I know that with the new format we are supposed to post pictures on “Show off you catch” topic, but a good forum friend of old time PondBossers has asked me to continue the Fishin’ 2012 thread :
“george is there a fishing 2012? I like looking at your fish growing”
I like to see his fish growing as well!
Any objections - if so moderators please delete.
George

Just for you Sunil - from the past ....

Posted for Mike

Good idea George!

Thanks Scott!!!!!!

The 'Fishing 20__" threads are iconic, Hef!

But how could you start the thread without some pictures??!!

Sorry George, but no ice fishing pics this year at our ponds due to the awesomely warm weather. But last week we caught some amberjacks, tuna, and wahoo while fishing down in Venice:






The rest of the pics can be seen at Nate's Fishing Blog Offshore Fishing Report Venice, LA

NICE Natester!!!!!
I love a challenge and you just proved that you also - I already knew that!
Amberjack, tuna, and wahoo!!!
WOW -SUPER GRAND salty SLAM!!

Love fishin' the oil rigs!!!

Nate, have you eaten some of each yet? My fav is Wahoo, followed closely by fresh Bluefin.

Those Wahoo swim pretty quick, don't they?

Nate I just got back from venice fishing for trout and redfish. It was awesome fishing I caught three redfish over twenty pounds.

We ate tuna for lunch today and it far exceeded my expectations! We ate amberjack for dinner and it met my expectations cause I eat amberjack somewhat frequently, but it just wasnt fair to the amberjack after eating the tuna first! its amazing at how fast the wahoo swim compared to any other fish!!

James, Venice is my new favorite place to fish! Pretty much any saltwater species you could ever want to target!!

George, I think flyfishing the rigs would be the funnest form of flyfishing on the planet by far!! Its amazing at how many fish there are by those rigs from the top of the water column all the way down to the bottom! Someone needs to invent a freshwater oil rig fish attractor simulator pond version.

nate how far out did you have to go from land? I get really really sea sick

Nate, PM before next trip - You can land a big fish on a 12wt fly rod quicker than a boat rod. The fish is fighing the rod - not the fisherman.
No bottom feeders on fly rods tho - just Wahoo - Kings - Dolphin....

You and James are making me jealous!

Kings were everywhere and were a nuisance, so were the sharks!
James, we were out about 20 miles from shore, but there are rigs much closer.

I have found that the best cure for seasickness is line jlaving(leaving) the reel. Yeah, I screwed up(fat fingered the keys) and Ken caught it.

jlaving: (Scandhoovian/North American: yall ving.), re: "ya'll leaving." Translation of Scandanahoovian decedents living in Texas and Oklahoma, meaning, "it is leaving." Equates to the word "ralph" in most of US and Canada.

I spent much of my 20's and early 30's sailing the seven seas, and spending many of my younger years on inland lakes, like Lake Superior. Sometimes that term lent itself to stomach contents. Sometimes it referred to line on a reel.

If you are prone to this malady, definitely don't have any alcohol the night before. Don't have coffee or fruit juice with breakfast. Make your breakfast bland and absorbing. Have some oatmeal with just a little sugar, but with no milk or cream. Have several soda crackers, or several pieces of semi-burnt toast. Make sure you take your Dramamine.

Don't go inside or below decks. Keep your eyes on the horizon, not the deck rail or a spot on the deck. Don't lie down. Catch a fish.

If you do feel you have the blue-water flu, use the rail, and not the deck or the "head."

Tyhjentää,

Ken

I am so glad I don't get sea sick. From seeing many who have, it doesn't look like any kind of fun. My wife usually doesn't, but got it bad on a whale watching trip on our honey moon. 15+ foot seas and a boat that'll do 30+ mph through those seas was taking its toll on almost everyone on that boat though.

I've been sea sick before and it is miserable. I have it narrowed down to Inboard Diesel Engines and mid sized boats with cabins make me more susceptible to getting sick. also taking all the precautions Ken and Dave mentioned above!

james holt, what a way to make a re-entry into posting with us! (Freak)

Ventured out on likely the last ice of the year. While I was popping holes and my buddy was cleaning them up, I asked him to check the ice thickness which he stated was "around 3-4". Satisfied, I began setting up a few BG rods when I accidently dropped a waxie in the hole. I bent down to retrieve and thought I'd check the thickness for myself. My heart was in my throat when I measured no more than 1.75"! No where to go at that point, and it was clear first ice since our last thaw, so we stuck it out rather close to shore and sitting in our sleds. Suppose he knew there was no way I'd head out on the ice knowing how thin it was. Not smart, but glad we stayed as I stuck the two largest SMB to date. 16" and 15.25" Mamas - one on teardrop/waxie and the other on minnow rig meant for YP and HC.

Nice lookin smallies TJ, I guess in NE. you guys don't drive your trucks on the ice.

Certainly not this year. Typically we'll see 6-9" for at least 3-4 weeks in NE, although the past 4-5 years we've seen up over 20" and ice around for 8-10 weeks. Been a very warm Winter, just like the rest of the country.

Those are some awesome looking smallies!! Catching them through the ice isnt very easy to do in most places!!!

Those smallies are gorgeous! Sure looks cold there...

Great looking smallies TJ! Awesome surprise they were I bet!

Good job, TJ.

Beautiful Smallie TJ! You're dressed like it was cold out or something!

n8ly, yes diesel fumes get nasty, especially if the injectors have a lot of hours on them and it's running a bit rich. I got to learn to dislike boats that drifted stern first and got to know the fleet in San Diego well enough to know what boats to stay off of.

Also, if getting sick on the boat, try and remember what side is the downwind side. Bouncy seas, diesel fumes and fishing at night is about the worst combination that I can think of, especially when I haven't been out on a boat all year. I'd take an anti-seasickness pill or wear a patch for the first day or two and I'd be fine the rest of the year as long as I went out at least once a month.

The crew wasn't happy with a buddy from Oklahoma. He came out to visit and we went on a 2 day trip. He got seasick, and used the sink in the cabin for a depository. Not good!!

Congratulations TJ - love those smallies - can't imagine ice fishing tho - supposed to hit 70 degrees tomorrow!

We're in store for 40-45 next 10 day forecast. By then it's almost March, wow....can the end REALLY be in sight?

Wow this is amazing guys...some questions:

Where is Venice? Is this FL or LA, MS, AL? Sorry for my ignorance.

How much can one expect to lay out for a day or two?

I want to fly fish around these oil rigs - it's now on my BL list.

Never stuck one thru the ice, until this year, this is number 5 and 6. I think these girls have turned the corner on gape limitations and are utilizing some of my abundant 3-5" BG and larger GSH as forage. Makes a huge difference. I was very impressed with their body condition in mid winter.

those are really pretty fish I wish we had had them in texas

Lake Texoma has smallies in it. It is a pretty good smallie lake and its not that far away from you.

A good captain out of Venice, Louisiana to fish the oil rigs will run you about $1800 for 6 guys for a day. Or if you wait about 5 years or so I will take you out on my boat. This baby right here is on my bucket list:

Count me in, Nate. I'll buy the Cheetos!

James...let's get it done in your pond. I have feed trained SMB ready to be seined in March. Bruce has hauling tanks Banks custom designed for him. All you need are some cages to grow them out. They are the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. They won't likely reproduce for you down there and won't compete much with your LMB, but you can supplementally stock every 3-4 years and maintain a population with a good pellet program. They love AM LM formula!

Harvested about a dozen female CNBG in 4-8 inch slot limit (one male gill hooked) this morning. Released many young males such as photo below. Sons Stan and Jeff cleaned about a dozen last evening plus three fat HSB.

Finally broke down and killed some of my babies but they will be scrumptious delicious tonight.

George if I was closer I would buy some of those to improve my stock.

Wish I could get them to you Eric but have to cull the 4-8 inchers and release the obvious males - mother nature will do the job if I don't!!
Fantastic genetics - true conformation!

First open water fish of the year. And the wind didn't make it easy.

So where'd ya snag the RBT? (figuratively, not literally )

Local lake. With the lack of ice, I'm thinking there's plenty left for the taking. They sure are fun to catch on light tackle. We ended up with almost 20. Kept 5.

If you need to catch a shave, Omaha, just put some milk on your cheek and let the cat lick it off.

I let myself go on the weekends.

NICE!

