in this) wild life will soon discover and at first use it as a watering hole.. Then birds like ducks, geese and eventually cranes will find there way. If you do nothing else, after some years, fish will start to appear.
Great Video! One way to solve pond leaks once filled is to attract/raise waterfowl. Duck poop will seal a pond bottom and nature has a magic way of pulling the waste from the ducks into the perfect spot. Raising ducks is a whole other thing, but if you’re up for the adventure, it’ll help your pond and can feed your family along the way!
Also as someone who’s owned ducks for years I just have to give them water and throw food out every day and they’re always happy
I built my pond 10 years ago. I got some estimates and it ran around $30K. Needless to say I didn't go that route. I bought an old dozer and dug an 1&1\4 acre pond. It's 14' deep in the center. I hit pretty hard clay and spread it all over the slopes of the pond. I kept the stumps from some of the hardwoods I had to clear. I ended up burying the stumps in the pond upside down to add structure along with cinder blocks and pvc pipes. Since I wanted some catfish I built fish breeding structures from two five gallon buckets tywraped together with an entrance on one end and the other end buried in the banks a few feet down. I have to say I get catfish spawns every year so they are working well. After the pond was finished it filled with water within two months. I thought it would take years. I found a pond with lots of red fin shinners and I caught several hundred and put them in the new pond. Now the important part. You have to add fertilizer to green the water. In six months the pond had thousands of minnows and at that point I added catfish and coppernose bluegills. They both flourished but unfortunately I wanted crappie and although I've added them three times I don't believe any have survived. I built a pier when I dug the lake and have power and water there. I have a small air compressor blowing air to an aerator at the deepest part of the pond. I also dug a 25' well to pump water into the pond 24 hrs per day. It doesn't keep it topped up but does slow evaporation down a lot. Mistakes? I allowed trees to get established around the pond and not I'm having to cut down 6" diameter pine trees around the lake. Lots of work I could have avoided if I had kept them cleared early on. I still love the pond. I go out on the pier every night and throw out some fish food and a hundred fingerling catfish come up for it and the occasional perch. The pond ended up being my favorite area of my farm and my grandkids enjoy going out and feeding the fish.
Sounds like you’ve got an amazing setup! Nice work!
Recommendation: If you're in an area where you have thick ice during the winter you might try placing pea gravel over the desired bedding area during this time. As the ice melts the pea gravel will gradually fall. If the ice isn't thick enough to support the entire load you might a little each year.
I think this is a fantastic idea. It will be next winter before we freeze again, but I would have never thought of this.
Wow good thinking!
Same with clay. Dry it out for a few weeks/months make it a fine powder spread it on the ice same thing.
Excellent advise and great video. Beautiful pond. We are in the planning stages of having one built. Thanks for the information. 😊
Hi, this was awesome advice, im in Zimbabwe, just got some land, i want to build a few ponds along my waterways/creeks . I took soo much from this video, thank you.
Awesome! Best of luck to you!
Your message and delivery are "spot on" genuine. Thanks for the video. Glad to have come across your channel.
Thank you for watching and for the kind words! 👍
Excellent advice for my specific situation! Thank you!
Planning a pond dig now and this was very helpful, thanks buddy!
All good advice! Love your voice - brings me back home.
Informative, insightful, and genuinely spreading the joy. Thank you
now, this video will help me for digging a pond on the farm. thank, you for you're video. ✌ love, all.
This is the beauty of YT, thank you sir, this is some very helpful and valuable information. We will be starting our build this summer and you gave me a lot of great things to look out for and preplan. I had not even thought about fish habitats, a definite palm to face moment 🤦♂
Glad you found it helpful. I figure we can’t all be experts at everything and I’m not an expert at much of anything, but if we share and research then we all benefit. Good luck with your build this summer! 👊
Thankyou God Bless You and Your Family
Great video. Thank you for sharing this information. My wife and I are talking about a pond and this helped tremendously.
Great! Thanks for commenting!
Informative, insightful, and genuinely spreading the joy. Thank you 😊
So nice and practical suggestions. Thank you. I wish your pond is now getting richer in terms of scenery and biodeversity. Great effort.
Very good info here for new pond prospects! Great information for those considering a new pond.
