Just checking in to see how the fishing has been this summer?

Catmandoo, any miracle trout still left?
Cheyenne, have you broken the world record HSB yet?
George, any big boys survive to fight again?
Cecil, update on any state record perch?
Overton, take any casts into the HSB grow out pond recently?
Condello, you been out pestering any fish lately?
JHAP, have you been out catfishing out west yet?
Bings wife, have you tried fishing your pond yet?
Shawn and Greg dont fish traditionally anymore, but how about any pics via the electrical method.
Ray Scott, are you out there???? Any fishing report from the trail?
Sunil, have you tried any steelman style smallies yet?
Brettski, has the 75 year fishing drought ended yet?
JamesHolt, any pics from your trophy pond?
Beasley, Matos, Theo, Ewest, DD1, Bill, and anyone else out there catching any homegrown fish?

My water has turned really dark brown, but with about two feet of visibility -- like very strong tea. Even with my best polarized glasses, I can't see what is feeding.

A trout floated up the weekend after the convention. I'm thinking it may have been the last trout, but . . .

Several somethings with big white bellies are really hitting my feed hard in the evening. I think they are LMB, but I can't tell. They could even be CC.

Our spring and summer has been near perfect. My pond level just dropped to the top of my standpipe tonight -- the lowest it has been since about February. This usually happens by mid-June. The sunrise air temp has been in the high 40s or low 50s for the last week or so, with daytime temps in the 70s.

We are having a large fish fry gathering this weekend -- a time to cull medium size bluegill (7-9 inches), medium size bass (9-11 inches), and any CC over 18 inches.

If any trout show up, I'll report.

Thanks for starting the thread --

. . . and Nate, when I read this great story, I thought of you (or were you responsible for this??)

104-year-old Little Lady Reels In a Keeper

I have been fishing my new pond to see what is there to catch. I have had good luck with the fish and bad luck remembering the camera. Quite a few hungry 12" LMB, lots of 5" HBG, and last month caught 5 14+" crappie in 6 casts with a heavier beetle spin than I had been using before hanging it up in cover. I also seem to have a fine crop of leopard frogs willing to take the bait. Forgot to set the camera to macro so pic is fuzzy. My water level seems to fluctuate a lot, but the 5-1/2" of rain in the last week should have filled it back up. The fish stopped biting when the temps started topping 100.

Sounds like you're well on your way!
BTW, I believe your beetle spin catch there is a Bullfrog!

BG fishing has been a little slow, Nate, so I have been playing with my LMB more than usual for the Summertime. Caught a new pond record 4lbs 2oz bass a couple of weeks ago.

Also caught a Bullfrog in a minnow trap in my new pond last night - deceased, unfortunately.

Nate, I know what you are up to……just baiting us so you can spring some big fish pictures for us...
Cheyenne, don’t let him get by with this ruse...

Headed for the ponds for damage assessment in a couple of hours.
Hope not too bad… reports of fish feeding – need to find out what species survived in order to determine fall restocking….

August is by far my busiest month of the year with my actual job. Kids are going back to school soon, so every parent wants to get 'em in now. I'm not complaining because I'm blessed to have the excellent group of patients that come to my office. When things slow a little in September I'll take a day or two to fish for redears in the central part of the state. I'd also like to go fish for striped bass in Kansas a couple of times in late October. As usual I don't fish my ponds much. I've had a couple of guests who caught a couple of nice, smaller bluegills. I'm also getting my Morton building ready for indoor production this winter. I have a really good experiment in the planning stages, but I can't talk about it for a while. It'll be good.

I fish with electricity these days and just finished shocking some kaolin pits near macon, ga. These pits were around 40 years old and not sure if the were ever stocked and I know the pits have never been managed. After shocking the lakes it seems that the fish might have just showed up from people dumping fish in here and there. Out of both lakes (one about four and half acres the other about eight) we only sampled very few bluegill, one water moccasin, and no bass. I noticed the bluegill had very big eyes for there size so I decided to pull the otoliths out of a couple of them to age them. I aged two four inch bluegill and one was six years old and the other was five years old. All I can say is WOW. As you can see, kaolin pits have no natural fertility. I also aged a bass from a north Georgia lake (which I normally call mountain lakes) and aged a eleven and a half inch bass at six years old. So as you can see, fishing with electricity hasn’t been all that great.