I'm sorry for staying away so long. My father passed away in the fall of 2010 and I didn't do much fishing last year. However, the early spring and warm temps have thinks cooking at my place. We caught 270 crappie last Sunday.

My condolences to you and your family.

From your pond?

Cason, sorry to hear about your Dad.

Nice haul ! How is the lake and farm ?

My Condolences Cason - been missin' 'ya!!!!
Welcome back - love your pictures!

Carson, sorry to hear about your dad. How old was he?
Welcome back. Send some more pictures of those monster HSB from your lake.

Thanks guys, I appreciate that.

Things are well. Timely rains last summer combined with high commodity prices made for a good year.

I'll try to work on the HSB this weekend. We're planning on restocking some this year. Jeff was supposed to do a little electrofishing tomorrow, but the weather isn't going to help us, so we may have to put it off until next week.

Great fish everyone!

Here are some of my modest fish:) I realize they pale in comparison to others but oh well.

http://www.connorkelley.webs.com/

sorry for your loss I have been missing seeing your posts

I was down at my dock earlier, and I saw something swimming on its side, in circles, near the top of the water. I grabbed a net and pulled this dude out!



Right at 12 inches.


Right at 2 lbs.


And over 2 inches thick!


He had rot of some kind on his tail and anal fins. He did have a yellow grub on his tail near where it was red and rotting. I haven't cleaned him yet. It will be interesting to see what he looks like inside.

That is a chunk Redear! Very nice.

Holy mackerel! Good job Ken...I can only pray for the days when I see these in my ponds! Any clue of the age? Tell us what you find in their stomachs, please.

Are you going to eat him? (OK....perhaps a stupid question)

I'll bet him is a her.......

NICE fish Ken!!

Great redear! What kind of grub get's in a fish?

Scott -- that's embarrassing. You are absolutely right. Plus she was full of eggs.

TJ - I couldn't identify what was in her stomach. It was dark grey mush. I have absolutely no idea how old she might have been. There were a few RES in the pond when we bought it seven years ago. I attempted to cage raise a 100 2-inch RES in the pond about 3-4 years ago, but they all escaped. I don't know if any of them survived the bass luncheon party that day.

Sunil -- the filets are vacuum packed and in the freezer. Each skinned filet was 6-7 oz. We would normally have served one up like this tonight, but there is a turkey and oyster all-you-can eat dinner at a church just down the road tonight.

Spinnerbait -- I think I was wrong about the grub. It may have been a seed or something that was stuck there. Most of us put RES in our ponds to control grubs, and I don't remember seeing grubs in other RES. The RES eat the snails that grow because of waterbirds pooping them out. The snail larva invades the skin of bass and bluegill, and I'm sure other fish. Some are "yellow grubs", some are "white grubs" and some show up like pepper in the flesh, and are known as "black spot." The white and yellow grubs are harmless to humans, but some people are squeamish about eating fish that have them. When fish have them, the grubs are small 1/4-inch worms that can be seen on the fins and in the flesh of filets.

The snails act as hosts during one stage of the parasite's life cycle. The snails themselves are not the parasites. I believe the eggs of the "black spot", or Uvulifer Ambloplitis, parasite are deposited in bird feces, while those of the "yellow grub", or Clinostomum Marginatum, are deposited from the bird's throat, while it feeds.

I think that's correct?

I shot a cormorant with a valid texas permit and it was full of nasty worms in its stomach all just wriggling around. I buried the bird according to state law. Thats where those nasty worms are coming from.

Ewww!

I sure hope those birds can't find their way to WV!

What a monster RES catmandoo!
I didn't manage any large HSB this weekend, but we did catch 127 crappie. When we started our crappie harvest four years ago perhaps 50% were large enough to scale and cook whole. The rest were too small. This year approximately 7% of our fish weigh 2lbs or more. Last year that number was closer to 2% weighing 2lbs or more.

Thanks Nate - love kids fishin'...

n8ly, you guys don't do anything 'small!'

So it is summer up there already as well I see. Nice!

we were warmer than san diego, cozumel, and the florida keys!! still got 3 more days in the mid 80's!

Sunil, we enjoy working and fishing one in the same. Every spare moment is booked up for the next 5 years...

I did some fishing from shore Wednesday evening.

The mosquitoes are terrible because the barn swallows haven't arrived yet. At least I hope that is the problem.

My right hand (after surgery) isn't quite ready for catching big LMB; some soreness afterwards.

I caught 7 LMB in the 2.5-3 pound range. One may have been 4 pounds. The smallest was caught on a Buzzbait and the other six on a Spinnerbait.

It was a good, first open water, 45 minute fishing event. OK, it was great!

This is the earliest ever open water fishing (March 21st) with water warm enough to catch some fish.

Dwight, make a slight modification and go with live bait to ease up on the casting pains.

Live bait is for ice fishing.

When I first started to read your reply, I thought you were going to get all Ho Chi Min on me!

It's not just for ice fishing!!

....and for women and children ....

Brutality!!!

Very good George !! ROFLOL

Here is an "it depends" story/situation for you guys.

I would generally agree that live bait works better if you pick the right one. I almost never fish with live bait. When I do its crickets or worms for BG/CNBG/RES. Up until a couple years ago I would have proclaimed that live bait fishing with crickets as described above is the hands down most effective method !! Then I tried Stubby Steve’s. I did a test on 3 different days (spring , summer and fall). Every time the SS beat the heck out of crickets. It would work even when the crickets and worms would not. These were both feeder fish and non-feeder fish.

So here is the question - is SS live/real bait or artificial ?

It is manufactured! Along with most other baits, be it in a display at Walmart, or getting a couple dozen GSH from a bait store.

If a human had anything to do with it, with exception, It is manufactured, be it live or not! It sure is real to the human senses, as real, as real can be!

Notice: This is just an ill attempt to answer Eric's question

Just tied this one up to try to explain the difference between bait and artificials - maybe catch a big ole bucket mouth I betcha...

Soooooo... where does that leave those of us who tip our artificials with live bait?

I will readily switch between live bait and artificial, or any combination thereof. Whatever it takes to catch fish.

Of course, my Granddad had a much more direct way of getting his point across, when it came to artificial vs. live bait:

"Son, are we going fishin', or are we going to catch fish?"

I'm comfortable using live bait. I think even George would agree 'cause I'm told "Oh grow up!" frequently.

Yeah, I know - just jokin' - catchin' is more fun than fishln'.

You know me Scott - I have a short attention span - I get bored without a challenge ...

That's a sweet fly, george!

When angling for LMB, SMB, BCP, and BG a highly skilled angler using artificials will consistently out catch (large numbers of large fish) a live bait angler.

What really matters is that you enjoy fishing no matter what technique you may use.

Yes Sir, and you can pick up a fly line and recast to a rising fish quicker then reeling in a line, and as a bonus leave a fly in the "strike zone" longer than with a lure or jig!!

I'm not sure I'd be the farm on that one, Chochise.

Why would you want to be the farm?

If Sunil wants to be the farm let him be the farm.

And the subjectivity vs. objectivity debate lives on.

I guess I deserved that!

But just so you know, I AM the farm.

I concur. You are the farm. I am the Sun.

I wouldnt be the farm on that either muchacho. There are times when live bait will slow you down on aggressive congregated fish, but those times would not be classified as the majority or consistently.

Also Sunil used Dwight as a very valid point indeed to the benefits of being a well rounded and highly educated fisherman. Many more fishing opportunities in your life as opposed to not fishing while waiting for the right opportunity.

Dwight, I disagree. There is be a reason that live bait is banned in bass tournaments. It isn't fair.

The only way to really settle this is: the stick and I in one boat pitted against two live bait anglers in their boat on a mutually agreed upon pond or lake (that hasn't been previously fished by any of the participants).

The stick and I would handily win this contest and yet the argument would continue with the usual live bait angler's excuses, "too sunny", "too windy", "too cloudy", "fish weren't hungry" .......

I think you just threw the glove at the farm....

I think this would be a good thing to happen during the fishing tournament at the next PB Conference!

Well, Dwight is threatening to come, but the stick has not indicated one way or another....

There are times I use live bait in open water, but I agree with Dwight in most circumstances. The fish are after food, so the most efficient way is to keep your offering near them, and entice them enough to go for it. I am at Lake of the Woods extreme northwest MN during the conference. Sounds like an interesting challenge though.

He looks pretty happy George!

My nephew will really like this. Thanks!

