Building My Dream Pond - 1 Year Later
Summary
TLDRJoin the one-year journey of building the ultimate Dream Pond in the mountains of Kentucky. From scouting the perfect location on former coal mine land to overcoming challenges like digging, dam building, and leak fixes, every step is documented in this detailed and inspiring story. The final product is a fully functional pond teeming with wildlife, ready to be stocked with fish and enjoyed for years to come.
Takeaways
- 🏞️ The dream pond project began a year ago in Kentucky, with the creators digging an acre-sized pond themselves.
- 🚜 The pond construction utilized heavy machinery like a dozer, excavators, and articulated trucks to move dirt and clear the area.
- 🌲 The pond site was chosen in an old coal mine area where a natural spring and a previous pond used to be.
- 🔥 Clearing the pond area involved removing trees, bushes, and burning the wood to prepare the site for digging.
- 🏔️ The dam building process required a lot of consideration for the quality of dirt to ensure it could hold water effectively.
- 🐟 The pond was designed with fish habitats in mind, including rock piles and structures to provide shelter and breeding grounds.
- 💧 A leak was discovered in the pond, leading to a significant engineering effort to drain, identify, and fix the issue.
- 🌧️ Rain played a crucial role in filling the pond, and its water level was closely monitored to ensure the pond was properly filled and not overflowing.
- 🐢 The pond became a habitat for various wildlife, including deer, bobcat, coyotes, black bears, turkeys, and even geese.
- 🎣 The pond, now full of water, is set to have fish stocked in it, finalizing the year-long project.
- 📈 The project faced challenges such as leaks, heavy rain, and the need for constant adjustments, but ultimately resulted in a thriving ecosystem.
Q & A
What was the initial size of the Dream Pond project?
-The initial size of the Dream Pond project was about an acre.
Where was the pond being built and what was the geographical challenge?
-The pond was being built in the eastern part of Kentucky, in mountainous country, which presented the challenge of finding the perfect spot for the pond.
What was the history of the location where the Dream Pond was being built?
-The location used to be a coal mine, and there used to be an old pond there before the dam broke and it was drained.
What heavy equipment was used in the pond construction?
-The heavy equipment used in the pond construction included a dozer, a smaller excavator, a bigger excavator, and an articulated truck.
What was the main objective on day two of the construction?
-The main objective on day two was to clear out the pond area, remove all the trees and bushes, and ensure the bottom was even and flat.
What was the first roadblock encountered on day two?
-The first roadblock encountered on day two was the malfunction of the articulated truck, which needed to be fixed.
What was the significance of the rock piles and log structures placed in the pond?
-The rock piles and log structures provide habitats for fish to hide, swim, and breed. They also offer cover for bait fish and are important for the overall ecosystem of the pond.
What was the main concern regarding the dam construction?
-The main concern was the quality and quantity of dirt suitable for building the dam. The soil from the old coal mine was rocky and not ideal for holding water, which presented a challenge in constructing a reliable dam.
How deep was the pond expected to be at its deepest point?
-The pond was expected to be 35 feet deep at its deepest point.
What was the final step taken to ensure the dam was safe and less likely to break?
-The final step was to lower the dam and use the extra dirt to pack it on the backside, making the dam thicker and able to hold more weight, which increased its safety.
Outlines
🏞️ Pond Building Journey Begins
The script opens with the narrator describing the year-long journey of building their dream pond with their father. The pond, located in the mountainous region of Eastern Kentucky, is a significant project involving extensive digging and clearing of trees and bushes. The narrator shares their excitement about transforming a former coal mine site into a thriving pond ecosystem, complete with a dam and natural spring. They discuss the challenges of finding the perfect spot and the importance of good dirt for dam construction. The video also highlights the use of heavy machinery, including a dozer and excavators, and the strategic planning involved in creating a functional and sustainable pond environment.
🚜 Overcoming Obstacles and Engineering Solutions
This paragraph details the narrator's experiences and learnings during the pond construction process. They discuss the challenges of dealing with rocky soil from the old coal mine, which is not ideal for dam building. The narrator shares their innovative solutions, such as using a dozer to compact the dam and creating rock piles for fish habitats. The paragraph also covers the addition of a spillway for safety against potential dam breaches and the strategic placement of rocks and trees to enhance the pond's natural appeal and fishing potential. The narrator reflects on the importance of balancing aesthetics with practical considerations for the pond's long-term success.
🌧️ Pond Completion and Leak Challenges
The narrator describes the final stages of pond construction, including the completion of the dam and the discovery of a leak. Despite initial success in filling the pond, the leak poses a significant problem, leading to the decision to drain the pond to identify and fix the issue. The paragraph details the process of draining the pond, the challenges faced, and the narrator's reflections on the potential causes of the leak. It also discusses the subsequent efforts to repair the dam, including lowering the outlet pop and re-digging the spillway to prevent future issues. The narrator expresses hope for the pond's future and the anticipation of restocking it with fish once the leak is resolved.
🎣 Re-envisioning the Pond for Fishing and Habitat
In this paragraph, the narrator shifts focus to the pond's future as a fishing spot, discussing the removal of some trees for safety reasons and the strategic placement of rocks to create an ideal fishing environment. The narrator also talks about the creation of spawning flats for fish reproduction and the construction of homemade fish attractors using black buckets and tubing. The paragraph highlights the narrator's commitment to providing a diverse and rich habitat for fish, as well as the anticipation of filling the pond with water and stocking it with fish. The narrator shares their excitement about the pond's potential to support a thriving aquatic ecosystem and become a cherished fishing spot.
