How are the ponds and lake doing?

Discussion in 'Back to Basics' started by Kamp Krap, Mar 29, 2023.


  1. Kamp Krap

    Kamp Krap Monkey++

    The dams, spillways and overflow pipes have been test with two big rains now. The first he 8" deluge of 48 hours. And this one 5.5" in over about 36 hours. That 8 Rain had things at their limits and showed me some improvements to make, another inch of rain in that down pour might have been a problem or the emergency spillways might have handled it. LOL we are not going to find out when the rare 10" down pour happens. I dug the emergency spillways out another foot deeper into the hard packed virgin clay. So 6' wide and 3' deep now will move A LOT of water out.

    The 8" rain a stick got caught across the pipe and the bean and corn trash got hung up on it and started building up in front of the big pond pipe. The water briefly was going over the emergency over flow and was only 5" from the top of the dam. Way to close to going over the dam for my taste. I caught the blockage pretty early on and got it cleared and things flowing correctly again. It didn't take long for the water to recede back to 18" below the dam top. Since this video I put some pig post with a strip of field fence a couple feet in front of the pipe intake. It will catch bigger stuff like the stick that got across the pipe but allow the little stuff that will go through the pipe past.


    The little pond dam settled more than I expected on the south side and put the discharge below the lake water line. It is working but not as well as I would like. The pressure from the water on the lake side restricts the flow out of the little pond into the lake. It does not help that my laser shoot of where the water line of the lake on the back of the little pond dam was way off. Like it is 3' higher on the back of the dam than I shot. Pretty much withing 2-3 inches on the waterline shoot every place else. I should have shot it two more times at shorter distances from two different angles from each side of the lake at the other water line flags. Would have caught the malfunction by doing that. I am thinking one of the dogs might have bumped the laser and got it a little bit off level. LOL a 1/8 of inch off level at the laser = feet off at 1000 feet away at the laser sensor.

    Not the end of the world or a total disaster but something that needs corrected. I am thinking and leaning toward digging the 15" pipe out completely and letting a 2 feet of water run out of the little pond through the trench and sticking a 36" pipe in and having the little pond and lake connected via the pipe with 18"-20" of standing water in the pipe. Little pond if basically just a 16' Deep big hole in the ground if I put the 35" pipe in and leveled it with the lake water line it would be a 14' deep hole in the ground, at present there is only 12" difference between the little pond water line and the lake water line. Doing the 36" pipe would just make it a land bridge instead of a dam. The core of the mistake though is I did not Compact 1/3 of the little pond dam nearly as well as I should have when building it. That allowed for way to much settling on the lake side of the dam, thus bowing the overflow pipe well below the lake water line. On the bright side the settling took care of the compacting I failed to do and it is totally solid now and 2/3s of the width from base to top I did compact real tight. Pretty much no settling where I did it right. I leveled the 1/3 that settled off with other 2/3s with a mix of good clay and 3" rock and compacted it to make a very solid top. It has remained level with no more settling on the 1/3. Anyway a 36" pipe would remove the need for the emergency over slow side spillway and water and fish could just free flow through the much larger pipe and I still have a bridge to easily get back and forth from side to side there. LOL we know the little pond dam is strong enough that the semi with 26 ton loads of rip rap and 3" rock can go back and forth across it and not give even a little bit :) 5 loads of 3" and 3 loads of rip rap have came across. Driver said the first trip made his butthole pucker a little bit but had full confidence in my work after the first transit across it. It also handled the combine and the grain trucks that we would never over load with 70,000 pounds of grain in the trailers :)

    A lot of folks asked me to start making more videos and dropping them on the Youtube channel so I have been. I think the videos suck myself but hey what the heck I can suck in front of the whole world ;)


     
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  2. Dunerunner

    Dunerunner Brewery Monkey Moderator

    At least the outflow will cut a nice stream bed for you. Don't be so hard on yourself about the vids, they look fine for being shot with a phone. That debris will be nice food for fry and aquatic insects once it starts to decay. I can see you pulling a lunker out of there even now!!
     
  3. Kamp Krap

    Kamp Krap Monkey++

    Sony Handycam :) My phone is way to dumb to even have a camera ;)
     
  4. Tempstar

    Tempstar Monkey+++

    We ended up putting an up facing elbow on our little pond. We extended the pipe 20' out and cut it for the high water mark. Since our in and outflow were slow it made for a great algae skimmer, and during heavy rain periods would actually start a swirl in the pond. I also cut the end of the skimmer with 3 "spikes" that stuck up above the water line about 3" to keep trash from going down the chute. The little 1 acre pond is the only thing I miss from there.
     
  5. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Geez, I would love a pond....but this is more like a small lake.... Geez, I would love a small lake :) especially with fish in it!!!
     
  6. Kamp Krap

    Kamp Krap Monkey++

    The Lake actually does qualify as a lake It is roughly 11.3 Surface acres. The Little pond inbetween the lake and the big pond measures out at 1.25 acres and the big pond comes in at 5.25 or 5.5 some debated on that as the trees get in the way of accurate measuring. I got my fish order into the Fish Farm last week for 2000 bluegill, 500 red ear and 500 Bass. Been a dream of mine since I bought this place to put at least the lake in and 4 smaller ponds. Too much life getting in the way of building the two additional ponds I had planned to build this summer. Maybe Next summer :)
     
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  7. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Damn! That's a dream of mine also, having a small pond that I could stock and fish.... You did it! You sir, are a roll model to us all. I might have to look at this again....but just a small pond for me. :)
     
  8. sasquatch91

    sasquatch91 Monkey+++

    Throw some catfish in there!!!
     
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  9. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Don't catfish kill off all the other fish? Damn good eating though...
     
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  10. sasquatch91

    sasquatch91 Monkey+++

    No worse than a largemouth bass. Both are predatory fish. Channel Catfish will feed on just about anything. Cheese, soap, doughbaot, bread, dead critters. Etc.
     
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  11. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    Looking good Pop's stay off the Congo's!
     
  12. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Having lived most of my adult life in the desert southwest can't remember the last time I saw so much water LOL.
     
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  13. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Are you Greatful, or Complaining?
     
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  14. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Not complaining.
    If I wanted that much I would have moved to an area of the country with lots of water years ago, like maybe back to the east coast.
    But that would mean living under other circumstances which I don't really care for, having nothing to do with water.
     
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  15. mechstdr

    mechstdr patriotic grease monkey

    Wonderful sir, i wish you the best, I hope you enjoy fishing there from now and into the far future!
     
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