While you fellas were arguing I went fishing.

258 Fish in total. 233 of which were crappie.

Coo coo ca choo!

Sorry. Slipped into a Beatles moment there!

Fish fry next weekend ?

No doubt, Eric!

My 9 year old daughter caught one of the biggest LMB we've pulled out of our 1/2 acre pond just yesterday. She had been fishing a little artificial lure and I found a worm so we hooked it up. I helped her cast to two LMB I could see hovering just below the surface then gave her the rod. She did a great job of just twitching and slowly reeling when her line went taught and she started screaming! She set the hook and after a nice little fight, brought in a 15 inch, 1 lb. 7 oz. LMB. Due to poor planning on my part, I did not have a camera and had intentionally left my phone at home, so no pic, but that little girl's ear to ear smile is permanently etched into my memory!

Nice mess of crappie! 25 fish limit per person??

Those crappies of that size in that quantity are just down right impressive. Just out of curiousity, live bait or artificial?

Todd is the walrus.

Weather has been so awesome this March, its felt alot more like June than it has March. Anyhow, fish are biting like crazy (not like cheyenne crazy, but we are catching lots of fish)

Bluegill were schooled up near the surface over 14 feet deep water and we were catching them on crankbaits:

ewest,
We actually had a fish fry yesterday. It made for quite a nice day.
We caught most of them on a combination of live and artificial. Wax worms are the ticket to catching slabs with a jig Nate! I'm very impressed with those BG. We never see hogs like that at my place.

So were those crappie caught from a pond?

WOW - nice gills Nate!

Break out the Canola oil and your favorite fish powders!!!

so lets some this up, cheyenne is a live bait fisherman who just caught 250 big crappies on live bait. The only logical conclusion is that live bait is supreme until somebody posts a picture of more than 250 big crappie caught on artificials......

This to was caught on live bait Nate.



MrHello,
To answer your question, yes they were caught on my pond.

Man these are all nice fish!

Cheyenne,
Some day I am coming to your lake crappie and catfish fishing. On a totally unrelated subject, let me know when you and most of your family members are headed out on a family vacation.....

At least the gun-toting family members....

Cason, you and Nate don't count as challengers to bait vs. lure fishin' cause y'all ain't normal (fishermen) - besides that Nate is a "closet" fly fisherman - Brandon and I taught him to cast a fly rod at PB Conference II and he won a silent auction fly rod...

I've got plenty of room. I've even got a nice lodge with 9 beds to put everyone up in. Just say when.

Right now I am building my house with every spare moment, but as soon as we move in and get a bush or two for landscaping I am headed to Arkansas!

Tomato plants work well as bushes/landscaping.

I am so hungry for some fried fish. I would love to join nate or cason eatin all those good lookin fish

This 34lb BC was caught with a fly on a TFO 7wt flyrod....

Have some pics to add from this past weekend while fishing below Gavins Point Dam, Nebraska side.

Just a hair over 21" and 3.5 pounds. Caught a lot of small walleye, but the sauger we caught were really good sized fish. And a species I hadn't caught before.



A couple other species that were firsts for me...







Caught some drum and a bunch of white bass as well.





Crappie was a surprise.



Another solid sauger.



My buddy snagged this paddlefish on his 6'6" UL rod on 5 pound test line and landed it!





Always nice to lose track of how many fish you catch. Definitely a memorable experience.

Wow, talk about a mixed bag! I bet that was fun.

It was an absolute blast to say the least. At first we never knew what we had on, but as we continued to catch fish we started to get better ideas of what we were pulling in based on the fight.

You had a heck of a day fishing!

Wow good job Josh. What is pic 3 and 4? Looks like a shad of some kind and a silver carp? Nice sauger and can't believe a paddlefish! Amazing.

minners

Pic 3 is a goldeye. First time catching one and I caught a ton of them. Great little fight on them and lots of teeth! Found out the hard way as I tried to lip my first catch. Yep, pic 4 is a silver carp. They're all over the place up there. You could almost walk across the river in places there were so many skimming the surface. You couldn't help but snag a few while jigging.

What a diverse day, Omaha!

Try to keep your eyes open when being photographed....

Haha, duly noted. In my defense, if you're referring to the sauger picture, my eyes were open, but just looking down at the fish. I haven't caught enough big fish to be great at the presentation yet. Hope I'm getting better though!

Very nice! Do you know the water temp? Looks like you had good weather.

Wasn't sure of the water temp. The weather was very nice. Kind of chilly, but comfortable.

Yeah it's a chump change bass, but it is a 2012 bass I caught today.

They were not biting until I started throwing a fluke.

Fluke = 6 bass

It got almost to 90 degrees today outside of Dallas,
good God I'm not ready for summer yet...it's still March!

Caught these today, both 9.5"

Male HBG, 17.7 ozs



Female HBG, 17.9 ozs.

Nice fish!!

You probably should see the LMB spawning, or getting ready to. I had one male on a bed last week, but the cold weather chased him off.

You're right on Scott, the bass are beginning to spawn. I noticed yesterday that there were a half dozen large RES hanging out in deeper water just off their spawning area also. If the water temps don't drop it won't be but just a few days and they'll be on too.

It's supposed to be warm for the next few days, but then another cold front rolls thru.

Caught a couple on live bait today.

26lb


25lb


32lb

Nice cats !

whoa cheyenne...those are some healthy cats!

I love seeing a fishery so well managed that BC fill a niche and the lake remains productive. Success story here for sure. Thanks for sharing Cheyenne.

Monsters!

Agree with TJ. Well done as usual.

Cason, nice fish!!!
Do you stock them or natural reproduction?
What role do you think BC play in your pond management to create such a productive lake?

George,
I know that some hybrid blue x channel catfish were stocked over ten years ago. I didn't think many had survived the draining of the pond in 2003. I didn't count rays in the fins but the top two looked like those hybrids to me. Jeff from SE Pond and I have talked often about these large fish and what possible role they may play. Our only guess is that they could be controlling the large gizzard shad. We never have electrofished a shad over 10-12". We've decided not to remove the large fish because I do think that they are playing a role in our pond. I'd much rather remove more smaller catfish that compete with HSB and LMB for the same size forage item.

Well I wish I would have had my camera, but I was able to pull a black crappie off the bank in my small pond. Think it was try to nest up in about 6 inches of water, and you could see the black stripe down its nose.

My father tried a few times to get it with a jig, but I had to show him up and toss a minnow out, it was neat to what it come up and hit the minnow.

Not sure why they had the black nose, as I did not think that is what I bought, but sometimes you may not know where your source came from. Still a nice 10 inch crappie which was stocked 2 years ago at 3-4 inches.

Cheyenne I like that theory regarding control of your GS, and the fact you aren't seeing any GS reach larger sizes common for them is definitely a clue that supports your theory. The HSB and LMB probably enjoy schooling GS and hammering them all Spring and Summer, too? I recently read an article in In Fisherman about trolling a shad on the surface for BC. Amazing they are very active predators, even chasing and taking bait from the surface. The more I learn about BC the more they amaze me.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=286477#Post286477

I just stocked several ponds with farm raised pellet trained blue cats and am excited to monitor them closely over the next few years. Very exciting stuff.

Anybody out there catching fish on artificials??? sure havent seen any recent pics? George? Dwight? Anybody??

I've probably caught a dozen smallish LMB on artificials - senkos and a plastic minnow, maybe by Gulp.

I am dying to get out and go fishing. This weekend when I go home. Will be targeting bass on artificals

Caught some good bass on rattletraps.

11" RES [pond record and NE Master Angler]
14" HC [pond record and I'm sure a MA for NE - new species for sure!]
14" YP [pond record and NE MA]
8 HSB up to 24"
20 SMB from 13 - 16"
9.5" BG [pond record]
Dozens of GSH up to 8-10"

All on jig/crawler or lightning jig.

Have some pics, will post soon.

jig/crawler is considered live bait. TJ your post can be likened to the guy who starts running before securing the football or the gal who changes the babies diaper without a new one readily available, you simply need the pics in the same post for validity or all you got is just words...

All you others claiming to catch fish with no pics dont count either.

OK, I don't count because I NEVER carry a camera. It's just not me.