Thank you, I appreciate the comment! My son and I actually spent the day up there today and I am so glad we made the investment!
You can terrace the steep banks. Super helpful video- thanks for sharing what you learned!
Thanks! I appreciate you watching!
I am currently planning one and this was very helpful. Thanks so much!
Best of luck!
Appreciate your insight on this my man! My family has some land that’s kind of wooded up like yours and we want to put a nice size pond on it so we are definitely using the tips you gave out!
Thank you for the advice! We are looking to do this hopefully this spring, seems like your viewers also have some good ideas too
Good luck! Digging a pond is so exciting! I have loved hearing everyone’s ideas in the comments!
I am years away from building my own pond, I appreciate this video. Thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the tips and sharing your experience. This was helpful! - Amy
Thanks for watching!
This is great info!! Thanks for sharing
Great video and you are one of the few that tells us "what you would have done differently." So helpful! Gracias amigo... your place must be beautiful!
Thank you so much!
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead : and thank YOU! We're working on our mud hole / pond so your video is really, really helpful. Gracias, amigo!
deck, diving board and rope swing around the steeper edges of the pond would be awesome. Thanks for the video. I'm in the process of buying my first piece of land and want to build a pond to keep my 3 head of cattle cool in the summer. I appreciate the wisdom, subscribed. Stay blessed
Ponds that close to the house is Awesome. All the extra skeeters is healthy!
Great info. Thank you. I used to live on an acreage. Oh God, do I miss it.
Thanks for the great info. I’m planning a build for bass specifically. So I have all the habit ready to go different soil plans and structure for spawning. But I did not plan on the issue you had with the bank grade. Thank you so much for the info looks like I have more planing to do.
I’m trying to plan for a pond build on my 5 acres. I plan on a 1 acre. I really appreciate your video it had great information on it that I will be using. Much appreciated.
Glad you enjoyed it! Congratulations on your upcoming build! I hope it goes well!
Enjoyed the video. I like the idea of either A. Building a deck on the steep bank or B. Cut that bank back and put in riprap. Thanks for sharing your video!
A deck has a lot of potential. You can have deck chairs on it to just relax by the water, link it to a dock with a little boat, have a barbecue for fishing days, and if one of your kids or grandkids turns out artistic they can set their easel there and paint landscapes.
OK, I'm in the process of watching the video and I just got to the price. First of all, that is a great deal for what you got! At least around here, it would have been more than that! Congrats on this beautiful pond!
Thanks for your candour and sharing your lessons learnt. Very generous of you.
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching!
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead duck shit will help
Thank you for posting this interesting video
Thank you for watching!
As far as that steep slope goes, a deck/dock wouldn't be a bad idea. You can get some big marble or rocks to line the slope to prevent erosion and give the beams some support, and the rocks that go into the water would give the fish more nooks and cranny's to hide. And even if the ponds too small for a boat, you can do a diving board and ladder, or a patio set for cookouts, heck just having a spot to fish into the deeper parts ain't too bad. Another thing you could do is build up the bank with some cinder blocks or bricks, fill in the gap with soil, and plant some decorative tree's like cherry or peach blossoms trees to give you something nice to look at from the other bank and ironically enough cherry blossom tree's deter mosquitos and some other pests.
Great ideas! Mosquito repellent would be awesome! Much needed!
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead building a dock or deck, place window screen over top of your joists before laying deck boards. This will help keep mosquitoes from entering if you build a screened enclosure/patio area.
Just add some bat houses up in the trees along the tree line.
@@ltridge504 wrote"place window screen over top of your joists before laying deck boards. This will help keep mosquitoes from entering..." This is a brilliant idea, and one I would never have thought of. Thanks!
Never too small for a boat! This pond has plenty of room for a little row-boat, but even if you've just got a fishpond in your backyard the kids can have fun with toy sailboats. Imagine the fun they'd have on a pond this size with remote control yachts!
Great info. I have the same problem. When I had mine dug we ran into sand stone at the bottom that had cracks and I didn't have any clay to seal the pond. Its a 1/2 acre pond and it leaks through the sand stone. I had a well put in that's on a timer that keeps it full. One nice thing about it is the water is crystal clear basically spring fed. It stays cool in summer and hardly ever freezes over in winter.
