Oh, now I remember--my troubles trying to find a good shovel....
I wound up with a heavy contractor-grade shovel that only set me back $30. I haven't broken it yet, but the next year or so will tell the true story.
I asked one of the guys at TerraTech, a local outfit that sells forestry and firefighting gear. He said that pretty much anything you can find today is pretty awful. He said that some fire crews weld plates and gussets on their shovels and fiberglass their own handles.
I've started fiberglassing the wooden handles on many of my tools and that looks like it'll do the trick for most of them. It's a messy job but easier if you do them in batches.
Joe, why didn't you just have your pond bank hydroseeded?