However, last Saturday morning I broke out a 3 wt fly rod and some bugs that George gave me 3 or 4 years ago. I need to practice with it for next years trout trip to Arkansas with my BIL. I went to the dam to practice since there are no trees. I never fish there. George showed me how to do this stuff and I had to stop and think about just how to cast that thing. No sweat; it worked but George probably wouldn't have appreciated my form. I started catching BG from 5 to 9 inches on every cast. The rod broke on the 2nd fish so I went back and got a 7wt and continued. After about 45 minutes I went back to the house and got my Wife. All of this continued, after a break for breakfast, until about 2:00 when we had to leave.

At one point I went back to the house for another rod and nightcrawlers. The only fish that we caught on live bait were 3 to 5 inch. I figure the fish are pretty well conditioned to the red and white bobber. I hauled about 15 fish back to my previously dried up forage pond.

Gotta buy a couple of 3wt fly flingers. Just why are those things about 3 times as expensive, with very little technology involved, as a good level wind casting rig?

MRHELLO, I seem to recall that the black stripe on the nose is a strain of crappie that came from the White River in Arkansas. I believe Lusk said that but I could be wrong.

Nate, headed out this morning with 60% chance of thunderstorms - man's gotta do what he's gotta do!!!

Last couple of weeks all docs - CT scan clean - no rectal cancer detected - butt doc scope - no cancer - cardiologst told me to get out of his office, he had sick folks to see about - retina doc coming up - bladder cancer doc coming up ..... back in shape - goin' fishin', rain or no rain!!

Yeah - you betch - I'll have pictures....

Dave, I am so proud!

You ought to be proud. It's all your fault.

George, with all the good news, when is the next Tarpon trip? I'm glad to see you back out and enjoying life!

Pond record RES



Pond record HC



Another nice HC

Records are dropping all over the place here! Are you releasing the crappie TJ?

Awesome looking fish. That RES is a chunk.

Leaving the Crappie in. I cage trapped an Age 1 HC - first reproduction evidence. I was happy to see it was certainly not in good shape at all - so I'm hoping the research on HC F2's is accurate....really hoping. I will post a photo, Condello has it on his camera.

Wow, that is good news. Does the offspring have the distinct "blacknose" as well?

Only found one - and it lacked the stripe.

Clobbered CNBG this morning - biggest 11+ inches and 1.5lbs - photo tomorrow when I get home.
Just heard - tornado warning - batten down the hatches....

Fish really turned on this morning after storms yesterday.
Mrs. G's CNBG below.
Colors more vivid and colorful than photo.

George I am copying the pic to add to our CNBG thread.

George, the place made it thru the storms O.K.? I called my buddy down there last night, and he hadn't heard from his foreman on the ranch. He was in Plano at a seminar when the storms rolled thru Dallas.

Yeah Scott, lots of wind and rain but no damage.
Good rains continue to flush bad nutrient laden water - I am a believer in syphon spillway syssems!

I believe the "media" sometimes tends to exagerate storm damage by mulitple helicopter shots of same area from different angles - not to lessen concern for tormado victims.

Wow! That fish is oustanding George!

George, thamks for the update.

I caught a nice size sunfish (I believe a bluegill) in my pond (no picture). It was very fat and had a swollen bright orange area on the front underside. Much more pronounced, brighter orange, and swollen compared to other fish that I have caught. Is this a sign of spawning? Would this be a male or female?

Males have their colors get more pronounced when spawning. Females stay pretty blah looking.

they're getting bigger...


also saw the first snake yesterday
don't know what kind he was....

"Was"? Sounds like he is a "dead" snake! Never seen one that long and slender!

Nice LM!

I agree with Spinnerbait - nice LMB, but even nicer dead snake! I killed one this evening after cutting it when I apparently ran over it with my lawn tractor. I grabbed it and chucked it into the pond while it was still wiggling hoping to see a LMB eat it, but no such luck. Oh, well. At least it's a good snake now!

a buddy tells me that it was a rat snake and that we shouldn't have killed him because he is a "good snake"....oh well

It is a rat snake. They are good snakes. However, the snake I shot on thursday was not a rat snake, but it is now a good snake. Sorry, no pictures, the impact of the bullet tossed both halves into the pond and after a little bit of wiggling, it sank.

This one is first fish of 2012 for me. Not measured or weighed, but was about 14 inches and 1.5 lbs. Caught out of my own pond on 3/25




Fished about 1.5 hours on Sunday, 4/8 and caught my new personal best LMB. 19.5 inches and 4.43 lbs on the digital scale. We're still a bit cool here at 52 that day. Caught out of a local lake.

Nice fish!

Great fish George!

Thanks Cason – CNBG lost his color before I could get camera ready.
Photo below is example of pure Florida CNBG genetic confirmation that I select –copper nose, crème tip tail fins and fewer, broader vertical stripes.

Really have some good ones this year in spite of record drought and heat wave last couple of summers – released several pushing 2lbs – hope to hit the magic number this year. Ours get broader and thicker when they hit 10-11 inches –
Can’t wait to see some of your monster HSB….

very nice cnbg george beautiful colors. Caught them with a pellet fly? Do you target them differently than the hybrids?

James, as you know, fish are not that predictable - they have to tell you what to do .... my current generation of HSB won't take pellets at all even tho grown out on fead pellets at the fish farm.
Gonna have to feed them spin flies or white clousers - tied up some glo minnow flies but didn't get to try them this week.

Water is turbid after all the rain.

As luck would have it George, we set a new pond record today. I wish my friends had better FPPT to show just how impressive this fish was. It could be my proudest moment as a pond owner.

This HSB broke the 10lb mark!

Here is a 7lb from today.

We have caught 8-9 lb HSB. I hope to get to 10 lbs this year. We need to make it this year as that crop of HSB are nearing their life expectancy.

Cason, you just made my day - CONGRATULATIONS!


Eric, I knew you could do it!
You guys are setting the bar very high for us wannabes!
CONGRATULATIONS!

Made another trip up to Gavins Point Dam yesterday, hoping to catch some fish just before those storms rolled in. The bite was "slow", so to speak, but we still caught fish and had a good time. We drove into the teeth of the storm on the way back.

Oh, one more thing if Bill or Travis, or someone else would like to lend their thoughts. At some point during the drive back home, the batteries died on my minnow bucket. Considering the conditions I was driving through, I didn't really care and didn't change them out. There was only one fish still breathing when I arrived home and it wasn't a FHM. Another angler added some minnows to my bucket as he was leaving the river so I'm now not sure if this fish came with the ones I bought or was one that he added. Anyway, am really curious what you think it is.



EDIT - He has since died and now his fins are flared up.

Thinking stickleback.

I believe you are right. They are common in FHM that you buy from the bait shop, at least around here.

The worst of the storms miss you?

We got a lot of rain and tornado warnings, but none of the real ugly stuff that hit south of us. I took I-29 back down yesterday and hit just loads of rain just south of Sioux City. My buddy went a different route, on the Nebraska side, and drove through water covered streets.

Eric I think the life expectancy is greater than you think. What do you think the age limit is? The biggest problem we have with ours at this point is the tackle required to catch them has gone up in size and many of the fish now have hooks in their mouths from broken line.

James here is the data.

https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/54/


The usual life span of
hybrid striped bass is 5 to 6 years--
more similar to white bass than to
striped bass (30 to 40 years).

Cason,
Your fish rock, BTW how old are your hybrid striped bass and have you restocked any of them recently?

Ewest, up north here I would disagree with the typical lifespan of 5-6 years. We will see though, I stocked year old fish in 2007 and still have most of the originals with no signs of them nearing death.

I have electrofished many area fishing club lakes who have hybrid stripers well over 10 years old. Those fish typically grow alot slower than my pellet fed fish, but they are still nice 4-6 lb fish.

Yes - Stickleback for sure

Sorry just saw the fish Josh, it's a 9 spine stickleback. Very common fish to get mixed in with bait FHM. Cool little aquarium fish. They would be fine as forage fish in a pond IMO as well.

Really? I keep hearing that fish don't prefer them to eat. Not sure if it's the spines or a taste thing, but that's what people have told me when they've attempted to use them as bait.

Nate,
We restocked some HSB three years ago. I would guess that this fish was part of our 2006 initial stocking. It appears that few of those fish are left in the pond, so I would say that Eric's numbers are pretty close for southern ponds. All of the fish pictured were caught on live bait FWIW.

Eric if what you are saying is true what is a realistic size to shoot for as a trophy?

Trophy is in the eye of the beholder. IMO anything over 8 lbs is a trophy HSB. Keep in mind I am new at HSB stocking as well.