Great tips thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the advice
Good information. Thanks for sharing 👍
Great video. Great advice! For the steep slopes, you can use rocks/boulders to step up the slopes. It will be a ton of work, but it's doable with your tractor. Erosion control is a must to keep the dirt out of the water. I'm planning a 1/4 acre pond in North Idaho.
Awesome! Good luck with your build!
Cheers 🥂 I appreciate your time
Beautiful presentation and very informative. Super helpful 👍 thank you so much God bless
Thank you! I appreciate you watching!
Nice work has been done
Thanks man. You gave some good points.
Our estimate for a one acre sized pond should be here tomorrow. Thanks for the informative video. I'll let you know when the digging begins!
Good luck!
Thanks a lot for sharing !!!
Thank you so much. That was really helpful.
Amen Brother! Thanks for sharing your findings. I wish you well. From my experience, I would only swap your number 2 and 3 around. I would prioritize landscape and erosion control above fish structure based on our experience. You’re spot on, and thankful for you sharing. God bless you guys…you got a new subscriber! The value in the pond for the memories and experience with the family far outweighs the expense….whatever it costs.
Thank you! We are getting so many great memories out of it. We love our pond! Thanks for watching!
Just did a 1.75 acre pond and went really deep (28 ft max, about 22 ft average). It’s for trout and I have aerators in the pond so they can use the entire water column. It fills from runoff from a few hundred acres, but living in South/central Alberta, just outside the foothills, we don’t get a lot of natural moisture. I had a well dug near the pond and it produces about 11 gph. Not a big producing well, but with a submersible pump in the casing it can keep the pond full in between rains and doesn’t have to be run all the time, even in prolonged heat waves. I did line the pond bottom with clay and had a layer of bentonite spread over that. In the pond are 3 huge boulders, one is about 1 foot below high water, one is about 1 ft above high water and enough expose for 3 or 4 people to sit on or one to lay on. The 3rd was right at the surface but blocked one side of the pond from the other when combined with the other 2. Water would flow back and forth naturally but our small trolling motor powered boats (9 - 10 ft Jon boats & inflatable boats) couldn’t go back and forth. We had to blast this rock so there was about 4 ft clearance at anticipated low water levels. It was a fun day & cool to watch, but a bit expensive.
We started with a planned 1 acre pond. We did test holes and missed every boulder!! 😂😂. The cabin is roughly where the edge of the glaciers were in the last ice age so occasionally an unusual boulder, or 3, can show up. To get the water volume and aesthetics we changed the dig to include another 3/4 acre. The budget was higher than yours, of course due to the size, but in the end, we went 40% over our budgeted $30K Canadian. There was no dam, but the spoils had to be hauled off site and clay hauled in. 😮. We planned shelves in the pond around the edges. There’s no natural spawn nor do we need fish for the trout to feed on. They feed otherwise once the natural insects and aquatic bugs arrive on ducks & geese as the use the pond. There’s a trophy lake about 2.5 miles away as the crow flies that is about 200 acres. There’s lots of birds and the bugs (and leeches ughhh) are starting to show up in the water. We stocked some trout this fall, but they need feed as there’s not enough to sustain them yet. Next spring we will get 30 large brood stock (rainbow trout hybrids) and a few more stockers. It will take a bit of time.
I can sit on my deck on the cabin and look at the pond. We set the shallows opposite the cabin as we are in bear country (black bears and grizzly bears) and they like the water. It worked out nice. We have watched both species sit in about 3-4 ft of water on the shelf opposite the cabin on the far side. They are never together because when a grizzly shows up the black bears leave, even though there’s not a lot of size difference between the adult species in our area. A huge bear on either species is 500 lbs or so (some claim there are 700 lb grizzlies in the area, but I haven’t seen any nor pictures. I saw pictures where they overestimated the size though,,, 😂😂. We all are human after all. There are no kids to enjoy the pond very often, but the adult nieces and nephews enjoy it and their kids are too young for now, but in the future,,,,,,,. My wife and I couldn’t have kids so the nieces and nephews get spoiled a bit. A big bonus I enjoy is the water is clear, which is a plus for the trout, unlike bass and sunfish (which are prohibited in our area as they are not natural to the area even in lakes holding pike & walleye), and I have been swimming in it!! The temperature made it to about 74 Fahrenheit (23 Celsius). Now it’s about 50 degrees and we have snow for a couple more days. I did swim in it at 52 degrees (11 Celsius) but that was about 15 minutes and I was mildly hypothermic!!😂😂. We are having an unusually warm fall like many ares so we are going to have daytime highs around 55 F (13C) for the next week or so.
