Does any one dive Farm Ponds?

[sgtmaconga]

I was wondering if anyone dives farm ponds? i'm thinking about offering to dive a farmers pond doing a fish count and drain pipe inspection. any thoughts?

[Guba]

Nope...for these reasons:
1) Where I live the surface soil is called the "Texas Redbeds", composed of fine red silt. Therefore, the vis in surface water is ZERO. As in, if it was any worse, it would be in negative numbers!
2) Most of the water in ponds (locally known as "stock tanks") is relatively stagnant. That means nasty little critters such as amoeba (as in amoebic dysentery, meningitis, and other unpleasant and sometimes fatal diseases) are enough of a threat to take all the fun out of diving.
3) We don't call them "stock tanks" for nothing. Cattle and horses often stand in that water, and they have absolutely no regard where they answer "nature's call".

I'll stick to other dive sites.

[ScubaSteve]

I was wondering if anyone dives farm ponds? i'm thinking about offering to dive a farmers pond doing a fish count and drain pipe inspection. any thoughts?

Fish count? "Once I have counted you, please line up over there" I got the visual as soon as I read it...and then the filter between the brain and the keyboard broke...darn thing.

As for diving farm ponds....I would say that I am personally willing to dive almost any "body of water" as long as I have a legal right to do so. I would however strongly urge you to snorkel it first to get a real feel for depth and bottom conditions (last thing you need is to sink to your knees in muck with all that extra weight on) AND make sure you have good eardrops and use them immediately after AND you rinse your gear extremely well after the dive (better yet - RENT) AND do not do it alone (no matter how small the "body of water" you can get into a whole lot of trouble).

Unfortunately, not every puddle is diveable so be cautious and safe.

[SelkieDVM]

I have dived in our own pond a couple times. Not a lot of fun. Max depth 12', little to no viz, bottom is mucky so it's a pain to wade in and out. Our pond is fenced off so the livestock can't wade in it and it always has a little flow, but still, I wouldn't recommend it.

[MichiganScott]

Funny you mentioned this. I've got a co-worker who has a small spring fed pond about an acre and a half big; he says its 27 feet deep but kinda would like to know if anything is on the bottom. The vis seems to be half way decent so this summer I plan on giving it a go, who knows maybe I'll find the creature from the Black Lagoon, or a model T

[frogman159]

I tired to do my inlaws, no animals within miles, 25' deep, stocked with bass and huge koi. Sometimes it looks kinda clear in the summer, they dye it to prevent weed growth. In the spring surface vis was about 3-4' after I put my head under and sank about 5' and looked down, and it was if I was decending into black ink.

[SelkieDVM]

Funny you mentioned this. I've got a co-worker who has a small spring fed pond about an acre and a half big; he says its 27 feet deep but kinda would like to know if anything is on the bottom. The vis seems to be half way decent so this summer I plan on giving it a go, who knows maybe I'll find the creature from the Black Lagoon, or a model T

We actually toyed with the idea of finding an old vehicle body to place on the bottom after we had the pond built, before it filled. We settled for placing several rock piles to provide fish structure.

[J.R.]

... I have a pond about an acre in size... Like the others, I've toyed with diving it... (bass... bluegill)... like the others, the biggest problem is the mud bottom. Part of the problem with "farm ponds" is that they're run-off filled.

Run-off water carries silt...

Silt is mucky...

Mucky makes for lousy diving... particularly if ya' TOUCH the mucky...

... and, like others... I'll stick with quarries and things with better bottoms...

[Colliam7]

I have dived in our own pond a couple times. Not a lot of fun. Max depth 12', little to no viz, bottom is mucky so it's a pain to wade in and out. Our pond is fenced off so the livestock can't wade in it and it always has a little flow, but still, I wouldn't recommend it.

I tired to do my inlaws, no animals within miles, 25' deep, stocked with bass and huge koi. Sometimes it looks kinda clear in the summer, they dye it to prevent weed growth. In the spring surface vis was about 3-4' after I put my head under and sank about 5' and looked down, and it was if I was decending into black ink.

Ditto. Tried our pond once. Very silty, no vis, no joy. No reason to do it again. I do put on my drysuit and wade through parts at times to clear branches that have fallen in, but that is all the 'diving' I want to do in it.

[ZzzKing]

I did a pond once. Zero viz and absolutely black below 2 feet. A true Zen dive. No outside stimulation other than listening to yourself breathe.