Its funny you say that eric because three years ago I would have said five pounds was a trophy now Im thinking over ten. I had a funny thing happen this weekend. I bought a shipment of shiners from andersons and had them add some black saltys to the order. I let them go in some thick grass along the shore line thinking the bass wouldn't come up into shallow water in cover to get them. boy was I wrong. At least the fishing was good in a foot of water for a while. I think that was the end of trying black saltys as a forage.

You guys are catching some magnificant fish already this year. My ice went out a month early up here in MN so I have got some fishing in. I'm just a bluegill and crappie guy so i can't show any big bass pics. Here's the pond record crappie so far at 2 pounds 2 ounces and a large HBG that isn't the record but is 1 pound 7 ounces. That tray on the scale is 10 inches long so the fish is over 10 inches.

BZ; Pretty serious fish.Congrats

What a Crappie!!!

Nice fish BZ. What is in the pond in addition to HBG & Crappie ?

Thanks guys, the only other thing in the pond are LMB. I cull them out at about 2 to 3 pounds.

James every study I have seen shows extremely high initial morts on small stocked fish ( <4 in.)into a water with adult predators (LMB and others). Habituation is critical.

Great fish BZ.

Eric I agree with you. Anything over 8lb is a trophy HSB in my pond. That's only two fish so far. We've had several 6-7lb, but 8's are another story.

First 5lb HSB I ever caught was a trophy for me - then a 7 pounder - an 8lb HSB is my trophy goal.
I believe small ponds are at a disatvantage to you big pond/lake guys.

Took the wife fishing a couple days over the weekend. Conditions were tough and I guess the majority of people were having a hard time finding fish. We did quite well, however, netting at least 10 different species.









My reason for posting, however, is about this fish. I posted it over at Big Bluegill last night and the guys seemed to question this fish's genetics. My objective during these outings was to get my wife on some fish, not necessarily myself, so I didn't examine the fish as thoroughly as I might have otherwise. This is the only photo of this fish. He was very thick. This lake was flooded over the summer, then locked back up recently, and there is just a smorgasbord of species now. When I caught it, I assumed GSF. The guys at BBG are thinking either HBG or possibly GSF x PS. What say you guys?

HBG it looks just like what I stocked in my pond.

You are really mastering the "just woke up" look in the first picture with the walleye!

Haha! It's being pointed out that I guess I make some interesting faces while getting my picture taken with a fish. My wife laughed at this one...



And then there's this one...



Thinking about making goofy faces my schtick...

You were just happy to catch another Drum.

That was a little one. Though her BG was a big one.

Here's a bigger drum.



Saw this fish chase my jig close to shore. Tossed it back out hoping he stuck around. Third cast in the same spot he nailed it.

I took Noah out fishing on Sunday after Church and we had a BLAST! This boy is only 4 yrs old and he fished hardcore with me for almost 4 hrs out in a boat!!!

Catching hogs like that will keep a 4 year old entertained! Teaching young kids to fish in well managed private bodies of water makes things so much easier! Awesome stuff!

Look at that smile! He will remember that forever.

"Dad...... fishing was dynamite" he kept saying. At one point he even offered to let his grandpa and uncle real in one of his fish cause he was "catching" them all.

Memories are forever - priceless!
You are a good dad Nate!

That kid may never truly know what good parents he has!

That is as good as it gets right there.

Did you keep any of the fish?

I can not remember do you like to eat drum?

At least those are your well managed waters. I started my daughter out on the river close to the house as I caught many fish there. Mainly drum and carp, but it was still fun to get out and have a nice fight.

Well back to the story she liked going there and caught her largest fish to date which was about a 5 pound carp, which we had to keep and try to clean without much success. But now if we actually go fishing somewhere her patience is pretty then. I hate it that she has turned out this way but I guess I should have taken her somewhere else to learn as then she would understand it is fishing and you are not always guaranteed fish.

But at the river you are more than likely going to catch something. May not be big enough or fit to eat but usually get some action. She always asks "where was it I caught the big fish daddy, huh, why can we go there, what was it called again" "When can we go back". At any rate I tell her it was a carp and we you caught it right there on the river. All I know is she enjoys going out and asks every weekend if I can take her fishing, I just wish she understood I can not go all the time AS MUCH AS I WOULD LIKE TO, daddy has things at the house we have to get done. But I try to take her as much as I can and just pray she stays interested in going. Such good memories and experiences are formed.

Forgot the fish basket in the car and it was a bit of a hike so we ended up releasing everything.

And drum are delicious.

This just made my month. Wow...how cool on every level is that? You have a mini-Nate on your hands...bet he doesn't let you out of his sight very often. True blessings Nate!

Josh where are you catching those WE? On minnow/bobber? Those look like nice stocker sizes into Cottonwood Pond!

I do not believe PS genetics are likely on that HBG - not that common down here. 99% certain it's a really nice HBG [GSFxBG].

Desoto. 1/8 jig and minnow. No bobber. Though I may incorporate a slip bobber next trip. Lost probably a dozen jigs at this spot.

Thanks for the ID. That makes 19 species for me this year!

19 wow! Great you are getting your wife into the action. Those are some decent WE.

Excellent fishing guys!!And Nate......how cool is that? Poor kids ruined for life though....how do you outdo this?

Nate, you're creating a monster! Great pics!!!!

At this stage in his fishing career, the little ones are just as important to him, if not more intriguing. "are we gonna take a picture of this one" was the question while reeling in every fish. He couldn't put the connection between what fish got pictures and what fish didnt. They were all special.

When my dad took me fishing it was basically I could come along and pretty much fend for myself and keep myself entertained for 4-8 hrs. When I take my kids fishing, the focus is 100% on them, conversation, answering questions, throwing rocks, searching for frogs, talking about fish, etc and usually even then I only keep these outings 15-45 minutes. This was Noah's first in the boat all day excursion and it did get long for him, but he was so proud of himself for the accomplishment as we prepared and planned for his big day out with the guys.

I have taken this same approach with all 3 of my kids and all of my nieces and nephews and 13 out of 13 are hooked on fishing and spending time with their uncles outdoors.

Eric can you help me find a chart to show what a 27 inch hybrid should weigh? We didnt get a girth but did get the length. One of my friends killed a huge 25 incher today by somehow cutting his gill. The thing had blood in the water everywhere.

Nate those are awesome pictures

James, "Inspired by Nature" website has a good Length/Weigth calculator that I have found to be reliable.
IBN chart for Hybrid Striper:
25 inches - 8.71 lbs
27 inches - 11.09

WOW!!!!

thanks george i went to the website and could not down load or find it. I didnt catch either of the two big fish if I had I would have made a mount for my cabin of the bigger one. The hybrids were really biting this weekend

James, here is the website but I can’t find the fish calculator download.
IIRC Bill Cody is the one that recommended this site years ago – maybe he can help.

http://www.ibnature.com/

(Ooops not from a pond)

Well, we needed more pics!

is that your dock zep

Has anyone tried fishing with black saltys from andersons fish farm

It is James...but not for long.
We have a buyer!
Hopefully be closing within two weeks.
Heck I had to find a way to pay for the new pond.

Lake Fork Dock For Sale (sale pending)

Hit up a buddy's place last night. Crappie were biting when I first showed up, then we went after the cats. Caught three nice ones. My buddy couldn't figure out how to get the glare off the pics taken from my iPhone, but I thought I'd share some of the "Whoops!" pictures...





And this was the best of the evening. 25.5"

Nice cats!!!

couple of fish from this weekend.

Way to go James!
What is your weapon of choice?
Those are fatties!

Nice fish James ! You need a pocket scale with a tape.

Thanks George! I usually am so worried about the fish dying I often measure them without taking a picture but the one on the dock was already dead. I weighed it but it wasnt huge so I forgot what it weighed. I think around eight pounds. The other one my dad was holding he really wanted a picture. The one he is holding is 25 inches and we caught another one he has the picture of that was 27 inches. The 27 incher is the largest we have caught so far. The fish seem to have an increased mortality with the larger fish swallowing the hook. Thats what happened to the one on the dock. We have been using gizzard shad from the pond for bait which also increses the mortality. I think these fish are from the original stocking but I could be wrong.

Eric how big are your hybrids getting?

We caught a bunch of stripers over the weekend! They are packing on the lbs...