I’m ramblin now, sorry. I hope you find a sealer for your pond that’s in the budget!! Please, you and yours stay safe, aye!
Man that sounds like an absolute dream! I would love to see that! All of the wildlife and different fish sound amazing too! I appreciate you sharing your story. I have to think that you really got a lot for your money with that build! Have a great week!
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead - I did forget to mention, I didn’t get the landscaping done and figured I would do it with my John Deere 3 series tractor….. . I don’t know now,,,,,, haha. I had a few loads of fill brought in to kind of level out around the edge of the pond and direct the runoff a little better. I did a decent job of that, but the poor tractor. Haha. It was not green anymore. I am waiting on 4 loads of topsoil and with the recent snow, am in no hurry for it. It will be wet and dumping it will have to be at the entrance to the acreage as the trucks won’t get to where I would prefer they dump while it is wet. Hopefully next week. Then I will seed it and see how things go with the spring runoff, that will be the test for the swales and if I got them right. If we get the winter I suspect could happen, it will be too warm for most agriculture, but I will get early germination on the grass seed I will put down. It will be under a bed of flax straw so it should start stabilizing the bare soil there. Fingers crossed, but truly I would prefer we get big dumps of snow to catch up on the water reserves for the dry land farmers and ranchers for their pasture land in the area. I can live with some soil washing if it means they will have a good year!
You were absolutely right about the landscaping though. I was wondering if rip/rap was in the budget for that exposed area of steep bank you were talking about. It will also stabilize that soil to keep it from eroding. They (or you with your equipment) can do a fabric stamped to the slope and then drop rock. Two channels can teach you how to do the rip/rap yourself, Letsdig18 and Elite Earthworks. Chris is with Letsdig18 and is a masterful operator, Brandon has done very well on his own and taken the time to learn techniques from Chris and others he watches. That has translated into some excellent improvements in his skillset and he is very good as well!!
@@shitloveaduck I used to watch a lot of Letsdig18. He knows his stuff! Riprap I think could possibly work well. I’m going to think on it for a while. Might be a good opportunity for me to rent a piece of equipment and play with it a while to rework that side and finish it out. I appreciate the input.
@@D.c.0 - no, sometimes I do break them up, sometimes not. It depends on how I feel really.
Thanks! Great vid.
Solid advice. Thanks
Good start!
Very satisfying information and thank you for sharing this.
Thanks for watching!
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead you are welcome.
I dug a two acre pond it filled up in one day we got 6 inches of rain in one day loved it. But it held water for about two weeks . Then it was like a stopper was pulled out water gone. Sink hole. Money gone too. I sold the house. Had my heart set on that pond just couldn’t look at it anymore it was beautiful a dream come true. Still hurts to think about it. Good luck with yours it’s nice when thing come together.
Oh that is just heartbreaking! Man, I know that was tough.
Very nice closing notes ! We all learn .. am sure you can do grass and cherry blossom trees on those steep slopes .
Nice pond, you can never go wrong with a pond and thanks for the tips. I wish we had a pond that was spring fed, I'm afraid that's hard to find. Thanks again!
Thanks for watching!
horsetrader: we don't have a spring-fed pond, but the animals, fish and frogs come anyway, along with all the greenery. It's more like a big mudhole sometimes but you can put a little boat out there and be very happy. Planting dogwoods, redbuds, rhododendrons and lots of bulbs, and beauty will abound!
But I too wish I had a spring-fed pond. Few and far between.
Came across your channel not long ago and love what you're doing. It's also really awesome to see you and your son fishing and hanging out. Reminds me of when I was younger with my dad as well as the fun I get to have with my own kids now. These are great memories you're making!
Anyway, a thought about the steep bank on the camp side. Now, I'm not experienced in this but my first thought was to cut the bank down to sort of round over the edge more. In woodworking, when you have a sharp corner on a board you'd chamfer the edge, so something like that but obviously on a much larger scale. Not sure if that makes sense.