🌦️ Rain and Pond Filling Progress
The paragraph discusses the impact of rain on the pond's water level and the anticipation of further rainfall to fully fill the pond. The narrator shares footage of the pond during a rainstorm and the subsequent rise in water levels. They also express concern about the potential for the pond to overflow and the need to monitor the situation closely. The paragraph details the narrator's observations of wildlife, such as deer and bears, attracted to the pond, indicating its growing role as a habitat. The narrator concludes by expressing eagerness for the pond to reach full capacity, at which point they will introduce fish and begin a new chapter in the pond's development.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dream Pond
💡Excavator
💡Dozer
💡Articulated Truck
💡Leak
💡Dam
💡Habitat
💡Coal Mine
💡Fossil
💡Spillway
💡Stocking
Highlights
Father-son team builds a dream pond from scratch in Kentucky.
The pond is approximately an acre in size and was hand-dug by the creators.
The location was an old coal mine with a history of natural spring water and a previous pond.
Heavy machinery, including a dozer and excavators, were used to shape the pond and its surroundings.
The builders faced challenges such as finding suitable dirt for the dam and dealing with large rocks.
A significant amount of planning went into the pond's structure, including the placement of rocks for fish habitats.
The pond's depth reaches up to 35 feet at its deepest point.
The project was not without setbacks, including a dam breach and leaks that had to be addressed.
The pond became a habitat for various wildlife, including bears, deer, and turkeys, as evidenced by trail camera footage.
The pond was designed with fishing in mind, with structures like rock piles and standing trees to provide ideal spots for fish.
The builders had to drain the pond to find and fix leaks, demonstrating their commitment to creating a sustainable pond.
The project took over a year to complete, showing the scale and effort involved in transforming the land.
The pond's construction was a family effort, involving the father, son, uncle, and cousin.
The project's success was marked by the pond filling up naturally after heavy rain, indicating a good water-holding capacity.
The pond's completion was celebrated with the anticipation of stocking it with fish, signaling the start of a new ecosystem.
Throughout the process, the builders documented their progress, challenges, and solutions, providing a valuable resource for others interested in similar projects.
Transcripts
about a year ago me and my dad started
building our Dream pond it's about an
acre in size we've done all the digging
ourselves and there's been a lot of ups
and down so in this video I've compiled
the entire story into one year of
building our Dream Pond let's get
started day one our first steps for
building this Pond is scouting a place
to put the pond we're in the eastern
part of Kentucky so we're in Mountain
Country as you can see and you really
can't just build a pond anywhere so you
have to find the perfect spot before you
even start like I mentioned in one of
the past episodes this actually used to
be an coal mine and so there used to be
a pond there before they broke the dam
and ripped it out check this out they
said there was a natural spring on this
property somewhere and that this used to
be an Old Pond but since then it's been
drained since everything's already there
except the dam we figured that right
there would be about as good of a spot
that you could pick so whenever day two
rolled around we got all of her heavy
equipment headed down into the bottom of
where the Pond's going to be and just
started clearing out all those trees to
really make sure that the bottom
composition is what we want and to put
the structure where we want it we really
got to get in there and clear out all
the bushes and all the trees and really
make sure that the bottom is even and
flat and that there's no big holes in it
that we didn't know about in a way it
would be really cool to flood all that
stuff and let the fish swim in it but as
soon as we did that our luck there would
literally be a hole like a well in the
bottom of a pond and we wouldn't even
know it and then it just drained every
day so now the equipment we're using to
build this Pond is one a dozer this
thing is an absolute hos it basically
pushes dirt wherever you want the dirt
to go the dozer operator which is my
cousin tells the dirt to move and the
dirt moves this thing is op when it
comes to building ponds you could not do
it without it or you could but it'd be
really hard next thing we have is a
smaller excavator now on a big project
like this we're dealing with some big
trees big bushes we're really not using
this one as much but we have it here
just in case we need it what we do use a
lot is the big excavator this one's
almost twice as big as the smaller
excavator and we're getting in there
picking up dirt moving the dirt ripping
up trees all that good stuff if it needs
dug up this is our tool to do it then we
have the articulated truck this is
basically an off-road dump truck which
is specialized in hauling large amounts
of dirt in places that a normal truck
couldn't go for example a bottom of a
pond so with my dad my uncle and my
cousin all three working together with
all those pieces of equipment they're
seriously going to get this Pond done
about like that and they're going to get
it done right and as the day goes on
their objective is still to clear out
the pond and then get all the brush and
trees haul it off pile it up and then
actually burn it because we don't have
any else to do with the wood and we have
to get rid of it so that we can keep
digging the pond believe it or not it's
a whole lot harder to burn this much
wood than you'd think just for this one
pilot took us like a couple days and we
had to keep brisking up the fire to
where it would keep burning the new
material at the end of day two though we
ran into our first roadblock and our
articulated truck actually was messed up
we had to figure out why and then we had
to fix it basically on the motor where a
few fuel lines were held together the
little ring popped off and so the two
fuel lines just vibrated against each
other until eventually there was a hole
in one it kind of just happens that's
just natural wear and tear but at this
point in day two we could really look at
the pond and see kind of what we were
going to end up with and that's when me
I wanted to know what can we do to make
it bigger I mean you got to think about
it guys the bigger the pond we can make
the better the pond we can make in a
pond yes bigger is better always but
that's when I talked to Dad and realized
it's actually not why can't we just
build that corner of that field up 4T
higher basically making a second
down we'll see if we can let's give it
more places to leak so is the problem
that we just don't have enough dirt
maybe what kind of dirt this is see C so
far that's okay see when they mind this
coal they drilled The Rock and shot the
rock up and they haul it off to uncover
the coal and they dumped it somewhere
they dumped All That Rock here then we
can't use this stuff if they dump the
dirt that come off the top of the rock
here then then we're good we've got
plenty to work with basically what my
dad was saying about this Pond is that
her biggest problem and biggest
potential risk is that when we go to
build the dam either one we're not going
to have enough dirt to do it or two the
quality of dirt actually won't be good
