Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations POND BOSS Mini Meeting in El Dorado

In the spirit of Brettski's topic of a few days ago........ "jeffhasapond" and his wife came over to our place today to make good on my offer of some gams. we had a nice visit around the house and then headed down to pond. jeff used a fine mesh swimming pool net with about a 5 foot handle and in just a few well placed dips got about 50 of my "NINE fish" prodigy into a 5-gallon bucket. I think jeff will attest to the amazing abundance of gams witnessed at ponds edge resulting from the initial meager stocking, it still confounds me.

It was a great first meeting with a fine fellow pondmeister, and jeff, I am looking forward to seeing yer place soon.

BTW, i only asked for a six pack, and ya brought me a 12 thanks much, had a fun morning.

Ain't pond boss great!!! All this free information, free help from pond experts and the opportunity to meet a fellow pond meister! What a great place you have Dave, thanks so much for the tour of your home and your property and the free fish. My wife and I really enjoyed meeting you and your wife and we look forward to future get togethers!

I don't know what you are feeding your gams but I will definately attest to the fact that they are prodigious reproducers (see how I worked that fancy word into this meager post).

For the benefit of the rest of you fellow pond meisters:
I gotta tell you that Dave has a great place, a beautiful home secluded down a private road, surrounded by trees. You drive past his pond to get to his home. He has built a fishing platform on one side and has plenty of great structure in the pond. Now if mother nature would only cooperate and give El Dorado some rain both Dave and I would be happy. Even with our low water level Dave has Gambusia by the thousands (spelling?), Green Sunnies a plenty, and I think bass also. His home has a view of not only his own pond but a neighbors pond also. Oh and by the way this "neighbor" is a ranch (not a home in sight) that is comprised of a few thousand acres. Dave will never have to worry someone building nearby.

Thanks Dave for the fish and more importantly the hospitality and the opportunity to meet you and your wife. You two are a great couple and my wife and I look foward to many more fun times together.

Thanks also to all the people that make Pond Boss work, this site is truly a treasured resource.

Neat..sounds like you all had a great time. I too enjoy meeting new people and showing them my meager little pond. Would be nice to be able to meet all of you here on this site and see all the work you have done with your ponds. I guess I will have to settle for pics.

Come to the PB convention and meet a whole bunch of the forum members. Having been to both the DFW and Atlanta meetings I can say there is nothing like seeing and meeting folks in person. The convention should be even better as it is much more than a regional meeting ( talks , vendors with booths, exhibitors , and more time and people from all around the country to meet and visit with).

Dittos jeff, thanks much for the kind words. It was indeed a pleasure to have you and your wife over. I must say, you behaved very well, i think yer medication was working

Actually no bass yet....i am waiting to stock some RES (still ambivalent about pure strain BG) and am quite curious about managing the GSF as the top predator in the pond for about a year. if i decide on the BG, then i'll ultimately need the bass, but in the short term i am wondering how GSF and RES (plus the Gams) would do over the course of year or two.......the topic for another thread.

I took a double dose that morning to ensure a reasonable level of sanity.

But if you read my postings from today, you'll see I fell off the medication wagon again!

I'll bet the convention would be great! Unfortunately it's during the middle of tax season and being a bean counter I'm chained to the desk during that time of the year (figuratively speaking of course, I'm not actually physically chained to the desk that would just be cruel, and PETA (people for the ethical treatment of accountants) would probably get involved if that were the case).

Next year if the powers that be schedule the convention after April 15th I'd make it a point to go! .... and I may even take my medication.

not enough hours in the day, but a great mini meeting was had.



arrrgh.....











that blew me away........thanks JHAP, one of the bestest presents i ever got. special thanks to you George and all the pirate autographers......hey, i got lusk's autograph

note theo and DD1 got the sweet spot

We're so glad you had fun...

Now get back to work.

Love,

Bono and the boys.

You are quite welcome my friend.