I wish I could tell you that I have been fishing like crazy and that I have caught a humongous Channel Cat but since I have a stellar reputation here on pond boss for only posting factual information and accurate photographs I am forced to admit that I haven't even gone fishing since June.

It seems that during the month of July I used my time off to go visit some folks of questionable reputation and ornery disposition in the great state of Texas (and of course had the absolute time of my life).

That's the bad news. Now for the good news. We're leaving Sunday to go spend a ten days at our pond property. So hopefully after we return I'll be able to post great stories of fishing victories. Plus I'm going to go pester DIED so we should have some great times to report.

Oh and since we don't have an internet connection, from Sunday on I'll be gone from Pond Boss for about 10 days. Just thought I should warn you that the quality of the Pond Boss Forums will probably improve during that period.

No phone! No lights! No motor cars, not a single luxury,
Like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be.
So join us here in ten days my friends, you're sure to get a smile
From two stranded castaways, here on JHAP's Isle!

But unfortunately for you I'm still here until Sunday. After that the value of real estate is sure to improve for a brief period of time.

This is just my second year living at my new pond. Initially it was overrun with large flatheads. Thanks almost exclusively to Pond Boss, my pond already has made tremendous strides in its transformation to a balanced BG, RES, LMB pond. I followed all the rules - added aeration, added "sputnik" structure, deligently removed the large cats, stocked BG and RES, added FHM, managed the FA and pond weeds. I'm amazed how quickly the desirable fish population has developed.

With the help of the Banjo Minnow, I've been catching 1 to 3 lb LMB regularly. (Someday they will be much larger!) Yesterday my Dad who is 79 and I fished for a couple of hours. He taught me my love of nature and I value every minute I can share fishing with him. Here is our catch. The BG were stocked at 3 to 4 inches the Spring of 2007. Most family lives about 45 minutes from me and they all enjoy fishing. This summer they rarely have been skunked. It is so rewarding to be making family members every time they visit.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h99/dschroeder/Fish.jpg

Bravo Schroeder!

Great photo, nice fish and a DMD for Theo to boot!

I assume the DMD was just for size comparison and not to gig anybody...

DMD just happens to be my beverage of choice, that is other than Jack and Diet Coke!

Brother!

George,
You are right, I do have some monster fish pics!! Check out these Asian Carp. We killed out a 5 acre pond that was completely infested with these fish. They got in about 4 years ago when a creek flooded the property. The pond has been fixed and is being turned into a 47 acre lake.

Catmandoo,
Nice article! Plans are moving along for the Fishing Park!!
Here are some more older lady pics from last week, although not quite 104 years old and not quite 4 lbs like theo's fish.

I knew it.....!!!!!
Golden Bones - try 'em on the fly...
Love the pictures...

So I see in the photo that you caught a female redear along with those bluegill and green carp.

And you drink Diet Dew...And you like Jack Daniels....

Are you sure you're not me?

Great post!

I threw back the other RES. Just couldn't bear to kill those sweet things.

I thought you were off the Dew and high on life.

It's the thought that counts.

You might be a Pond Boss if....

I caught this little fellow yesterday. He's only 7" long, but he was somewhere between 3-5" when stocked in March. I feed all the time, and have only fished twice. I feed off of the dock, but when I went fishing I moved away from the dock and cast to it. Five cast = five fish. They are healthy and spoiled rotten. I just took them their afternoon snack of GFC and 500+ BSF larvae. There is one predator (LMB) in the pond. That's one fish not one species! Put him in at 10", 2 months ago, and he now appears to be about 1.5 lbs. Will put in more (HSB) as soon as Greg comes to West GA (hint, hint). Some of these HBG literally come out of the water when they feed. I've been trying to get a good picture, but they only come completely out of the water about 1 out of 50 hits. That's all for now - carry on.

Nice fish. randy heads up I spoke with Keo today and we plan to get some hybrids from Ark in late september. I can get 4-6 inch that should be fine for your pond. We will discuss as it get closer.

Just stocked some HSB from keo today. Mr. fish brought them up with a whole bunch of feed trained bass.

I have never seen a fish hauling truck so nice, it was immaculate!

Nate got any pics from the stocking?