enough to hold water so what makes one
kind of dirt better than another kind of
dirt well some dirts have more clay in
them and Clay is like hydrophobic so
water doesn't just seat through them
that's good dirt any kind of dirt that
can really pack together and hold back
water that's good dirt bad dirt is
really Rocky gets really dry kind of
brittle and doesn't pack together very
will in dirt like that water will just
find a way around the Rocks down a crack
through that slowly but surely like you
you just get like the water just goes
through the Rock and I mean it'll drain
the whole Pond it just happens and with
this being an old Coal Mine we mentioned
this earlier there's just um a surplus
of bad dirt I guess and so good dirt's
kind of hard to find that is our
limiting factor when we're building this
day three and day four are pretty
straightforward we ended up fixing the
articulated truck to where it's back on
its wheels and ready to just haul some
more dirt and that's exactly what we did
we Ed the escavator dig the dirt load
the dirt into the articulated truck and
the articulated truck would take it all
the way down to the other side of the
pond and start pouring it out so that we
could start building the dam my cousin's
over there on the bulldozer because not
only can you just dump out dirt and call
it a dam you have to use the Dozer pack
it in very good to where water won't
leak through it and that it won't wash
away as well and just keep in mind this
Dam has to be very tall but to build a
dam to hold back water you don't just
have to build it high as high as you go
then you have to build it out to the
side too so the higher the dam is if you
make it 1 foot higher you have to make
it come down even more so it's so much
more dirt and it can't just be any dirt
it has to be good dirt that good dirt
that we just can't find I mean
technically we could buy the dirt but
man then you're talking about expensive
cuz you're buying dirt and we literally
have 200 Acres why can't we just find
Good Dirt one nice touch you'll notice
up towards the dam is that we actually
left a few Big Trees left in the bottom
of the pond and yes those are going to
be flooded now they're not going to go
up to the top but they are going to go
about 20 ft up the tree and I just think
that's going to be the perfect spot for
me to sit in a boat or off the bank and
just flip a jig right up to the tree and
like kick its way all the way down I
guarantee there's going to be a bass
sitting somewhere on that tree and
speaking of 20 foot I actually took the
Drone and flew it down into the
bottom all right guys so right now this
is the pond it's looking pretty good but
what's important to know about this is
let me get a little bit closer and let
me actually show you where the water
level is going to be so we're going to
have to keep on going down and down and
the water level is going to sit about
right here and I figured it out with the
altitude that it is actually going to be
35 ft deep at its deepest point I don't
know about you but I think that's a mega
deep Pond if you I do say so myself most
ponds are like 6t deep MX that one's
going to be 35 so as we're digging up
the dirt we keep the good dirt send it
off to the dam dump it out pack it down
but the rocks will grab those with the
excavator and set them over in a pile
that's when we start to see this big
pile forming of giant Boulders that are
the size of a truck bed that's a big
rock and we have a lot of them like look
at this rock pile I'm telling you this
right now if we had to buy those rocks
it would be probably over $10,000
depending on where you bought them
potentially more and every day that we
dig every scoop that we dig we're
finding more and more rocks and at the
end of day four we're just pulling them
out putting them all in a pile and we'll
figure out what to do with them later
it's day five and at this point I
actually have to leave for like 5 days
so my dad Uncle and Cousin they're just
going to see sitting here digging this
Pond for 5 days and I'm not even going
to get to see any part of it so I headed
out and for the entire week I just
thought about what could possibly be
happening at the pond and then I finally
got to come back when I came back the
dam was like 70% complete which is
pretty crazy because I mean I don't know
man it's starting to look like a pond
now the rock pile had gotten even bigger
and it had even gotten deeper and they
backed it up even farther into the field
where they've been digging dirt you know
put on the dam day 10 rolls around and I
got the news from my cousin hey you need
to be figuring out where you're going to
put the Rocks cuz they're kind of in the
way and we need the dirt that the rocks
are sitting on ah okay let's figure it
out if we have all these rocks we
definitely want to do something creative
with them and use them to our advantage
we want to put them in the bottom of the
pond that way the fish can swim around
them use them as structure so I told my
cousin where exactly I wanted them a
rough estimate and so they came up with
a cool idea and that's exactly what they
did on day 10 the pond is really
starting to take shape and look like
somewhere fish could actually live
instead of just a big mud Bowl now it
has structure in it and places that fish
can hide swim live sleep if fish sleep I
don't know if fish sleep I just try to
catch them it is finally day 11 the
Pond's really starting to take shape
Rock piles are in place we've even got a
tree down there in the bottom of it and
the dam is getting closer and closer to
fill level but before we finish the dam
we have to take a break for a minute
pull out the transit and figure out
exactly where water level's going to be
how much higher the dam needs to be and
we got to be thinking about how much
more dirt we're actually going to need
to dig to finish the dam if you look
back here behind me you can see Rock
piles distributed out and through the
pond back here behind me you see a super
long Rock Point kind of like a pier and
behind me another Rock Point and this is
really awesome because if you guys don't
know fish love rocks and the reason they
love rocks is cuz it gives them so many
places to hide from bigger fish as we're
building this Pond we're not only
thinking about the catfish and bass you
got to think about the craw dads you got
to think about the bluegill even the
minnows and even the algae that the
minnows eat and so as we build these
Rock piles we have The Bait fish in mind
imagine you're a minnow you're this big
but there's a fish this big trying to
eat you what are you going to do well
I'll tell you what I'd do I would get my
little Min body and I'd
go and then I'd get right back in there
to where that big fish cannot get me
well that is exactly what all these Rock
piles do these Rock piles are also super
important to the catfish unlike bass and
bluegill catfish actually need something
pretty special to breed and lay eggs
they need a place where they can get
back in kind of like a little whole be
super protected and watch their eggs
like that in most man-made ponds there's
actually no rocks and no cover suitable
for catfish to lay eggs in so they just
don't and that's why in most ponds ever
so often you have to restock catfish
because they cannot reproduce on their
own but with these all these rocks every
single rock is giving a catfish an
opportunity to get back in the crack and
lay egg down in the deepest part you can
see we have rock pile scattered across
the bottom along with just big rocks
