Thinking about building a pond in my backyard

[Sit-n-Sleep]

I've built a few ponds for raising bass. The largest pond I've built is 75 acre. If you need help with specific design for largemouth bass let me know. From your earlier post you have clay so you just need to know where the dirt can go

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[Chad C]

Did you ever dig a hole?

[35remington]

Ok I live on 4 acres in Southlake, my back yard is probably 2 plus acres, thinking i could put about an acre or so pond in my back yard, it used to be a baseball field for the boys, they are all grown now. I am thinking of making it really cool with big rock boulders, ledges and ditches, spawning flats, structure, etc, and filling it with big bass, I do have some run off but not near enough to fill a pond of that size, I do have a water well that makes about 15 gallons a minute. Am I nuts or what ? The land is very valuable but I dont ever see me selling it so someone could build a house in my back yard, thoughts ?

Is this water well permitted as D&L? Do you live in any of the 99 groundwater conservation districts in Texas?

You'll want to answer those questions before you begin.

[BrianL]

I dug one and LOVE IT!

[mjhaverkamp]

Is this water well permitted as D&L? Do you live in any of the 99 groundwater conservation districts in Texas?

You'll want to answer those questions before you begin.

What does D & L mean, not sure about the ground water districts but there are ponds all around me.

[ranchdog]

Thank you, the soil is clay for sure, maybe the top two feet could be top soil from when i built the ball field, I think from the house roof, driveway, back yard pool area, and the area before the pond starts would allow quite a bit of run off, I know 15 gallons a minute on a well is not that great but i would think it would allow you to maintain the level somewhat in the hot summer months, thanks again.

Be careful, our land is clay too and our neighbor gave the dirt to the county and filled up his pretty large pond and within several days it was drain out. He spent the next many months lining it with special drilling mud / clay and a pretty good price, it lasted about a month and drained out. Then he hired a company to come out and line it with plastic and that cost a fortune. Since he gave the dirt away he had no way to fill it back and he said it turned into a money pit for sure....And believe me our dirt is a gumbo as you can get. I guess that 10 ft down it wasn't able to hold water more sand down that deep I guess. He spent a lot of money on it and was ****** he ever started it.

RD

[CEO]

This is about the same set up as my parents (same property where my grandparents lived). The original acreage was a little over 4 and my grandfather built a pond a little over an acre back in the fifties. Fished it my whole life. When he passed away a few years ago my grandmother told us the pond was the thing he was most proud of in his life because of all the fun he saw his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids have fishing and swimming. I went on a little bit of a tangent there but I guess what I'm saying is build the thing.

[mjhaverkamp]

This is about the same set up as my parents (same property where my grandparents lived). The original acreage was a little over 4 and my grandfather built a pond a little over an acre back in the fifties. Fished it my whole life. When he passed away a few years ago my grandmother told us the pond was the thing he was most proud of in his life because of all the fun he saw his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids have fishing and swimming. I went on a little bit of a tangent there but I guess what I'm saying is build the thing.

I was thinking it would give my kids and grandkids a great place to hang out, plus i have several neighbor kids I would allow to fish, I have a project going on right now so i have not given it much thought lately, I may get back on it this winter.

[AgHntr10]

Friend of my dads did this several years ago with just a little more than an acre. He was working with a natural drain/gulley so he had plenty of runoff though. He did just as you described, artificial creek channels, humps, brush piles etc. Started off great then kind of got overrun with small fish. Last time I fished it about 4-5 years ago I caught this one though.

[35remington]

What does D & L mean, not sure about the ground water districts but there are ponds all around me.

Was trying to provide some helpful guidance but am not going to spoon feed you. Google will help.

The fact that there are other ponds around you means nothing.

[gingib]

awesome idea!!!

Just need good runoff

[Pineywoods]

Sounds awesome. Good luck! We are looking at doing something on a MUCH smaller scale on 2 acres.

[TxDispatcher]

Was trying to provide some helpful guidance but am not going to spoon feed you. Google will help.

The fact that there are other ponds around you means nothing.

Eat a Snickers

[mikeyb_23]

Do it, I would love to have a pond in my backyard.

[TxDispatcher]

What does D & L mean, not sure about the ground water districts but there are ponds all around me.

http://counties.agrilife.org/lasalle/files/2013/09/Water-Rights-NewsLetter-Article-051013.pdf