I appreciate the comment! We have a great time! Your idea does make sense. I am thinking something along those lines might be the answer. It may be bigger than my little Kubota can handle. Might be a good excuse to rent a bigger machine sometime. Anyway, thanks for stopping by!
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead Good luck and I look forward to seeing how you eventually solve this!
Slow and steady wins the race, a shovel and some time is free and effective what your Kabota can't do you can finish.
Appreciate the video and tips brother and I'm thinking a long dock along that bank ... multiple uses 🤙
A long dock would be nice!
I had a pond built on my property and made a siphon system for the overflow. That way it pulls the toxic water out of the bottom couple of feet. Very interesting to watch it kick in when the pond overflowed.
If you want grass on the high bank, hydroseed is the way to go! We live in the mountains and have a long, steep driveway. I had the driveway banks hydroseeded and it worked great. The bare banks left after the driveway was constructed was mostly sterile soil and rock. The hydroseed was an excellent solution for our steep banks! It's been six years and the grass is still there and growing. Congratulations on a nice pond!
Thank you! That is a great idea!
They also sell a straw mat that you can staple down that has grass seed imbedded
Also for the deep ledge maybe you could pile some rocks and put a large pump to make it kinda like a waterfall in that area for look’s and natural benefits
Thanks great share!❤️❤️❤️ this helps me huge!
Have you ever looked into coconut mats, in Portugal they use them on hillsides after soil extractions and it looks straightforward and does a very good job very easy!
I've. got a natural spring coming in so this will help to along with the ☔. / that's a nice looking fish that came out of you're pond.
thank you
Great talking video! You made a lot of good points. I am in the process of making a pond myself.... Not that big though. You are right about the clay bottom and I am finding out ways to find clay naturally in the woods and by rivers. Consider trying to do some of the things you talked about yourself with your family.
Absolutely! Hope your pond turns out great!
You have done a great job and come across as a REAL MAN - somebody who is not afraid to say “ hey , I’ve made a few blues ( mistakes ) but I’ve learnt from them and trying to do the best I can “ . Congratulations and keep up the great job , it looks terrific
Thanks, I really appreciate that. I figure no need to hide it if I can help someone else do a little better. 👍
@@PeeksPeakHobbyHomestead thanks for the heads up, it is a very nice pond.
how the heck is this a great job? he should have called professionals instead of guessing his way around just to make a "shit I did it to maself" video...
@@SignatureStagers some of us learn from doing and others, some you you know it all
Nice pond! I'm closing on a property in 2 weeks that has a one acre pond, and I can't wait.
That’s awesome! Congratulations!
Great info!!
Great video thanks
Consider shaving off the topsoil from that steep bank say with a blade on your tractor. Just a little at a time and pile the good soil off to the side to use for topping off the shaved gradual slope in a few years. A few timber/soil stepping platforms down to a floating short pier would make the picnic area great for those wanting to take a dip in the summer.
Good advice Thanks
this is a lot of good information. I am planning on having a pond dug as well. And I will for sure have clay ready if my bottom is not good enough. One suggestion I may ad and this comes from a youtuber called " letsdig18" he builds ponds and clean ponds up from over growth. And one thing he hammers home every time he cleans a pond up is that there should be no trees on or near the bank area. And I noticed that behind you there are some trees near the water level. He explains that the roots of a tree near a pond will cause a pond to leak. One thing you can do but it will cause you to either have to lose your fish or maybe have them put in a stock tank, depending on how many you have, but you could drain the pond and haul some clay in to line the bottom of the pond. But I have no idea how much that would cost.
Thanks for making video
Great Info! Thanks
Lovely pond. That year update when it was overflow full was amazing. There's enough water there, give it time to silt up. Each time it draws down it sucks sediment into cracks. it may just go down less and less each year. The say farmers seal ponds with livestock, and that's because the hooves constantly churn up clay and mud into a slurry which, when the pond is losing water and head pressure is pushing water down through the bottom, this slurry sucks into crack and crevices. Doubt you need expensive polymers, just clay sediment and mud and churning.
Thank you! I appreciate the input. That sounds logical. We are enjoying the pond either way, but it would be nice if it would silt in and stay full!
Larger rocks for your bare spots.that's what was used by county at our place.helps fight erosion too
Great information bud
Great video!