James, my IBN calculator say a 27 inch HSB weighs 11.07 lbs!!!
WOW and CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Any one else dares a guess?

WOW, n8ly!

Is that Drake?

yep, thats drake. he is a fishing fool. he knows how to say fishy and fishing!!

I would say in the neighborhood of ten lbs or so.

It looks 10 lbs to me.

We caught some good fish of many species on Monday evening at the proving grounds.










Got some crazy stuff going on in this 30 acre lake. Nothing natural about it. It was the most sterile lake on the planet back in 2003 when we purchased it. Took me a few years and plenty of experiments gone wrong, but we are turning the corner and transforming it into one of the finest multi-species fisheries on the planet.

whoa....those are some very nice fish. Good job!

very nice fish....Thats a true "honey hole"

If you had to take a guess at it how old would you say those hsb are?

Dream fishery right there for anyone who enjoys fishing diversity. Just incredible.

If I had to take a wild guess at the age of those stripers I would have to say 6 years, 11 months, 12 days.... Plus or minus about 2 weeks give or take. Their first 11 months were spent growing out in a hatchery. Then their first summer at my lake I grew them out in a big net before releasing them that fall.

Excellent fish. Congratulations on creating such a great fishery.

Nice fish Nate!

What steps did you take to "un-sterilize" it?

What are the stats on that fish? Crazy big looking in the pic...

CJ, it was a crazy big female bluegill that took a #3 mepps spinner, but it wasnt as big as the pic makes it look. My guess is between 30-34 oz. We have a bunch of bluegill in the 26-30 oz range, but this one was just a cut above the rest.

Dave,

When we bought this lake in 2003 it had a bunch of green sunfish, a small number of skinny 2 lb largemouth bass, and every third or fourth fishing trip you could catch a big 8-9" bluegill. Very little aquatic vegetation, no cover, zero runoff as the lakes sits on top of a huge hill, and visibility down about 20'.

At first we started dumping in things like lime, fertilizer, windmill aerators, all kinds of fish, all kinds of aquatic vegetation, trees, catfish food, etc. (thats when I got started helping other people with their ponds and lakes cause I knew where to buy all that crap) Absolutely anything and everything that had to do with pond and lake management we were dumping in and trying. After a couple years of growing some monster catfish and some marginal success with some big smallmouth bass, along with lots of scams with the likes of the georgia giant people, arkansas free fish guy, "hybrid" crappie, broken windmills, feeders that didn't work, etc etc, I stumbled upon the Pond Boss website, spent a couple years stalking Bob Lusk and the rest is history.

Here is the kicker to this lake, swimming is actually the main activity of the lake so everything I do with fish these days has to maintain at least 10' of clean clear water or momma aint happy. Also growing trophy fish is not the focus either. Large numbers of multiple species is the focus. Most people that fish are very inexperienced anglers catching a fish for their first time, or catching a new species they would never encounter in their lifetime elsewhere.

Most of the good fish in the lake are stocked fish. It is still very hard to grow a fish from start to finish in here. We have lots of natural reproduction of many species, but those fish just dont have what it takes to grow into good adults in this environment (blessing and a cursing) To overcome that we have our own hatchery, cages, etc to grow em up to size and stock them large enough to get over the hump and turn into adult fish.

This info is just a drop in the bucket to what goes on in this lake, but its the proving grounds for observing and manipulating fish populations.

Can you say extensive management !!!

Being able to age and ID the origin and life history of every single fish in a 30 acre lake is a little over the top right? You wanna know what is even crazier is that its all in my stinkin head (yes I know I am not normal).. Every fish since 2003.. We are talking thousands and thousands and thousands of fish from over 12 different hatcheries in the US. Every species and subspecies that I can get my hands on has been experimented with.

Nate,
That is truely impressive! Have a fish distributor that I work with here in MN (John C.), and he has commented to me on the projects you work on and there "cool factor". And I thought I was OCD on pond management.

Nate, that's simply crazy - you are crossing boundaries and achieving remarkable things. Trophy WE, HSB, SMB, BCP, BG...are you kidding me? Nutso, hat's off to you. Absolutely love it.

While Lusk was in Omaha with Bing and some other guys at the Warren Buffet thing I offered to spend the afternoon with Youngblood at the pond. We caught/collected a few dozen CSBG for my cages then started feeding the HSB. He tied into a nice 19"er





Last weekend the kids had the urge to do some fishing/swimming. About 3 weeks early on the swimming - but figured if they could handle the mid 60 temps, I'd let them go for it.

Sure look confident before hitting the water



My son jumped in, began crying because of the shock of the icy water temps, and I had to lift him out! My daughter learned and decided to adopt a more deliberate approach:



After a few minutes to acclimate, they were still pretty chilly! Can you hear the chattering teeth?




After they dried off and warmed up, they caught a few CSBG first





Then we moved onto the HSB:

Violet caught a 17" fish - little on the trim side:



August topped it with a fish just under 20", and full of either AM LMB pellets or hopefully BG!



I tried my hand at landing that elusive 25-26" female I keep seeing hammering the AM LM pellets - hooked two fish, but lost them. Gotta beef up the tackle!



All in all, good day at Hudson Pond!

Beautiful kids - fish too!!!!

Thanks Geo!

I like tru-turn baitholder hooks for your pellet flies as the barbs on the shank hold the fly well, and I get solid hookups on nearly every fish with the tru turn design. However, even a #4 isn't strong enough for HSB. I am thinking of switching to a #4 octopus [WE] hook instead. I may miss some fish, but can't afford my hooks getting straightened and losing Moby again! Any other hook recommendations?

TJ, I like #6 Eagle Claw "baitholder" hooks for AQMX 600 pellets but Mustad baitholder hooks are good as well - barbs on hook shank keeps hook gape away from pellet fly.
Sure like the color of your HSBs!

You should adopt Young Blood.

Hudson, I believe I was in your pond this time last year while it was 101 degrees outside.... It was like 60 degrees in Peoria and then Bang 100 degrees in Lincoln outta nowhere.

I'm going to buy some tonight online. I should have known better than to fish with heavy wire hooks. Still, pretty cool to see one of my babies straighten a hook!

Are you coming back soon? I want to put in diving platform and a zipline. Maybe you'll have some time to knock those out...probably take you all of 30 minutes with your bro and crew!

Processing fees too high.

LMAO!

It's expensive to adopt.

TJ:

I like Owner hooks. Really sharp, and I've yet to have one break or straighten out. Broken Gamagatsu hooks, but not an Owner.

Ya know, there ARE drag settings on the reels................ and "buttoned down as tight as you can twist it" isn't one of them!

Not if you put him to work.....On another note, nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught....25-26" hsber, lets see it to believe it.

Ok this didn't come out of my pond,
but I caught it yesterday on a slab fishing for sand bass.
My biggest cat at 9 lbs.
Lake Grapevine, Texas

What a healthy and fat BC. I take it there was no release - except into the grease?

TJ....is that what it is? A blue cat? I would have released,
but the guys I was with said "heck no we'll fry him up".

Enjoy all the photos people post
, this is not my pond/lake ( I wish ) it is private though and those are pellet fed HSB, and nice BG.

hopefully the images work, I had posted awhile back for help catching pellet fed HSB, thanks for all the advice. I had 3 different scales but not sure any were working that well, any guess on the weight of these? I think the one's I posted are between 23-26in

Nice fish! The HSB x HBG combo is killer....

What a mess of string stretchers.

Rounded Anal fin = CC. Straight = BC I think that there are other differences (slight differences) too.

You did right keeping it. I don't know if it would have survived if released the way it was bleeding.

Anal fin ray count and if you have seen a pile of them, you can see other slight variations that give them away 80-90% of the time...

Fun day at the pond yesterday.....





small pond drive-by

Horsies takin bath in Texas temps already nearing 90

Zep, I like that single-man boat!

With a gas engine to boot!!

Sunil...thats my brother's boat. I love that little mini-bass boat. It's exactly like a big boat, except it's like 8 feet long. Some local Texas company made them back in the 80's-90's. I wish they still made them! I told him to leave it to me in his will...lol. We tried it out for the first time on the new pond yesterday.

New Pond record! A friend caught this 22" 6+lb LMB in our 4 year old lake. Caught at high noon on a bright sunny day on a Watermelon Senko in about 10 feet of water.