sitting and chilling wherever this is
really good because hey sometimes the
fish want to go deep as you look up
closer to the bank you also see smaller
rock piles which will end up being about
2 to 5 ft underwater this is going to be
great because we can walk the bank
visually see the rock piles so that we
can fish them effectively then on the
far back end we built something pretty
special a pier made out of 100% rocks
which the top will be sticking out about
6 in so that we can still walk across
the rocks with that many rocks stacked
together it should be a perfect place
for Bait fish to get in and hide and
even spawn and stuff and the point only
about 10 yards from it will be the same
exact thing as you look back here behind
me you will notice a Big Pine Tree just
like the Rocks this is going to give
amazing habitat for little fish and big
fish to just swim around and have a good
time this makes me like so excited
because you can look at it on a macro
level where you see the whole tree and
oh yeah that's cool I can probably cast
right there and maybe pull a bass off of
it yeah that's awesome but I really like
looking at it at a granular level let's
take this right here for example it
doesn't look like much but what does
this stick right here mean to a minnow
or craw deck a minnow could literally
live its entire life right in this
little area right here and to us it's
just a couple sticks but to that minnow
it's going to live its entire life here
make a bunch of friends here possibly
get eaten here and then reproduce right
here there's so much going on right here
for just a small fish there could be
algae grow right here on this stick and
then the minow come over here to eat it
and then whenever The Minnow goes back
home he gets eaten because there was
actually bass under that rock I want to
show you some fossils we found as my
cousin on the excavator was dting
through all these rocks he found this
fossil take a look at that now what is
that I don't know probably a a tree if
we're going to be honest but we can say
it's a dinosaur if you want to make it
sound cool no one can prove us wrong
somehow petrified into this rock we just
going to have like straight up a fossil
in the bottom of this Pond and it's
going to be covered up in water and
we'll probably never get to see it again
but that's okay because we found another
fossil over here which is so much
crazier look at this fossil it's a way
bigger tree and you can very very
vividly see all the different things and
this is 100% Rock what exactly was this
you may ask I don't know could be a big
fish that swallowed Jonah KY is's not
that far from
Israel I mean not not really kind of
yeah it's probably a tree but that's
Mega awesome but okay now let's get into
the bad news as you could imagine when
you're building a pond this big there's
a lot of engineering that goes into it
and that's because there's a lot of risk
with it if we were to build this Pond
down and the pond fills up with water
and then the pond dam breaks you're
sending this much water down the creek
and there's actually a couple houses
down the creek so if this busted at the
wrong time could literally wash away a
house which is terrible and we're going
to avoid that but a lot of this comes
into the slope that we built the dam we
noticed that the slope was slightly off
and that we needed more dirt on the dam
if you don't know the more dirt that you
put on a dam that's just more dirt able
to hold back more water but this wasn't
n't going to cut it this was almost to
the dangerous level it might work but it
might not we ran the risk and it was
looking like maybe maybe 10% chance that
something went wrong in the future but
still only about maybe a 2% chance that
something actually bad happens Also
let's just keep this between me and
you I made up those statistics but one
thing for sure the dam was too small so
day 15 our objective is clear we have to
make the dam thicker and that means more
dirt we had to go down to the B botom of
the pond dig it out some more which
ended up making the pond even deeper and
hold even more water which is totally
awesome so we dug it up loaded it up in
the dump truck and then I hauled it down
to the dam dumped it out and my cousin
used the excavator to facilitate the
dirt around and load it up exactly where
it needed to be which was on the other
side of the dam we also had to track it
in good to make sure that every piece of
dirt that hit the dam was packed in
super tight giving it even lower chance
of busting out but that's not all we had
to do to the day in order to decrease
the chances even before we decided to
lower the dam and this is the sad part
because when you lower the dam you lower
the water level which means the pond is
not going to be as big as we originally
planned but to be uh decent humans and
reduce the risk of blowing someone's
house away that's what we did and we're
very happy to do that if we can reduce
the risk from 2% to 0 2% we will do that
and lower the pond as low as it needs to
go now of course we could reduce the
risk to zero if we quit building the
pond but we're not going to do that
because we need a pond so my cousin with
the Dozer shaved off the dam made it
lower but we used that extra dirt to
pack it on the backside and make this
Dam be able to hold much more weight
which will make it much safer for
everybody about midday during the search
for more dirt we actually needed the
dirt which was under one of the big
standing popler trees so we didn't
really have any options we needed the
dirt the trade-off to get the dirt was
well worth knocking down the popler tree
so although we didn't want to we had to
do it so it is actually back here beside
me we have the big root podt up there
and then the two trunks go all the way
down to the main bottom of the pond that
should be great for fishing 100%
probably even better than if it was
standing as we got towards the end of
the day we went ahead and pulled out the
little survey thing so that we can make
sure the dam is level across the whole
thing to do this you set up this little
scope thing completely level send a guy
with a stick across the dam and if you
look across and it reads the same number
you're good to go the pond dam is even 2
6 2T three and A2 2 feet one and 1/2 2
feet 2 fo six basically we do this until
it's all the way across 26 we also added
the spillway which is just a pop
actually that's not the spillway that's
just a pop that is the spillway the
spillway is higher up than the pop but
lower than the dam that way if the pop
gets clogged up water can still exit
without burrowing over the dam and
pretty much destroying the dam after day
15 100% of the pond dam is complete we
added up the total toal and to build the
pond it came out to
725 loads of dirt
1,091 gallons of diesel and three really
sore backs and
knees previously on the pond build my
family took this old coine and started
transforming it into the ultimate
fishing pond step one was to locate a
good spot to put the pond back when this
property was an operating Coal Mine
there actually used to be a pond right
here in this big sinkhole area but for
some reason after they stopped mining
ripped open the dam and drained the
entire pond so we figured this would be
the perfect place to start step two is
to go through clear out all the brush
and all the trees in the bottom of the
pond that way we can see what we're
working with with the bottom composition
step three is to start digging dirt and
start piling it up to make the dam but
it was on this step that we ran into our
