I want to construct a fish pond in my back yard.  However, i am a little concerned with run off and overflow....Does anyone on this forum have a pond that they constructed??? if so any advice on the set up would be appreciated.  

what size of pond are you looking for?  do you live on an acreage with lots of room, say for like a 1 or 2 acre pond, or are you talking a little pond like you would buy at home depot?

Jason

Go to pondboss.com or contact your local conservation officer.

First off, you have to apply with your state for licenses, permits and zoning clearance.  Huge fines here.

also, look at the pond management articles in the toolbar above.  Here is just a sample of some of the stuff up there.

http://bassresource.com/fish_biology/building_a_pond.html

On a sidenote- Here in RI, a guy bought up a bunch of land (alot of swamp) and one weekend (owns const company) he and his brothers went in with the bulldozers and cleared a good part of it out and deepened it in spots.  Now it's a large pond.

He was fined like $300,000 back in the 80's.  They didn't care, it was part of their plan.  They paid the fine and now live in a house that is worth 10x what it was before (i.e.- much more than 300k!)

How things get done in R.I..........geez

Also, Ray Scott has a series of videos out about this exact project.  Covers EVERYTHING from location to stocking to water quality managment.  A must read for you right now if you are looking at this seriously.

As LBH said. Better check with your local agencies as to the whats, wheres and hows of this deal.  Since you didn't say what you've got to work with any attempt to dam any type of stream, creek or dry wash leaves you at a potential liability risk to anyone below you should said dam fail.  Even if it's merely a big hole dug in the ground you hold the same risks to liability and regulations as someone installing an inground pool.  Check this out first.

def. check out pond hoppers website he mentioned.

i just looked over the forum section of it and its def the place to go for this kinda thing