......and had no idea what he was getting himself into!

So Rainman picks up a load of fish for me down in Arkansas and gets delayed a few hours down at a fish farm (very normal, fish farms typically are not know for efficiency) As he enters illinois he is greeted by a nice steady downpour and about 50 degrees air temps. We meet at our first stop about 2 hours east of Peoria at about 8:30 pm and load up Justin with some nice feed trained bass, fatheads, and shiners and Justin takes off headed towards a one acre pond near chicago. (this is just a side note, but I love stocking feed trained bass for many reasons!) Anyhow I jump into rainmans truck get a phone call from TJ who wants to talk about our ice fishing trip to Devils Lake this winter, but couldnt chat, we had work to do! so we head to a nice fishing club a few miles away and unload 2000 CC in the freezing rain into 5 different lakes. My rain gear was definitely not waterproof, and Rainman (what a horrible name) was soaked as well.

So we get done unloading the catfish at about 11:30 pm and head for my place. We are soaking wet and fairly cold and have a 2.5 hour ride in front of us. Arbys roast beef and a few candy bars help us get to our destination. About 2 am and we check on the fish and a tank of trout is not doing so hot. so we decide to stock em into my portable trout fishing pond that I use for trade shows to salvage em, but it had already rained 3 inches at my place, so the closest we could get with his 24,000 lb truck was 200 yards away. We bucket the fish over to the trout pond in the mud and rain and are completely soaked all the way to the bone! So then its about 3 am and we believe it or not, actually arent sleepy and both knew it would be awhile before we would be able to fall asleep so we decided to go unload a few hundred pounds of feed trained bass and some large hybrid bluegills at a clients lake about 15 miles away. (that guy just got named the new CEO of caterpillar) so we get to property and I realize I left my keys in my truck we couldnt get in the gate.

This time it was about a 400 yard trip to unload the fish from the road, so rainman persuaded me to just head back and get the keys which we did. So flash forward another hour and we finally are to the lake's edge ready to unload some more fish. Its still raining and we needed to get the 3 tanks of fish acclimated to the frigid lake water. about 25 buckets of water per tank and we are ready to stock some fish! These are some real nice fish BTW! WOW was I ever impressed with the quality. So we get them all situated into their new home and we head back to my place. We pull in about 5:30 am, Rainman gets all cleaned up, but I just dry off and am sleeping before I hit the pillow. 7:30 am rolls around and I have to head into town for a funeral.

I get back to the lake at about 1 pm and Rainman is just getting out of bed in time to watch our osprey swoop down and grab his breakfast- golden trout. (i stocked a few hundred golden trout and the osprey has been eating one every day for the last month) anyhow when Rainman wakes up, it naturally starts raining again and we load up the truck and head out to deliver the rest of our fish. At our last stop we unload the feed trained largemouth, load up a few hundred catfish into my truck and send Rainman (and the Rain) back to St. Louis while I went to a few more ponds to drop off the rest of the fish. Lets just say that Rainman went above and beyond! And I would like to just say THANKS!!!!

So at about 4:30 pm I am about 5 miles from my last stop and I RUN OUT OF GAS! My client gladly drives over and fills up a few gallons and in return I gladly give him a few extra catfish and a half dozen 1.5 lb feed trained bass I had left over. So I get to my parent house about 6 pm, eat some pizza and fall asleep on the coach. I wake up at my house about 7 am this morning???????????

Hoorah! Hardcore guys, hardcore!

Dski and I learned to tip our hats to the concrete guys this summer. Looks like some fish guys are right up there, too.
Good story; nice work.

Rainman is due to visit my pond in the near future.

Now that Nate mentioned it, didn't it rain while Rainman was at the
PB Convention???

There is a reward for the following items lost somewhere in Illinois.............

My 1/2 gallon coffee cup---value $10

1 quart of De-Foamer---value $35

Nate's Carhart's---value ~$100

Door to the Oxygen storage compartment where Nate had stored his Carhart's---value $200

My memory of ever even being in Illinois---Priceless!

From this story, I have learned to always keep my rain gear ready in case Rainman shows up in our driveway.

I can change the "Rainman" tag, but the last name of Rains may be more problematic.........

"Rainman visits Gods Country........"

... and it's NOT about Porturalia. Tsk, tsk.

With that much crazy stuff how did all the fish do ?

Wow, Rainman really gets around.

As Nate said, the trout didn't look so good after we arrived at his lake house around 5am. They had looked very feisty 8 hours earlier. Only about a third of the 150 pounds made it. Forensic analysis determined a trout had died and spiked the ammonia levels which toasted the others.

500 small 4-6" CC were looking great in the holding tank when we headed for bed but the next morning, oxygen to the tank had stopped. O2 pressure was good and the ceramic diffuser was brand new, as was the regulator. No idea what happened but I intend to convert to failsafe, positive flow, orifice based medical regulators. Nothing like this idea is available for live haul use, but it will be soon!

All the fish we stocked were in great condition and swam away eagerly.

Wow guys...my stories with Rex don't come close to this epic! Suffice it to say, however, that Rex's dedication to his customer is only matched by the dramatic adventure that's sure to unfold along the way. What a bonus for us all!

I'm wagering the next plot shapes up like this: A flat tire, a pixie, and an escaped giraffe...

Welcome to the fish business, everyone.

I heard years ago: The only thing more dangerous than raising fish is hauling and stocking them.

It's pretty risky...that's a big reason I don't do it anymore. And, the weird hours.
These guys had a great adventure and a fine time bonding...I'm proud of them and for them.
Some of my fondest memories in this business (and some of the better stories) are fish stories in the middle of the night.
This story tells you about the passion and committment of two of our finest in the Pond Boss family.

Rex:

If you lost the O2 door, do you still have the ratchet strap that held it on?

Great stuff guys. But photos!!! Why do I always have to yell at people for not taking and posting photos?

Nate put the strap back on and it's still there----a foot higher than where it needed to be allowing the door too slide out. I was going to replace it anyway, now I have an incentive.





Pitch black out, a cold driving rain, soaking wet, fish dying, and you want pictures????

Word from Sunil comes to mind here...............Freak!

From our time together, I'm sure I can speak for Nate on this and say......Bob, your encouragement and support are huge factors in helping us to do our best in our chosen profession along with the rest of the forum members.....Thanks!

It needs to be said that Nate worked his tail off for his customers on this little adventure! His customers love him for very good reason---he listens to them and puts thier goals first, and then helps make them happen! Our personal discomfort was never considered till after the work was done and the fish were safe in thier new owners ponds.

Nate earns the respect of his customers and never forgets who he is working for.

Thank god there are still people out there who practice the Golden Rule of business. You work for your customer and they are always right.

Somewhere along the line a lot of corporate america decided that this wasn't important anymore. Actually they realized that average product and average customer service is good for the short term bottom line, but in the end it just bites you in the a%$.

Sorry for my rant. You guys are nuts, but I would probably do the same if I was the boss and it was my repuatation on the line.

That's why rain coats and camera flashes were invented!

And who you calling freak, you PVC murderer?

Tell ya what Jhap, You send me the digital camera, and I'll take the pics-----make sure it is waterproof as mine are not!

Nate learned one thing along the way. He's still not big enough to mess with his parents. If they can still lug him around in his sleep, drive him home, and him not wake up, they are still boss.

Except for the dying fish, I manage half-time show pictures under those conditions every friday night.


Okay, someone does have to hold the umbrella for you.

burgermeister,
I am told that my wife came and got me. Apparently I walked myself and obeyed all orders even while not conscious enough to remember.