first problem since this was an old coal
mine and they blew up a lot of rock to
get to the coal a lot of this dirt we're
digging up is extremely Rocky which is
considered bad dirt when building a dam
the problem with Rocky dirt is that it
doesn't pack together super well and the
water can find its way out which can
cause a leak which spoiler alert we're
going to talk about that later in this
video regardless after the dam is built
the pond is technically complete but
while we're waiting on rain to come to
fill it up we're moving on to step five
which is actually adding structure and
cover to the pond cover refers to
anything that fish can relate to that's
like brush piles logs rocks and even
grass you see fish can survive in a pond
with no structure but they really can't
Thrive fish use structuring cover to
hide from PR predators and to Ambush
their prey and if you want a fishing
pond that can sustain healthy
populations of both Bait fish and
Predator fish you're going to need a lot
of cover earlier in step three while we
were digging dirt to build the dam we
actually found a ton of giant Chuck Rock
which we put into points and piles which
is going to be perfect cover but at this
point the pond is still lacking wood
cover which is pretty important to the
fish and so for step five I hopped in
the excavator and went out through the
rest of the property to find stumps logs
and bushes that I could put in the
bottom of the pond to create some wood
structure here we
go or at least that was the plan it
won't even start give me a minute I'll
figure it
out it didn't
start I heated it up for about 45
seconds and then it
all it do yep well I'll try this a
couple more times in if it's tring real
slow like B's dead us to I use then okay
behind the driver door there's a door
there open up that door now open up the
front section of it now there's a box
it's got a green light on it turn that
make that green light come on and then
just do the same thing as the other one
yeah all
right there we go that worked the way
it's supposed to
all right now we're going to tram around
and look for brush piles to pick
up and here we are guys we are at the
final spot where we're actually going to
do some digging we're going to stretch
out that thumb and then I'm going to
reach out there and I'm going to pick
through this big brush pile and see if
there's something I might be able to
find and by the looks of it may have
just found a pretty good piece right
here a big old tree with a big old stump
that is going to be perfect let's see
what else we can find
[Music]
and so now that I have a few stumps
picked out I'm going to try to get all
the dirt off of them as possible that
way we can really have the whole root
system working for us and you just seen
the power of this excavator but now
hopefully we're going to get to see the
finesse that these things are also
capable of or I can just pick it up and
gently shake
it try to get all the dirt out of the
roots and then now that it's clean I'll
bring it over here and set it right here
now let's go back over and shake out the
other
one bring it right here and set her down
and if I'm lucky I might be able to
finesse my way in
there and be able to carry them both
back in one trip this this is perfect
guys sweet so now let's carry it back to
the pond and uh we'll put them where we
want them this is
awesome all right there we go we got our
first load of wood that's uh two logs
and two stumps now we're going to be
putting a lot more wood in here so where
exactly we put these isn't going to
matter the most but I'm thinking for
this first load we'll dump them right
over there in that little hole grab some
of these rocks put on top of them so
that the way they don't float away by
golly right there's our first load of
logs in the pond now we will repeat that
process 20 more
[Music]
times welcome casy this window would you
like to
tryal I'll take a number one with fries
what would you like to drink that uh
Sierra
Miss does that look like french fries to
you after structuring is taken care of
it's time for step six which is
patiently waiting for rain so that this
Pond can fill up and after 60 long days
the rain finally came
[Music]
and that brings us to today the pond is
at Max Capacity with the
water and it's even successfully
draining out of the
pot as you look out at the pond it's a
pretty good siiz Pond but there is a few
problems the first problem and the most
noticeable problem is that we have some
floating trees out
[Music]
there now I don't know if y'all know me
or not but like I'm just like a dude
from Kentucky I'm not the smartest
person in the world for some reason back
in step five whenever I was putting all
the trees in bottom of pond I didn't
really consider that they would actually
float and they floated so I don't really
have a solution for this but long story
short what I should have done looking
back on it is after I put the logs in
the botom pond I should have took a few
rocks and set up on top of them which I
did on a few logs but obviously not all
of them to fix that problem I can either
go in grab those logs and just drag them
out or I could even take some really
heavy weights tie to the logs and try to
sink them those are really giant logs
and you're going to need a ton of weight
so I don't actually know how we're going
to solve that solution yet but that's
the least of her worries the biggest
problem is that just as we had the
suspicions in episode one of having bad
dirt that could potentially leak
unfortunately that is ex exactly what
happened now what I'm about to show you
is how ponds are supposed to work this
is where the water comes from it comes
off the mountain down this Creek and
into the top of the pond the water
collects in the pond itself and then
whenever the water level reaches a
certain point which is up to this pop
the water flows out the pop goes down
the creek and out the other side of the
pond now that's how a perfect Pond works
new water's coming in Old water's going
out but unfortunately we have water
going out in another spot and it's right
down here on the bottom right of the dam
and this is really bad for a couple
reasons one extra water is seeping out
of the pond but two it's seeping out
below the water level that we want the
pond to stay at which means if we don't
do something to fix that leak this water
level is going to gradually just fall
fall fall fall fall until it reaches the
depth where the leak is which could
potentially literally drain the pond
because we do not know how deep the leak
actually is and so that brings us on to
step seven how do you fix a leite and we
have a couple different Tricks Up Our
Sleeve but for now we got to drain the
pond and find out exactly where the leak
is oh
no oh no that is not good oh goodness no
way no guys I have really really bad
news for the pond so long story short we
were going to come out here and drain
the pond like I mentioned in the last
clip but we wanted to wait a few days
cuz it's was going to come a big rain
and something pretty terrible actually
just happened awesome you know full of
water but the pond
dam broke here we have a big fall I
don't really know what to even think
about it but that's going on over here's
the real bad one the pop is somehow out
of the ground so this is actually really
bad like I don't know if y'all
understand but like this ain't good you
know so what happened is somehow the
water Rose which is all good but it
stopped going out of the pop and it just
broke the dam and figured out that was
the best way to go but what in the world