The kaolin ponds Mike mentioned are mine - I just purchased a chunk of land in Middle Georgia that I hope to turn into a personal hunting/fishing lodge and stress relief destination. I'm looking forward to the report from AES and hope to begin turning those dead ponds into some sweet fishing spots, as well as learning the ropes with advice and guidance from Greg and Mike. I will start a thread soon and post pictures and discuss our plans - most of which will be done by my parents as I live in the Middle East, though I hope to get back once or twice a year to get in the way of progress (and fish, swim, hunt, drink a few cold ones, smoke a cuban or two, and listen to the Braves on radio around a campfire while the coyotes howl and the owls hoot). Sounds like a good plan so far.

BTW, thanks to everyone on this site - there is an amazing amount of information (too much for me to digest but I'm trying)

Welcome to the pondmeister in training in Jordan.

Welcome, edinbowen!!!!

WE were trying to catch some bluegill for dinner and caught almost as many bass.We were using a small panfish hook and some trout bait that looks like a fish pellet.I think a small worm would have been better.

can someone pleas edit

Got it.

First -- welcome Edinbowin. We look forward to your progress.

James Holt -- I don't know what kind of editing you needed from our long-armed friend Dr. Condello, but those look like some pretty good dinner entrees.

You did fillet them, didn't you???

We planned a family fish fry for tomorrow afternoon. I haven't fed the fish for the last four days. I went down to the pond tonight with a can of worms and a fishing rod. Over about 45-minutes, I caught three 4-inch bluegill. What a bunch of traitors!

On the way home from work tonight, my lovely bride bought hotdogs, sausages, and ground beef -- just in case!

My fish apparently have gone on summer vacation.

Welcome to Pond Boss Edinbowin, we're glad you found us.

James, great looking fish and great looking pond.

What happened to the bumper on the white truck - you didn't happen to crash into bigfoot did you?

For all you guys buying from Keo, this might upset you. The HSB in my pond are from Keo, AR. I know that's not upsetting, but they only had to travel 40 miles on the truck.
Good luck with them Nate, I hope they turn out better than mine have.

Ok after reading the entire thread I have to admit that I don't have any new pics. I've been very busy since the 4th and we just recently stopped pumping into the pond, so my HSB honey hole is no longer effective. But just for George I'll put this one up again.


This guy was found with the shock boat.

WOW Cheyenne!!!!

What are you feeding those fish, flop eared rabbits????

Sooner or later I'm going to find someone using flop eared rabbits as a forage base.

OK, you guys are asking for trouble.
Cheyenne, I'm headed for your house with my fishin' pole, then to Nebraska free loading off of Bruce, and then Nate 'ya better watch out for a HSB itchin' Texan with a fly rod in hand....

Hi Charle, welcome to Pond Boss.

Greg,
I did not have my camera, but one of the guys grabbed a few shots with their phone. I will try to get them. The stocking went great! No LMB mortalities and only about 50 out of 4000 HSB were dead. Many of those dead ones had smaller HSB lodged in their mouths.

Catmandoo,
By all means turn the feeder back on and check on those fish!

George,
You are more than welcome to come on up fishing anytime! I have access to more private fishing water than I can possibly fish.

Cheyenne,
I took out a trip on Friday and the lady caught a 3.5 lb HSB!!!! That is over 3 lbs of growth since may 4 2007. Most of them are about 2 lbs right now. She caught it using a big hunk of bluegill guts. We thought it was a 10 lb channel cat at first. Will post the pics sometime in the next few days if I get a chance.

James,
Next Dallas conference I am going to have to check out your place! Steelman will have to come along too, I will clean 'em and he can cook 'em!

Charle,
you will have to explain a little bit more in detail about your river, and what is river boss? I guess I am either a little slow or must have missed something?

JHAP,
any pics of your pond or fish?

Edinbowen, Bob and I spoke of your kaolin ponds on saturday. It will be a challenge to improve the highly acidic water but we can do it. matt and I look forward to the challenge.

Glad you asked Natester. I just completed an update on my property website. It has lots of new photos of the property and the pond.

Here is a link...

Hidden Lake Ranch

JWHAP and I are leaving this Wednesday to drive the 500 miles up to the pond and we are gonna stay through Monday. We have planned a get together with DIED and his BRIDE (tee hee, poet and didn't know it). So after the trip we'll have some more photos. Hopefully one with fish!!!!

I've been meaning to ask you, JHAP, do you and JWHAP have your own brand of salad dressing?

These Hybrid Striped Bass have grown 1.5 to 3 lbs each since May 4th!



DINNER ON SATURDAY NIGHT!



Sunday Afternoon with the family!