Nice!!!

wow Captain1 that is healthy looking bass

Great looking fish.
Like the way he's holding him.
Did you put him back?

I love the coloring on the fish. Very pretty fish.

Yes, we put him back in after the pictures. He was cleanly hooked in the mouth. Later that day I caught a 4 lb fish making it the best big bass day for that pond. The 4lb fish had swallowed the hook and I cut the line. I hope that it survived, because it was also a beautiful and fat fish. I have read that gill hooked fish rarely survive but that swallowed hook fish can make it. is that so?
Here is another angle.

Bluegill pics from fishing my lake on Saturday. If you look closely you will see many different strains of regular and hybrid bluegill.

Good Lord! what incredible bluegill! What an accomplishment.

Bruce would be proud.

nate, that female looks like she's going to explode! Beautiful fish!!

These pics are the definition of success.

Captain1, a gut hooked fish usually can make it; hopefully it wasn't bleeding at all, or at least too badly.

n8ly ,
by hybrid you mean CNBG and regular BG strain cross actual HBG?

Captain1....does your shirt say "Lake City, Colorado"?

My brother has a cabin in Lake City near the Packer Massacre site.

We've been going to Lake City every summer the last 40 years.

Zep, yes- that's my buddy that caught the fish. He vacations in Lake City each summer. He leaves next week for a month in Colorado.

wow...small world
a month in the Rockies...lucky dog
that's my dream one day
June/July/August = In Colorado escaping Texas heat
Rest of the year @ Pond in East Tx and/or College Football

N8ly, can you tell us more about the strains of BG? Interesting just how dark many are...

Captain, I don't know if they all survive swallowing hooks, but this one of mine passed the hook.

Zep, he is a lucky dog between jobs and has a couple months to play. He plans on hiking the 14ers and trout fishing over that time.

Bobby, most of my hybrids that I have are bluegill mixed with green sunfish or bluegill mixed with redear sunfish (not pictured).

CJ, I have raised and stocked bluegills from pretty much every major hatchery in the United States. I also get bluegills from many of my other ponds.

I have the lake so full of every kind of predator, that bluegill would eventually become extinct if it werent for raising and supplementally stocking them.

I caught 8 small bluegill for my 6ft back yard pond and cut the line and left in the hooks they swallowed. They lived two years and grew to full size.

I've also used lures as decoration in my aquarium, seen the hooks rust up in a matter of days and also read that the acid in the fish dissolves them even faster (seems possible).

Never had a bleeding fish live however.

Got to fish my pond for a spell today while catching BG to transport to my neighborhood retention pond. This LMB was just over 4lbs. and caught on a shiner:

Healthy looking fish, bro. Male or female?

Randy, I don't know for sure, but I think female. It had a pretty angular bulge in it's gut, so it seemed pretty healthy.

I feel this LMB was stocked in my pond in '05. At the time of stocking, it was at least a year old at 12-14". It was during that 2005 Bass Master Classic, and a lot of those LMB that I got had injuries in the center of their lower jaws. This bass had that sign on his jaw.

So this LMB could be 8-9 years old. He/She's survived a lot of scumbag poachers, and perhaps I've caught it a time or two in the past.

I dont know about the green carp but the rain sure looks beautiful....

So THAT'S what those dimples on the water are. We haven't had any here for so long that I forgot.

Nice fish Sunil!

Lori caught today, we caught a bunch 16" - 17" but this was the only one of size

Jesse caught this 20" post spawn LMB on Bremerpond (guided by the stick) on Sunday afternoon.

Nice fish Sunil!

Nice fish sunil. You have beautifully clear water what a beautiful pond.

Hey! Where were those things when we visited a few weeks ago? All we got were your cast-off bullheads!

Actually, the bullheads, which were the biggest I'd ever caught or seen, were delicious and greatly enjoyed. About 40 people enjoyed half of them at our Memorial Day party at Gary's place. The other half will be cooked at our place for a Father's Day celebration that will include 40-50 people.

Anyway, beautiful bass.

Sunil's pond is one of the most incredible fisheries anywhere. He has grown a lot of fish that are typically only
seen hanging on sport shop walls. I'd have to say that I've never caught bigger yellow perch or bullheads anywhere. His smallmouth are morbidly obese. The LMB that patrol the shoreline are scary big, and look like clown-sized baseball bats pushing through the water.

Anyway, beautiful fish. You sure do have a great fishery.

Healthy looking fish...what was the bait?

I was trying to get some weights on these hybrids. It seems that once they get to a certain length each inch really adds a lot of weight. the first fish weighed over a pound more than the second one even though its only a couple of inches longer. the second one weighed less than seven and the first one weighed more than eight. the first one was about twenty five inches and the second one about twenty three. Sorry for the poor pictures but here is my photography helper. He makes it harder than easier

Nice fish James! I see one head helper and one tail helper.

I have to second Ken's comments - Sunil's pond is just amazing. Back in 2010 when we did our first regional gathering there, we were nailing LMB that were absolute hogs. That is one diverse, productive, and healthy fishery for sure, and this great looking fish is just one example of it.

Very nice fish Dwight!!

Looks like a pretty good time to me!

I hope my HSB look that good some day.......

Healthy looking fish...what was the bait?


This fish was caught on a 6" watermellon color worm.


This is a crappie I caught on a spinner bait.

That's a big crappie!

Few fish from this weekend:

Another 11" RES - no signs it's the same fish, so I was pretty pumped!



21" HSB

As you've likely noticed, along with some of my fish my personal WR is well over 100%. I'm going to quit snacking on AM LM and am adopting a strict diet of zooplankton - started yesterday. Will keep you posted on the results.

Very nice TJ!! great looking fish!

That's a pig, Sunil. Nicely done. Are those lilly pads in the background?

Awesome TJ! You got some very plump RES going on there!

that is an awesome red ear. I have stocked red ears but have never caught one

Nice fish, TJ! Yes, those are some lily pads.

Teejah,
How are you fishing for the RES?

TJ, wow, what a porker. Oh, nice fish too.

That redear is awesome!!!!!!

Nice RES !

Nice RES.....-- RES=Red Eared Sandwich

Grrr...don't blame me, blame Purina.

So your RES are eating pellets..? That's awesome mine would never come around all the action the feeder gets.. This years the first I've seen 2 in 2 yrs..

My most reliable methods for RES angling are light jighead [1/32 or lighter] with crawler nub fished just off bottom or thill [float] and barbless #8 bait holder/crawler nub drifted just off bottom. I am rewarded with the occasional YP this way, too. Both species seem to be more benthic in their foraging patterns.

[Yeah, I DID just employ the term benthic, and I'm all shades of impressed with myself. Benthic, incidentally, also describes the location tendecies of JHAP when he takes off his water wings in the pool.]

12" redear from Barkley Lake

Awesome fish! Do I see some BG genetics in there? The bronze belly sure makes it look like a RBG hybrid - but the mouth still looks very RES. Any expert opinions?

Nice looking fish, any idea how old it is? Did you weigh it?

Here's a nice LMB I caught while on a "cull trip" last week. I usually stick to spinning rods, 4 lb line, and 4" Jackall Flick Shakes to entice the smaller LMB, but this one was obviously hungry.

She looks far healthier to me than what we were catching for the last few years. I'm guessing she was around 6-7 pounds. It seems like the more small LMB I pull from the lake, the healthier the bigger fish get. Who would have thought that?

That's exactly what will happen FiH. The more mouths you remove from the table, the more food there is for the ones left.

Boy ain't that the truth. I got tired of 24" LMB looking like super models. 6 months of removing 14" and smaller LMB has really started to pay off.

We usually stop fishing when the ice chest lid won't close, and fishing hasn't slowed down a bit. That tells me I had way to many LMB.

I removed 80 from my pond last year, and this Spring I counted over 100 LMB that were around 6". Lots more work to do!!

Tested some weedless LMB deer hair flies this morning, designed to cast into heavy cover without hang-ups – they worked well in old flooded goat weed stalks, covered in places by water primrose.

good job george i love seeing you catch fish on your own flies it must really feel good to know a lure you made works

Thanks James - I was testing these flies for a buddy that we swap stuff - he's better with deer hair than I .... I have some "Gutless Frogs" coming from an Aussie friend that work in heavy cover.
They run "hook point up" burying the hook point somewhat like a plastic worm - fun stuff!

Is that bottom LMB one of your pure FL LMB George?