made this pop buck up like that and it
looks like our emergency Spillway for
some reason you can see it float a
little bit but after so much the
emergency Spillway just wasn't
enough I might tell Dad he might be able
to do something but as for me I don't
really know what to
[Music]
do see the problem and what caused it
not you see big stump floated from up
there and blocked the P mhm
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
oh
[Music]
and it is the next day and everything's
actually looking pretty good as for the
pond dam back here behind me they fixed
it they put more dirt to fill in the
spots where it washed away right back
here at the pop they pushed it back down
filled it full of dirt all on the top of
that and then right there on the other
side of the pop they fixed the spill
wave so Day One update after the pond
dam broke here it is
[Music]
w
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
all right guys we're officially on the
pond I guess this is like the first time
we actually floating on the pond it's a
little weird if you hear something
flying it's cuz there's a drone above me
regardless solution a solution B two
different kinds of powders let's go
ahead and check it out we'll cut it open
and basically I have to spread these
equally across the pond the way it works
throw it in the water it gets in the
water water seeps out this stuff
actually expands stops up the hole
we'll see how it goes basically here's
how it
works scoop a solution
a throw it on the pond scoop of solution
B throw it on top of solution a we do
this until all 100 lb is gone and
hopefully this place will be fixed up
here we go
[Music]
all right guys it's day six after
putting that powder stuff in the pond as
I walk down the dam to where the leak is
you can still see it's pretty wet
through here and we still have a stream
of water coming right in here but what's
important is that the stream of water is
smaller than it's ever been before so as
of day six the leak is definitely not
stopped yet but I have noticed a
significant decrease in how much it's
actually leaking maybe that's a good
sign we'll just have to wait a few more
days and see for
sure all right guys it has been about 20
days since we did that you can look back
there behind me we actually just had
massive rain and so I don't know water's
coming down I guess the pond is full I'm
actually going to step over here and
take a look at the leak I've not really
looked at it much since we put that
stuff in it this right here is the area
with the leak you can actually still see
some water running and by golly right
here's a leak right there I didn't even
notice that that's just water coming
straight out of the ground going out
from the below the pond and out right
here and uh yeah still pretty muddy so I
mean it's supposed to take 30 days for
it to completely do what it's going to
do so let's give it this last 10 and I
guess fingers crossed let's hope for the
best cuz as of right now the leak is not
[Music]
fixed all right so it is day
247 since we started building the pond
and as you can see back here behind me
we're actually starting to drain it oh
right now we have a big water pump out
there that's actually a pretty heavy
duty and giant water pump of course they
make bigger ones but not many now long
story short we're pumping out the water
from the pond out of the pond that way
we can lower the water level enough to
try to really identify where the leak is
that's whenever we're able to fix it if
we really don't know where the leak is
we can't really do much about it and so
we've been pumping for about 2 days it's
probably going to take two or three more
days to really pump it down where it
needs to be so now we just leave that
thing to pump out water take the water
level down and we'll be back to check it
tomorrow
[Music]
all right all right guys it has been a
couple days later and this is where we
are right here right now the pond this
is the lowest I've seen the pond since
the day we built it 200 million years
ago or whenever it was this a long time
ago you get the point though I'm going
to do a real slow pan for y'all just
check it out like I know I know y'all
seen the videos a little while ago where
it was drained but I've not seen this
since like literally back in the fall
when we built it so it's it's down all
right it's sinking down and we're
pumping it dry because the leak we
suspect is still right down in there so
we have to pump this thing completely
dry before we can even begin to start
working
[Music]
[Applause]
on and something you'll notice is that
all those trees and brush piles I added
to the pond in the last episode they've
actually been taken out and that's cuz
they were actually a problem although
they were great habitat for fish they
were not good habitat for fishermen to
fish in so we just went ahead took them
all out and we're just going to restart
with fish habitat after we get the pond
leak
fixed all right guys it's been about 2
days since we last did uh the pumping
out water you can look over and you can
see uh the water's as low as it's been
and especially up here on the upper side
it is starting to get pretty dry but
here's the important part if we go down
to where the leak is it's it's still wet
it's not necessarily rolling out leaking
water but it is still wet so what that
means is that somewhere even though the
water level is Mega low in the pond it's
the leak is still somewhere where the
leak is able to get wet now that may be
a little hard to understand but what
that means is that the leak is still a
problem even at this water level which
is not good that means that even if it
filled up and it never rained again it
would this the leak would just drain it
down even lower than this so the good
news is that it's not supposed to rain
for another week or two and and also
we're starting back work in the morning
so all this dirt right here this is all
fresh dirt that we hauled in here we're
going to be packing this all around the
bottom of the pond and hopefully we'll
pack it right over wherever the leak is
and hopefully we can finally stop this
dang leak as soon as we stop the leak
everything goes into building up the
pond to be the best fishing pond ever
but we can't even do that until we stop
the leak one cool thing I did notice is
that randomly in the bottom of the pond
some animals been walking around in the
bottom then once we got closer to it we
noticed there actually turkey as for an
update today that's pretty much the
update hopefully a lot of stuff's going
to be happening tomorrow tomorrow if
we're lucky we might be able to finally
stop that leak
[Music]
[Music]
oh
[Music]
a
[Music]
and in the meantime we're also still got
the pump going pumping out the water
because even that little spot that still
does have water we want to pump it on
out that way we can pack it full of dirt
too basically a good clay lining that
way no matter where the leak is or how
many there is we can stop them all up
right here right now while we got the
whole Pond drained
[Music]
all right guys something just happened
they're down here draining the pond and
they said there's fish in there they
said there's a pretty big fish in there
about the size this GoPro thing I only
put a few minnows and I'm talking like
10 and they were this big any fish
that's bigger than 2 in long buddy
that's news to make get that want some
men I put minners in here with they were
only like a 2 in long look right here
what one
come those are pretty big big there
there was a frogging a while ago son Big
Two
Fish there's about 10 MERS and they've