Nate,

Your photos continue to be quite disturbing to my mental balance.

Do you need a partner? Would you consider adopting a 61 year old kid?

Ken

Nate what are you feeding those fish? I just ordered the new sweeney bass feeder and I'm going after Nate and Cheyenee for the biggest hybrid. Big food = big fish! Is it possible to ever catch Bruce Condello? I think it is possible!

Nice job on the HLR website update, JHAP. Best part is Dad's dedication.

Use a 10-ought circle hook on 200 pound test line, and land him quickly. It reduces the chance of Dentist morts.

+1

Probably will have to downsize the hook and use an invisible flurocarbon line. Gonna have to get by with light line, just set the drag and play him out. Also going to have to research the best bait to use for whatever season you plan on targeting him!

Make sure to get some good pics!!

We used a 40% protein finfish silver from Ziegler Brothers this year. Overall I dont think it is as good as purina, but Purina would have cost me about $0.15 to $0.20 more per lb and that adds up to quite a bit of money. We used about 10,000 lbs of food this year for ourselves and some clients.

Where did you purchase your big food feeder from? I guess I will have to check out sweeneys website to see if it is on there?

How do you put a shot glass on a hook?

Thank you sir ....I am drooling all over my keyboard...

"Also going to have to research the best bait to use for whatever season you plan on targeting him!"

Hey Nate, live bait, cut bait, stink bait OK for young and old and everyone in between – except you - I hold you in a higher standard...

Show us some of your mojo HSB and LMB caught on the fly...

Thank you Bski and Theo. I still miss my dad tremendously every day. Looking at the photos we took of him at the ranch help me to focus on all the fun that we had together.

Yes we do Theo. Under the brand name of "Hidden Lake Ranch Located in El Dorado California and not in any way affiliated with the "other" Hidden Ranch" (the pesky lawers made us put in the last part in small type so as to avoid a law suit, something about copyright infringement or something). We are marketing the following dressings:

Two Thousand Island Dressing. It's twice as good!

Honey Ketchup Dressing. When Honey Mustard just won't do.

Green with Brown Spots Cheese Dressing. Everyone makes a blue cheese, why not a green with brown spots cheese dressing. Besides we have a lot of it growing being stored in the fridge.

Cleopatra Salad Dressing. A good compliment to Caesar Salad Dressing.

German Salad Dressing. Since French and the Italians have their own salad dressing why shouldn't the Germans. (As a side note it's primary ingredient is some great German beer. It's good on a salad or just drank when chilled. Mmmmmmm.)

All of these are quite tasty on a nice Elodea Salad.

Crazy Glue.

I have lots and lots of Crazy Glue. Go figure.

Definitely one of my most productive straight lines of all time. Put me down for a case of Hidden Lake Ranch Green with Brown Spots Cheese Dressing.

Will do and thank you sir for your order. We should have some Green Cheese with Brown Spots maturing in a week or two and then we'll make you a fresh batch!

"fresh"?

Figure of speech.

George,
we have caught the HSB on liver, nightcrawlers, wax worms, bluegill guts, bluegill pieces, topwater chugs, spinners, crankbaits, rubberworms, and a variety of other stuff, but I have yet to attempt one on the fly??? I havent even had a chance to get the flyrod out much since the beginning of July.

The best bait to catch Bruce Condello with is a Dairy Queen cheeseburger and a big circle hook in the center.

Greg, I'm looking forward to the experience - I'm assuming that challenge comes with additional costs? lol

I know Matt had asked for some of the pictures from his recent visit - my parents haven't had a chance to make it to a computer recently but will hopefully be able to send them in then next few days. I'm looking forward to reading the report and getting started.

Ok, I've got a few questions for the board - has anyone used the floating islands I've read about? Pros/cons?

Also, there is one thread that was discussing adding different species and for some reason, I am now completely fixated on trying to add a few paddlefish to one of the ponds, assuming we can bring them back from the dead. Call me crazy, but I can't help by dream about seeing a 6 foot fish swimming in my pond 30 years from now. I imagine this is the first sign I could develop a problem and will have to thank Mark B for opening the topic and leading me to the dark side.

Glad I could help George

Here's one right back atcha Cheyenne.....
Caught from 1/4 acre pond this morning...
Disclaimer: Condello photo technique....

Nice Fish George!!!
Did you eat him or did he go into the big pond?

Nate, this morning she went into main pond with 14 of her brothers and sisters.

