On my families property below my bowstand there is a small pond (about 50yds by 100yds) it used to be bigger but muskrats have lowered the pond by about 4 feet by digging at the dike. The bottom is mostly mud and used to be great fishing but now all the fish are dtunted and theres not much left. We want to return it to its former glory. What can we do to restore this pond.

Are you a trapper? Must not be if there are rats.

Ive trapped them all out.

Ok, Had me thinkin you couldn't trap. In that case I don't know. LOL

is it silted in too or just lowered by the holes in the dam

It would be best to break the dam . Clean it out fix the dam back and restock. I done this to a pond on my place and the fish are growing well. I went and caught some fish and put in it a few at a time. I put a lot of what I call bait fish a year before I put bigger fish in.

Seeing you are from Wisconsin I will try to help with what I know. First thing to do is to contact your county planning and zoning, conservation office or whatever they call it in Lincoln County. Folks can come out and see you have an existing pond and want to restore it. They will help you with any permitting process, meet with the DNR etc. Good luck, it can be a pain in the az but not so much pain as in you do not get the proper permits.Be upfront with the powers that be and seeing that you have an existing pond they should help you with the knowledge and advice to make the improvements.

Zim

Seems like a couple beaver would fix it up for you. Has the habitat been degraded/altered so that beaver no longer can survive in the pond?

Excavator and dozer was $5000, including two men.
Plumbing and grass seed was $550, shopped and hauled by me.
I finished the surrounding surface with tractor and harrow.

if one man on a dozer cant cut a dam push the silt out and rebuild the dam right without the help of a excavator you need to find a different dozer guy .

Personally I would keep the dozer out of the bottom and use an excavator with a smooth bucket.

minnows,chubs,and more minnows before fish.

Did I hear you say permits and approval by the DNR?Whats with this, you own your property and you still need approval to do stuff on it?
I keep complaining about Ohio but we haven't had any issues with any part of state or EPA,DNR. good thing we have 6 ponds on the property in various states.
Best bet is to as others have stated above, bust the levey ,doze all the silt and get a few more foot depth,and start over. it will be the best investment and have a great pond again.

Yes, I said permits. You cannot just dig a pond here in Wisconsin. Restoration is a different process. I was just trying to help the OP and really could care less about what you or anyone else does in Ohio.

Zim

I would call a dozer guy and have him clean it out. If I had to have a permit to clean out my own pond - I would move.

If I moved every time I was frustrated by local regulations I would have to live in a travel trailer. LOL I believe I could find something to irritate me at any place on earth if I looked hard enough.

To be fair, if you build a big enough pond in Ohio, you'll need permits here as well.

Yes, a full 12 months before adding the fish you want. Perhaps some tadpoles too, but depending on your area they may elect to add themselves without you having to acquire them.

I stocked with store bought minnies by the pound, to avoid adding parasites. That said,
natural wild critters will get in there. It's natures way, you can't keep it "sterile".

Around here, taking a machine into a skunk cabbage patch is trouble, been there done it, once.
When the silt was cleaned out and waterway channeled the dozer went in but avoided the ditch. The niegbor did his earlier, with just an excavator, it took twice as long for more money.
I was just sharing my real experience, thinking it was a discussion. Things likely differ in other areas and waterways differ too.

The one thing I think of in hind sight. I wish I would have researched the Southern Giant Bluegill. A guy that no longer posts here talked them up a lot. I think he was in Ohio.

As far as permits, if everyone had common sense and seeked knowledge, but they do not.
Google up Johnstown flood. Those folks had more resources than anyone, but were too selfish to use em.

Around here if we want to build a pond we just call the dozer guy and build it.