had the whole Pond to themselves for
about a year so they grow yeah they got
big
what's the plan now we're going to get
this pump out of the way and then he
start pushing this dirt in there and
we're going to try to seal up over there
where the rocks are yeah we never really
figured out where the leak was we no
it's possible it could be right there
but or it could be on this side and it
could be in the bottom so we put dirt
and packed it in all over could be all
right we if we have to do any work to it
we'll leave it low enough for the fish
to stay down here on this lower
end and as for over here we got a little
bit more to finish up lining the pond
and then fingers crossed Pond should be
leak free now of course there's no water
in here so we won't necessarily know if
it's leak free until a couple big old
rains it's time to figure out exactly
where water level is going to be we're
going to be making a flat spot around
this Edge kind of like a little road
about 2T above the water level that way
we can get down to it and actually fish
and it won't be too crazy to mow but
first thing first for this job my dad is
over there with like a little scope
thing he's going to be looking over here
and seeing what number it reads once
water gets right there it starts to
drink
so we'll see what he says he's looking
through a little scope
thing all right now we head back over
there up six
up
two that's
good you're looking for 3ot
even go down the hill 2
in that's good
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
a
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
and now that we line the entire bottom
with new dirt and hopefully fix the leak
there's one other part of the pond that
needs our attention and that is the
outlet pop and the spillway where the
water is supposed to go out of if you
watched the last episode you know that
we also had a pretty big problem right
here where the water actually stopped
going out of the outlet PPE stopped
going out of the spillway and then just
took a Bel line straight down the dam
which eroded the dam pretty bad and
could have been a disaster if we didn't
get to it as soon as we did so to fix
this problem we're going to lower the
pop a few inches we're going to redig
the spillway and line it with rocks so
that it helps with erosion and then
instead of letting the water dump
straight over the hill and run down the
hill which as we saw previously didn't
turn out so great when a big rain came
now as the water comes out of the pop
we're actually going to let it stay
level for about 40 to 50 yards until it
falls off a rock cliff which has been
shedding water for the past 50 years so
now the spillway is fixed the leak is
stopped or at least we hope and then the
next couple weeks the rain is coming but
before we do that we still got to get
down in the bottom fix that fish
structure which is going to be super
important for habitat of the fish
welcome back to the pond build in the
previous episode we found that the pond
actually had a pretty bad leak in it and
so we drained the pond and layered the
entire bottom with a clay blanket soon
after we got a little rain it didn't
fill up the pond but it did fill up with
enough water to let us know we did in
fact fix the leak which is good news but
here's the other good news in just a few
days we're actually going to get a ton
of rain which means the pond is going to
be filling up by the end of this episode
but between now and then we have to put
the Rocks back in the bottom of the pond
and even build some homemade structure
so without further Ado let's get started
our first objective pertains to the
standing trees you'll see out in the
left side of the pond now when the pond
was first built I love these trees
because I knew it was going to be so fun
to fish in the future however after
taking a look and thinking about a
little bit they were actually going to
be kind of a safety hazard because as
soon as the water filled up above the
trees they were going to drown and they
were going to die leaving dead standing
trees just standing in the pond and if
someone was out fishing on a windy day
well that could turn out pretty bad so
we decided to go ahead and cut off the
trees right above water level that way
we wouldn't have any risk in the future
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
and there we go go we have 1 2 3 4 5 6
and a half trees that are going to be
sticking up in the pond and then we can
fish next it was time to figure out what
were we going to do with all the Rocks
we got whenever we dug up the pond see
originally we put them into rock piles
which is going to be perfect for the
fish however in order to fix the pond
bottom we had to scoop them all up and
take them back out of the pond this is
when I hopped on my computer and started
working on a digital mockup as to where
the Rocks could possibly be positioned
in relation to the water level what I
wanted was for the fishermen to know
exactly where all the Rocks were but
still give plenty of benefit for the
fish throughout all depths of the water
and this is when I came up with rock
lines
[Music]
[Music]
current progress of the pond we're
starting to get these rocks in lines
which should be really really good for
the fishing one more rock and then we're
going to have to save the rock Pier for
tomorrow because it's getting kind of
late and I'm getting kind of hungry
probably going to get some KFC how long
do you think it's going to take to build
the pier half a day quarter of a day
yeah about three there
[Music]
all right guys well as you can see an
hour later it's raining and let me tell
you what that means for the pond so long
story short whenever you're dealing with
dirt rain is like your biggest enemy so
literally as soon as the rain started
and started getting heavy we had to quit
we didn't really have any options
luckily we was able to get about 95% of
the rock Pier finished so basically I
think it's supposed to rain for the next
uh 7 8 hours straight which is going to
be interesting but as soon as it does
stop raining we're heading back down to
the pond I'm I know guys that's a decent
little bit of rain I wonder is this
going to fill it up at all or is it just
going to get the ground wet I don't know
we're just going to have to wait and
see Sho something like that it is the
next day let's check out that progress
as for last night I don't know dude it
just like never stopped raining walking
up through the pond here's what we
looking at boys by golly we got a lot of
water just from that ain't nothing to
complain about I know that that's that's
like actually a lot of water I bet those
uh big Creek chubs or whatever's in
there them big frogs and stuff I bet
they're pretty happy now cuz they just
got a whole lot more water than than
they did yesterday well buddy look at
that he's been a turkey walking through
here this morning as for the rock Pier
there it is we had to shave it down it
was honestly like way up here but that
was just way too high for the water
level so as you can see we had to
flatten it out really pack it down you
may be asking all right cool trees check
rocks check here check what's next so
next we got to come in here we're going
to grab a lot of that dirt and actually
put it right here so that that gets
deeper and this gets shallower giving
the fish a much wider and bigger spot
that's shallow that they can actually
use to
spawn we're back out here at the pond
this is the current state of the pond
honestly it's got a good little bit of
water in it now what's really awesome