Hope they survive - still not happy with water quality but aerating 24/7.
George

Nice HSB, George!

It looks like you have some Doveweed in the background as well. I bet the birds aren't far away from that stuff.

Great fish George.

I will have to get my dad to look at that picture. He want's largemouth for our pond but I want HSB.

NICE FISH!!!!!!

George that is an awesome fish!

George what did you catch it on?

You are making me want to go fishing!

Pellet fly - catchng HSB fastest and easiest way for tranfer to main pond.

George, great photo, great fish. I see you're wearing the TFO hat, was that the new TFO rod you were using?

That must have been some fight on a fly rod!

Jeff, didn't Brandon give you one of those caps at the conference?
DD1 and I got one for sure - he had a big stack of give-aways.....
MY CURRENT LUCKY CAP!

Like a big dummy in left my new Mini-Mag sitting in the cormer of my room when I loaded my truck, so all I had with me was my 5wt TFO "Professinal" model.
Quiet a fight on a 5 wt to be sure, but had O2 live well for transport to main pond.

HSB on a 5 wt...now you would fuss at us for that.
I thought everybody at the PBC got one of those hats.

He sure did, mine is blue.

... ...

My water has been really yucky for the past couple of weeks -- muddy and with small black nasties floating on top. My bluegill aren't coming up for feed, but the catfish and bass are.

Here are some "panfish" I caught the other evening on stale bread before feeding:



The bluegill is 10.5 inches, but I don't remember what it weighed. The bass is 15 inches, but only 1.5 lbs. (Wr = .80?). The catfish was stocky -- it looked like it had a beer belly. Eighteen inches, and just below 3 lbs. It would have been between 12-14 inches when I put it in the pond last May.

The bluegill's stomach was empty. The bass's stomach was empty. The catfish's stomach was packed to stretching with the remains of pellets.

The fish were hitting most anything that plopped into the water. I'm a little concerned over the looks of my water, and the lack of food in the BG and LMB bellies.

Good fishn'
Ken

Ken that does not sound good. What is causing the water degradation ? Our fish are feeding well on pellets as the temps start dropping. What is floating in the water?

I've had a limited number of "small black nasties" for a couple of weeks as well. They look like small (4" across or less) chunks of FA that have floated up from the bottom AND have some kind of decay process going on - if they were on dry land, I would say they are mildewed.

My feeding has been pretty good during this period. However, the BG take a long time to show up and start eating - 5 or 10 minutes. Once they get to the surface, they are eating well.

No muddiness here, and it looks like there is a late-season algal bloom going on. There are a lot of easily visible "pea soup" chunks of small (phytoplankton) floating around in the water as well.

Theo and Ewest,

I'm not sure what is causing my water issues. I'm not sure if I even have a water problem. I really shouldn't be having any based on the conditions we've had all summer.

We've had good rains throughout the summer. My water level is currently about 2-3 inches below the standpipe, which is pretty good for this time of year. For the past couple of weeks the weather has been mostly sunny and in the 70s during the day and in the 40s-50s at night. We almost always have wind during the day, so I know the water is getting pushed around a lot. Nothing has changed in my watershed -- at least nothing visible within at least a half mile of my pond.

The few bluegill that are coming up to feed are the little ones, mostly 3-5 inches. Much like Theo's, it takes a while for them to arrive. I'm not seeing any medium to large bluegill coming up to feed. There are still about 10-20 bass that are feeding, and of course the catfish.

The water has cleared somewhat in the last couple of days, but it is still brown, rather than green. I'm back to about 12-18 inches of visibility. I have absolutely no idea of what caused all the muddiness. It was during a period of almost no rain.

My "small black nasties" really are quite small. They look like ash from a burned cardboard box. Hardly any are more than an inch across, and they are thin. They float in a "slick." I'm beginning to think they are decayed leaves that the catfish are stirring up. I see a few bigger chunks that sound like what Theo described.

I seemed to have had a pretty good bluegill and bass spawn earlier this year, but I'm seeing very few YOY. I get a few small LMB in my trap if I leave it out for a hour or two, but almost no BG. I don't know if I'm catching so few because they have so much structure to hide in now, or if they've all been eaten.

One other thing. The bass I've caught recently have had red teeth. That is, the area in the roof of their mouths where their teeth are, has been red. I usually only see that in the early springtime when they first start feeding. A Wr of about 0.8 for my bass is pretty normal -- so I wasn't concerned about the one in the picture above.

