Hi, first post, not sure this is where this should go but....
Retire in 10 mos, wife and I will be moving to KY, have looked at quite a few places, some already housed, some not. Our highest interest is in a completed place
that already has 2 ponds. Until our home sells, we can't viably place a contract, but we hope we are close. Should the pond house sell, I'm thinking of buying one of a
few farms we have looked at and building a log cabin and pond. I've done construction projects (remodels, additions, homes) all my life, but have never built a pond.
My question is whats the punchlist to building a pond? I'd like to build a 2-5 acre pond, the property has a good strong natural spring that currently feeds a water hole
that cattle drank from, but there hasn't been cattle on the property for 10 years now.
Any assistance or links for info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Here in my state you do not just build a pond on a whim..... Must be permitted and then only for very specific reasons. (Lots of the west is such.)
But this is what I would do. I would put one in that does not have a dam, however it would include a spillway. It would be a deep or deeper than ten or twelve ft because of the water heating and lose of oxygen or you have to aerate. This would over course require the hiring of earth moving equipment. A buddy of mine did this and worked great. He found a very reasonable pond liner. We placed huge rocks and cement in it for fish habit before we filled it. There is no dam to fail and very soon he had a great bunch of moss and aquatic plants.... Bass grew very well, and did the bluegill and croppy. He had very rough luck with the trout. We had to clean his pond couple times a year. This made such great garden fertilizer.... But he had to also aerate the water a lot - a whole lot more than he assumed.
A quick Bing search for "Kentucky pond construction" turns up many, many links. The KY Dept of Fish & Wildlife has many articles on pond stocking.
This construction link looks good, but not much detail: http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/rec_fishing/documents/constructionKentucky.pdf
The USDA has a good publication describing the hows and whys of pond construction and maintenance: http://nrcspad.sc.egov.usda.gov/DistributionCenter/pdf.aspx?productID=115
Like most things, it is less work and less money to do it right the first time than to make it right later.
Yep, googled the net, talked to KDFWR, and both gave me information, but not what I was looking for. Gonna sit down with Soil Conservation guy,
and discuss the project and what the correct process is. Thanks for the replies. I'm in no rush, and only intend on doing it the right way.
thanks!