about the water level right here right
now is that it's even starting to seep
up in the rocks at their lowest point
you can just imagine how big fish bait
fish minnows bluegill all kinds of stuff
are going to be relating to those rocks
but one thing I do notice is that even
though we got a lot of rocks in here and
we got some pretty awesome standing
trees I don't feel like we have enough
cover and even what we're going to be
doing in this episode is building some
homemade fish attractors those are which
are going to be perfect cover but as for
now guys me and a we going to head down
to the store buy some of the materials
that we need and then we'll meet you
guys back at the house and we're just
going to get right in there and start
building that fish habitat all right
guys we're back from the store here's
what we have we have these black buckets
which we did not buy but it doesn't
really matter if you buy them or not
it's cheaper if you don't you can steal
them or something then we got this right
here it's actually 3/4 in Black tubing
it's stiff enough to where it's going to
keep that round shape and then right
over here we actually have gravels which
we're going to use as well so like I
mentioned earlier this right here is
what we're going to be trying to build
and so what that consists of is we'll
drill I ain't sure how many holes yet
per bucket but a lot but we'll start off
with this right
here just like that cuts it really easy
then we're going to get a saws all and
we just stick that in hole just like
that and then from here once we got like
I don't know 40 or 50 or something
around it we're going to take us a good
gallon of gravel or something throw in
there now that I told you what we're
doing time to actually do it
[Music]
hey Abram did something show us what you
built right here well I saw that we only
had 21 like of these pipes left yeah and
this one has like probably 50 at least
but what I was thinking was what you
really need is more volume more more
more of a 3D space okay so what' you do
here more like a cage Kendall originally
said we should put it all on one side
cuz we don't have very many and I was
like yeah we could do that but then tip
it over like this have them spread out
like a fan and all kind of like make
like a dome yeah I think I think that's
honestly the coolest design now I guess
let's take him to the pond put him in
sounds good all right let's do
it there he is there he is we spotted
him that's
crazy whoa good eye that is the first
time we spot spotted the Bear in person
or a bear like one of six my gosh I feel
like I'm in a national park now they're
everywhere is that the first bear you've
ever seen in the wild no oh no look at
his tracks right here oh my gosh that's
a big bear that's not Rambo he's way
bigger than Rambo Rambo's not that big
dude that was crazy that's awesome now
we got to name that one guys drop
another name once again just like Rambo
shout out Whoever has best
[Music]
[Music]
name as for where did we want to put the
cover I wanted to put it a little bit
everywhere just so that fish could
relate to it no matter what time of the
year was some of it up Shallow some of
it out deep and a little bit of
everything in between but getting away
from cover let's talk about the spawning
Flats my dad's actually over there
digging out one of the spots that was
supposed to be a spawning flat but was
actually a little too shallow so right
now he's just digging it out and in the
process he's going to take that dirt
scoot it on out to some deeper water and
actually extend the spawning flat for
now here we go let's watch him uh build
the rest of this spawning flat
[Music]
as of right now you can take a look this
is the water level honestly guys it's
getting up there pretty high and there's
a reason for that last night we actually
had a really really big rain and if you
look on the other part of the pond
closely you'll see that even though we
still have blue skies already we still
have quite a bit of water running in
that's thanks to like the 150 acres that
actually drains into this Pond which is
why after one big rain this Pond could
fill up quite a bit and as for that rain
I actually had a kg trail camera set up
on time-lapse mode so that we can go
back right now review the footage and
watch the rain come down and watch the
water levels go up so let's go ahead and
do that
[Music]
[Music]
I'll be honest guys I didn't really
expect the water level to rise that much
from one night of rain but I guess it
was just I don't know a lot of rain so
not mad about that that's one step
closer to actually having the pond
complete and one exciting thing is once
the water does does fill up and we check
the ph and some other measurements and
stuff to see how the quality of the
water is after that the next step is
stocking the first wave of fish but as
for now in the pond update we're waiting
on one more thing and that's just a
whole lot more rain and whenever the
water level rises on up we'll go down
and check that leak one more time and
then we'll start testing the water
quality cuz we can't forget we really
can't check the leak until all the pond
is filled up here we go
[Music]
all right guys here with the pond update
we just had a pretty big rain last night
however it was not really the big rain
we was looking for to finish filling up
the pond as you can see the pond is
about 3/4 the way full and now we're
just waiting on our last big rain to
come on and fill the rest up what' you
say mmy I said it's supposed to come
another good rain this see yeah it's
supposed to come rain for the next few
days ain't it yeah subscribe if you're
not already because this Pond build has
been epic and as soon as the water fills
up to full capacity it's time to be
putting in the
fish and here we are one year later at
the pond and it is full of water but we
actually had a pretty big rain last
night and it's actually over full like
it's over full by a lot over there at
the Rock Pier it's supposed to be where
you can walk all the way out to the end
of it but like I said it's a little over
full right now cuz there's so much
coming in it from a rain last night the
rock lines you can see they're doing
pretty slick out here you can't see all
the Rocks but you can see where they're
poking out of water which will show us
where the rocks are then of course the
stick up trees doing pretty good and
then it's hard to miss fresh green grass
growing on the dam let me tell you this
stuff is awesome and the Animals think
so too here's some trail cam footage of
all the different animals we've be
getting we've been getting a ton of deer
bobcat coyotes black bear and of course
a ton of different turkeys and hey we
even had two geese out here which is the
first time any kind of goose or duck has
actually been out here now I will say
this they ended up flying away like 20
minutes after I got here but at least
now they know the Pond's here and they
always have the chance to come back and
that brings us to one year later with
the pond everything is complete however
we still don't have fish in it but I
will say this the fish are ordered and
they're actually going to be showing up
next week so out here's the next Pond
video we're putting fish in here
subscribe to this Vlog Channel if you're
not already because I'm going to be
posting all the pond videos on this
channel now I guess that's it for now
one year review of the pond and it is
officially full of water but a little
bit too full right now we'll catch
you'all on the next video
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