Oh well, I guess this is the fun of having a pond. Hopefully it is nothing to be concerned about.

Good fishn'
Ken

The brown may be from a late zooplankton bloom and not mud unless the CC are really stirring things up or wind erosion of the bottom/banks. Could just be cooler water temps are slowing things down. Have you checked the water temp ?

Spent last evening and this morning trying to catch some RES brood stock to transfer to main pond. Only caught and transfered two but they were nice ones.

Problem was, every cast or so hooked 2006 class HSB (3 - 4 #"s) and/or 2007 class (1 - 1 1/2#'s) - guess about 20 in all.
Big problem huh?
Not bad survival rate in 1/4 acre pond with record braking heat wave summers, with no aeration.
Gave the larger HSB a breath of pure O2 and released them back into pond.
Near surface warer temp 77.0 degrees.

They were wrecking havoc on BG fry around edges of pond.
Keeping them hungry with minimal AQMX 600 feeding.

Little pond has been a god-send after shock of early July fish kill in main pond.
Also caught several BG and a couple of cull TAF CNBG transferees from main pond - 10+ inchers.

I caught & moved one RES breeder to my new pond as well last night, george; a 9" male. That gives me a total of 27 (or 29? Damn computer hard disk crash last month cost me two weeks of records!) in 1/2 acre.

It's really neat to grow-out and transfer fish - Bruce told us so....!
I've only transferred 4 nice RES to main pond for brood stock so far but will have more.

I'm comfortable with sexing BG but need to go back to archives for RES ID...
Eric - Help....?

From Peterson Field Guides - Freshwater Fish.

Breeding male is brassy gold , has dusky pelvic fins, short ear, thin, flexible red ear edge on gill cover.

Ken, your chunky catfish looks a lot like a 'high fin' blue, or at least a hybrid; any chance?

Eric, good photos. I would have a hard time sexing RES. So, the male actually has a smaller ear tab. APB, I'm afraid to get near enough to know for sure.

I wish Bruce would join in on sexing Redears. IIRC he has done so successfully to combine male BG and female RES for hybrid production, but I think he only considers a Redear a certain female if it is gravid.

I need help with both RES and GSF. I can't tell a male from a female. I made it a minor reseach project to determine how to differentiate between a male and female GSF. I didn't have any luck. Apparently it's very difficult. I read something about squeezing their gametes or something like that, but that sounded way, way too painful for the fish so I gave up.

It is just the way the fish is laying in the pan, and the angle of the photo. It did have a pretty big pot belly (mostly from all the pellets it had eaten). But other than that, it was just a plain old channel cat. It was also a "talker." It croaked and croaked at me from the lawn where I threw it before bringing it up to clean it.

Is it just where I live, or is it cool? This evening, my water is at 64 degrees four feet down, at the end of my dock. It should cool off even more in the next couple of days because of a big storm that is just starting to come in. If this keeps up, I may go get my winter trout next weekend. Last year was so warm I couldn't put them in until Halloween.

It's global warming!

Let's not go there. I like this thread.

Not enough pictures lately though.

I'm getting the evil red "X."

Here are a few of the fish I caught today.

That's a big cat. 8+ lbs?

Looks like your forage base is suffering james.

(Kidding. You know that sparked a call to Overton!!!)

Fishing has been great lately, and getting better as the weather cools down!

I have been swamped lately but here are some photos from the last few trips:

HAPPY CUSTOMERS!

I make all the young 'uns clean their own fish!

Here is a fat and happy bass stocked last summer, caught 10 just like it in about an hour. Measured 11" but the camera angle did funny things taking my own pic. It was fun watching them chasing bait fish around the pond during my work breaks.

Keep the pics a comin'

Spent Saturday fishing with my dad and older brother. Unseasonably warm 70 degree air temps with 57-59 degree water.
Fish were up on the surface feeding on LADY BUGS!!!! 1/16th ounce tube jigs and mepps spinners were the lures of choice!

One of the few times all year that I went fishing just for fun! I thought for sure that it would be an awesome Crappie, Yellow Perch, Walleye, and HSB fishing day, but we didn't catch any of those guys??? CC, LMB, SMB, BG, Yellow Bass, and Rainbow Trout were all biting very aggressively!

Here are some pics:

How big is that last fish?

