Pond location

There are many ponds in my area. I live on a slight sloping property which has a low point where there is a sort of creek that has been cut out from water flowing. There is lots of land which has slight fall toward my land, I have used a laser and verified this. I have deep clay soil. Is there any reason not to dig straight down with no dam and put a pond at this low point where water runs through? I always see ponds that are dam type. But I never see them put at a low point, I guess because of silt buildup? The same thing happens in a dammed pond. Maybe it's because of going to deep and hitting rock

Sounds like the best possible site, no damn is probably the safest structure of all, in fact I heard there are legal requirements as to damns, and pond size...but if there is no damn, then I think it is possible to have up to 1 acre pond without any govt. permitting...subject to your local law requirements of course! As for silt, that is why ya dig it down deep first, because silt is going to get in there somehow. If you prepare for & immediately put in erosion control plants like ferns, bushes, or whatever, that stops erosion pretty well... gather those early from the site before you dig an save some money. Hay bales are good but they look like hay bales & grass seed may not be the kind you want.

James Beam

Sounds like a great place for a pond to me.

I second the comment about planting vegetation to prevent dirt,etc. from flowing into the pond.