Thanks!
Great video! Good information
Thank you!
you do got a nice looking pond of what I can see on you're video.
thank, you
It’s a superb project for the price of $9000. Here in the San Antonio Texas area you could not do that for double the amount. Congratulations. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks we are loving it!
Great advice
Great video.
Thanks!
Thank u for the advise
I started a pond project years ago and the first thing was to take the trees down and sell what I could for timber and the rest for firewood. That only left the stumpage to deal with and take out and burn it a few piles. I didn't want to deal with having large piles of trees lying around.
On the steep side ,Plant Thyme , mint, rosemary, elderberry, and other plants that like to spead out or that are easy to propagate and plant. you might consider having to build some large Boxes ( not water tight ) to have as beds for catstails to have a place for fresh water clams to help filter your pond. in a bed they would be easier to contain and just pull up any strays as they pop up.
Great suggestions!
Thanks for the tips. We're getting quotes for $67,500+ for a pond about that size around here in central Iowa, but possibly a slightly more complex site, with more of a ditch to start with, and loads of big trees (a lot like what you showed).
Wow! I hear numbers all over the place. Best of luck!
i would find a different contractor but then again you didnt say how big the pond that was proposed
That’s a more realistic # they’re around $50000 here in nc
Yes, it’s quite expensive. $9k with 3 pieces of equipment over 5 days? Contractor on this job lost his shirt… guarantee it.
Not reading all the comments, but the steep bank would be rocked, if it was mine. We have a 2300 square foot pond next to the farmhouse we bought (WI) it is only about 10' deep in the Spring and drops at least two feet in the summer. We would love to enlarge it at some point, so thanks for the tips.
If twas me...i would retain wall with steps down to a "shelf" level area then cover and groom sand as a beach area adding dirt and bigger rock to edge to build it out as a sloping entry also covering with sand and gravel for sunbathers to step down into water for a swim. Adding beach umbrellas and seating. If not retaining wall then terraces it out with one wider terrace at the bottom for people to be. Ideally a sand beach on the bottom one for comfort when using that area. The smaller terracing above the base would be plantings of grasses and low creeping plants that tend to do well in your zone.
You can do a step down like steps going down with concrete blocks. Tapert graduate into the water or you can Do a step down that would look cool
Great video a lot of new things I’m thinking about now. And poor fish 😅
It all comes down to a few things :average rainfall expecting. You soon would descover that silt build up from erosion would become the next setback. It is sad but for now, in the applicable season when the water level is low, bank the walls of the pond, starting with the "receiving end" probably the steepest end introduceing runoff water to the dam with rock up to around the walls, slightly embedded into the ground. Silt helped stopped the seeping but have not spread the whole area.
Thank you for this video 🙏 It helped a lot. perhaps there should be a deep part, then a less deep part, then even less deep part as you get to the pond’s edge.
Pre-planning, prior to ground breaking, is vital to the the success of the final product. You can often get the game and fish commission to offer suggestions for habitat, and a good contractor to offer suggestions for the area surrounding the pond. Making the banks maintainable should be a serious part of the discussion. While it may raise your initial cost, it's easier to do during dirt work than trying to do it later when it can easily cost much more. Just my 2c...
I think you are spot on.
Local County Ag Extension Services also have lots of info on farm ponds and more. DOT, Parks & Rec landscape designers and University Botanical and Garden services are also really helpful for plants for erosion controll on banks.
Drain your pond, fence it and buy some hogs and throw in some clay and feed them well, they will root and pack the soil every day, cut some ceddr trees and eight them dow, they make really great fish habatant!! Plant ivy on there hillside, it holds the soil, and is great cover!!
Nice infiltration pond try building a Terrace on that slop with some cat tails & wildflowers. Geotextile works great too if you're banking water for irrigating of crops.
I just had a pond dug about a 1/4 acre that ran me $4,000, so you got a great deal
$4600 here in Wisconsin for a 1/4 acre, 9’ pond. Guys that did it were extremely skilled and got it done fast. Started at 8am, removed 4 trees and topsoil by 8:30 and kept digging till 4.
4-5pm was all clean up and final touches and they were gone. Extremely happy with their work.
Great addition to your property for that money! Congratulations!