4-13 oz

My wife has been wanting me to catch a fish that can be mounted and put over the mantel of our new cabin. I thought that was a great idea. She came up with the idea about two months ago and I still haven't caught a "mountable fish". So yesterday she found a website that sold fish that had already been mounted. She wanted to order one but I said I just needed more time. Now the pressure is starting to build. I just don't know if I can take any more pressure! Should I skip work and go fishing? I could say my wife needed me to go.

Please, James, catch your own trophy! I know you can do it!

Absopositivafinlutely, catch and mouth your own trophy.
You wouldn't buy a trophy that said "Congratulations Arnold on your hole in one using a 9 iron on the 195 yd 16th at Augusta" would you????

James, if there's anybody on this forum who has a pond capable of producing trophies in the next two years it's YOU, buddy!

...by the way, what exactly is meant when you say to catch and mouth your own trophy?

The "mouthing" is reseved for those that REALLY love thier fish!

I'm sure you realize that James IS a dentist, right?

If I could catch a trophy out of my own pond I would really mouth it all over!

OK...that was my best laugh of the week so far.

I had my nephew this weekend who is five years old. He can really tell some stories. We got up Sunday morning and I was telling the kids to be sure and brush their teeth. He told me he didn't have a toothbrush. I told him I had a brand new one for him in the box. He then told me that in the middle of the night he snuck into my bathroom and brushed his teeth while I was sleeping. He then told me a story about how a big buffaloe came out of the woods and was about to kill him when his dad jumped out of the bushes and shot it in the eye with a machine gun and saved his life.

When did you get his uncle an AR-15, James? That's not fair. I want one too!

James,
I dont see anything wrong with purchasing a fish mount? I think that is cool!

I also think that mounting some fish from your pond would be cool too!

Nothing would be cooler than mounting a fish that each of your girls caught regardless of their size! That would be a way to get some girls hooked on fishing and also would make an awesome showpiece/mantel decoration.

I guess any type of fish mount, regardless of who caught the fish, would make better cabin decor than a candle or mirror or fake plant!

conveniently finished working today at 2:30 in the afternoon and headed to the lake with my pa and ma. Nov 3 and it was 74 and sunny today!

We just sat on each of the 4 fishing docks for about 30 minutes each. Weather like this in Nov is a super bonus! We kicked back, relaxed, talked about LIFE, and managed to catch a few nice fish!

Fishing method today was bobber and minnow. Wing it out, lay the pole down on the dock, and just kick back.

3 rainbow trout, several LMB, a couple "boone and crocket" bluegill, 3 channel catfish, a yellow perch, and almost a lake record smallmouth!! This smallie was 4 1/2 lbs easy and probably pushing 5 lbs! She spit my tiny number 6 baitholder right back at me. She was getting close to the dock as she jumped completely out of the water, violently shaking her head and dislodging the hook. She jumped so high that she had time to look me right in the eye with a smirk before crashing effortlessly back down into the frigid water.

I knew right away that something real good was hooked on my new Ray Scott rod. Instantly I could tell it was not a catfish and sent my ma to fetch my camera from the mule. I wanted a picture of that fish!!!

here I am showing the Condello Technique

The wife and I fished for 2 hours Saturday and caught practically nothing. It was getting close to dark when we put up our bream poles and broke out the bass rods. In a short time, I caught 3 and she caught 2 plus a nice little black nose crappie. The LMB were ~1 year old and ~12", but fun. We do have some 16-18" LMB in the pond from a few larger ones we stocked, so that makes it more exciting.

James,
Here is a fish we took electrofishing today! It was 24 inches long and well over 7 lbs:

Great fish Nate. Come on down to KC and put that fella in my pond would ya please.

Is it for sale? Let the bidding begin! Did anyone read the article in the magazine about the guy force feeding his bass after he catches them? Nate what is that bass eating? Do you have shad in the pond? Nate are there any threads that you have found that are always there when you find large bass. At the meeting last summer I think Greg said he almost always finds gizzard shad when he finds big bass. Do you agree?

She is swimming back in the lake. She and a few other very large bass are in a 31 acre lake infested with yellow bass, common carp, and stunted bass/bluegill/crappie. When electrofishing it is very common to find the big bass right next to the schools of baitfish! I absolutely would stock gizzard shad if TROPHY BASS was my ONLY goal. It is just too hard though to manage gizzard shad if you want to use your pond for other stuff though.

That guy with the bathtub is definitely missing a few screws!