Note to non conference attendees and the back story:
A couple of months before the Pond Boss conference I picked up the plastic pirate that you see in the above photo at a True Value hardware store in the "specials" bin. Since it was of pirate subject matter I knew that I was going to do something with it related to DIED but at the time that I purchased it I had no idea what.

Then it hit me.... have Pond Boss forum members sign it at the conference and give it to DIED. So I sauntered up to the moderators booth and asked everyone there to sign it. I then placed it on the moderator's table along with a note asking all forum members to sign it and to keep it a secret until I was able to give it to Dave. It turned out great and I presented it to DIED this past Saturday.




I also got George to specially autograph one of his flies that were for sale at the booth for DIED. Good stuff.

Thank you one and all for your participation and for keeping the secret for so long.



DIED and Jean, thank you once again my friends for such a great day.


August 2008 El Dorado Pond Boss Conference and Extravaganza notes:

JWHAP and I arrived at DIED's at 11:AM. We spent a while chatting, ate a terrific lunch, and then DIED and I snuck off to his pond. By this time it was about 1:00 and hot as heck. We paddled out in his jon boat and began fishing. We caught about 15 fish in about an hour. Not bad for the heat of the day fishing. As per usual DIED caught 10 fish and I caught 5. We had a blast but unfortunately we were so eager to go fishing that we (1) left the camera equipment back at his house and (2) left all of the cold beer back at his house. A purely amateurish move on our part. So after an hour in the heat we retreated back to his house to sample wines, swap stories, and goof off in general. Round came dinner time and DIED grilled up a terrific steak, Jean (DIED's better half) made some fantastic potatoes and a cabbage dish.

As some of you may know, JHAP is not a fan of vegetables. I figure it took humans eons to evolve to the top of the food chain so why muck with evolution. Anyhoo, once again (much like the Brussel Sprouts Incident of 2007) DIED forced me to eat cabbage. Fortunately JHAP had consumed some adult beverages and that coupled with the fact that the cabbage was drowned in some really good tasting dressing and also contained lots of almonds I managed to survive the ordeal. Dinner was absolutely wonderful. We then held a round table discussion in which we solved the global warming problem, balanced the national budget, ended world hunger, and fought crime as well.

Finally at 10:PM we decided that the "August 2008 El Dorado Pond Boss Conference and Extravaganza" should adjourn and JWHAP and I drove home.

A fantastic time indeed.

As an also and besides DIED and I each caught a GSF that looked to be full of eggs (is gravid the correct term?). Since the camera was not present we are unable to present photographs.

Also as and also and besides (can you have two alsos and besides in one post?) DIED decided to teach me how to differentiate between a male BG and a female BG. Having been a college professor DIED uses every opportunity possible to teach practical lessons. Each time we caught a Blue Gill DIED would ask me "Is this fish male or female?" If answered correctly DIED would praise me. If incorrectly identified I received a full facial slap. Although this method of instruction is currently banned in public schools, I for one can tell you that when physical pain is involved you pay attention and learn quite quickly. It took me only two slaps and some verbal berating to be able to identify the ear flap and scale tipping differences between a male and female BG.

Gravid is indeed the term for a female full of eggs.


How barbaric! Doesn't DIED know that slapping you in the face with a freshly caught fish is cruel?

Or did he just slap you with his hand? That would be OK.

the use of my GSF for face slapping is strictly prohibited, although i did use one of my fish training techniques to repeatedly splatter him w/ pond water. as each fish was released i ordered them to slap their tails on the water and get JHAP wet.

i also have just noted that JHAP is soon to surpass me in number of posts, of which between us, you should find at least 9 posts containing a meaninful contribution to this incredible scientific chat room forum.

i admit to the rookie move. two esteemed minimally accepted members of pondboss fishing the best GSF honey hole in america, no camera and no beer....... what were we thinkin dude?

Past you up my friend. Stop adulterating with your "other" board and focus your attention here. There I said it. It's for your own good.

Oh and 9 meaningful posts is probably an optimistic count.




We weren't, I think that is what the problem was. Still a good time was had by all.