TJ, I'm pretty sure it is but it's from the main pond and could be a F1 - it's the right age and has the lateral line markings but not prominate.
The only ones I am sure of are in the brood pond.

James, you need start tyin' flies - you have a passion for the fishin' stuff. I have a good friend that shares your professsion and he's a really good tyer - and fisherman!
He even ties little bitsy trout flies - uses the kind of surgical magnifying glasses you guys use.
They have fly tying instruction sometimes at BassPro and Cabelas ...
Try it - wish I was closer...

thanks george I may just have to give it a try

some pics from our sunday afternoon fishing

Doc, that's what it is all about. BTW, only one of them shows his teeth when he smiles.

Look like some proud fisherman!

Way to go, docg!

I see james holt and TJ both caught some of those "upside-down" HSB. Those are nice fish, but I think they would put on weight faster if you guys could teach them to swim "right-side-up".

Took this F CSBG on a popper yesterday. Didn't measure, but that board is 6" wide...so I'm estimating around 19"!

Uh, check your math

Or your typing, perhaps. Still, beautiful fish, and we knew what you meant.

Just measured again it's grown to 21". Clearly a new world record!

My pond is dominated by stunted bg population so whenever I manage a bg exceeding 8" it's a pleasant surprise.

Take the 2 carry the 1 divide by 25 yep definitely 19"'s and that fly reels made out of a geo metro spare rim..

There you go - thanks for playing, bgk!

Dave, TJ's thinking he's in Texas........

Naw, in Texiz we measure using a yard stick.

Here in Indiana, we don't count a fish if we can't "step it off" for a quick measurement...........

Caught about 20 last weekend like this. 1st real HARVEST in 4 years of pond managment. Figure I've got about 5 more fish frys in store this summer!!

This is our third HSB over 10lbs this year. It's been a great year for HSB, we've broken our pond record three times.



Another big cat. I love catching these hogs.



Nate,
That's a very impressive fishery you have going there. I'm a fan of shattering the norms. Way to go!

cheyenne19...

great looking hybrid striped bass
what did you catch it on?

Holly Cow! No really, I used to know a girl named "Holly Cow."

Dang, Cason! Nice fish!

Both were caught on GSF. The picture really doesn't do the HSB justice. It was a pig.

WOW! Amazing success story...should do a feature on this fishery for the magazine.

How large were your GSF for bait? Wondering the gape capability of a HSB that size. Thinking 4-5" GSF can be managed?

can you translate "GSF"?

Green Sunfish

thanks I looked for the translation page and couldnt find it....I know it's on this site somewhere.

what was the length on the HSB? Great fish!

How old do you think that fish was?

I was looking at a 29 inch Hybrid striped bass that weighed 19pounds. They seem to get much more round after about 24 inches. I am still wondering what is going to be the limit in a pond or small lake?

I've had them eat 6"+ GSF with no problem. If the article statement was aimed at me, there has already been one. It ran in the November/December '10 issue.

What is your record hybrid right now? How long and what did it weigh?

I didn't get to measure it James, or weigh it. I guessed it to be in the 10-12 pound range. It was easily our heaviest and longest HSB to date, and we've caught two over 10 pounds this year. My best guess on age is that it was from our original stocking in 2004, though it's possible that it was stocked in 2009. Given the size of the majority of our HSB now, my money is on the 2004 class. Very few of those fish remain, but they are hogs. This fish was the thickest HSB I've seen in my pond.

my original stocking was in 05. there are only a few of them left. Mostly due to fisherman mortality. Are you feeding them? Do you have gizzard shad? Im wondering if the limiting factor is going to be how long they can keep fishermen from killing them.

Zep, when you can't find something, always remember to take a peek in the archives (Common Pond Q&A) It's the 4th thread down.

If you didn't have enough reasons to attend the Pond Boss Conference at Table Rock Lake this fall, here is one more, courtesy my brother Thomas.



This post-spawn 6# LMB hammered a spinnerbait this morning at around 6:30 am. Thomas was fishing from the bank using a 5' fast action rod and 4# test...it was quite a ride. Nothing like landing a fish that weighs more than the breaking strength of a line.

Bless you esshup.
I often feel like I'm in a foreign country and very lost...lol.
This translation page (I seemed to have lost along the way) will help.
Thanks again.

Don't worry, Zep. JHAP has felt like that for years and has given up the search for a cure....

Sunil...it makes me feel better I'm not alone!

I wonder if in the background program we could have all abreviations translated and actually appear as the full words to us rookies and slow learners? Or hyper-link all abbreviations so when you mouse over them the full words appear?

Are they going to have an abbreviation tutor class at the PBC?
(PBC translated = Pond Boss Conference)

Yes, we feed aqua max LMB during the summer when our well is running. We also have a nice population of gizzard shad. We try to avoid catching them when the water temps get up.

Zep, great idea but absolutely no idea how to do that.

BTW, it doesn't take long to learn them.

You know, we don't have one called PJ for Pond Junkie or PB for Pond Bum..

Dave....I am no computer guru but I would think all the abbreviations could be made into a database that when a mouse rolls over them they would display the full word. But like you say I am going to try and learn them....it's my fault...I always waited til the night before a test to cram study...maybe thats why I failed Trig in high school...however I do wonder how many newbies that are more casual viewers are as lost as I am sometimes.

I still have to look up some of them. However, there are about 25 or so most common that are used all the time. You'll catch onto those pretty quickly.

Bocomo, I recognize that bridge....Thanks for the pic!!

I caught a good fish last night:


My sister caught a good fish the other night:


Father In Law Memorial Day Weekend:


Brother In Law:

Hey Cason,
What did you do? Roll the HSB on the ground in the dirt for the pic?? That is a beast though!

Nate, what did you catch the tiger on?

I was working on the rope swing on the far side of the lake and on the way back across was trolling just a generic deep diving crankbait right down the middle of the lake. Was going very fast...

did he go back in or was he sacrificed?

Biggest CNBG yet. Didn't measure him, but he had jowls so I assume he's fat and healthy. Feeding has definitely paid off.

Momma was happy.

Jowls. I love that!

Nice looking fish Al, Great job!!

Feeding really is a joy!

caught this on a tiny hook while fishing for bluegill. The bluegill are in the bucket.

Dinner ?

This is probably breaking the rules of this thread, but I'm not at a point in my life where I can own a pond.

Here is a fish my wife caught 2 days ago on a jig (minnow imitation similar to the zoom superflukes).

Scale read a little over 8 pounds, but seeing as it is a spring scale I don't trust it.

My best guess is around 7 pounds... What do you guys think? No other measurements. We put it back into the water asap.

No rules broken!

Nice fish......I'd guess over 7lbs.....

Great fish...and I LOVE the picture!

oh what i'd give to still be wearing jackets/hats like that two days ago.

it's already scorching hot in Texas.

nice fish Gflo!

very pretty fish

Thanks for the pic. Looks in good condition. Love that smile !

Are you talking about the fish or making a pass at my wife?!?!?!

Nice fish! Weigh a gallon of water on the scale. It should read 8.3#.

A few from this year.

I didn't catch the fish, but yes. The angler managed to roll it around a good bit before I got my hands on it.

This certainly isn't from me pond, but I thought I'd share anyway. My first yellowfin, and the best FPPT I could manage.

Just read back over my post. I guess it could be taken several ways.


Thanks for (sharing) the pic. Looks in good condition (the fish) . Love that smile (the expression of the lady in the pic) !

Ryan - nice fish !

Cason how much did that beast weigh ?

Eric,
It was in the high 60's. My personal record, and man can those things fight!

Nate,
I meant to ask you how much that hog weighed that your father in law caught? It looked huge!

Cason, were you fishing in Venice? I am headed there July 1-4th for some Tuna Fishing!! I can see you guys were doing a little chunking..fun fun stuff! Blue water fishing is what I enjoy most!!

We didnt weigh the striper but we did eat her for dinner. She was full of eggs. The muskie tasted fabulous too. Im telling you if you havent eaten muskie you need to give it a try!!

Ryan, your pond and farm just looks fun!
Gflo, your wife does indeed look lovely and just fun, great pic. Congrats on the catch. (your wife, not the fish).

For those of you that haven't spent time in East TX, we tend to have fun wherever we find it.

So, here's the details of the best Father's Day I've ever had.

1) We spent all morning cleaning up a peninsula to get it ready for fly fishing. George, have we got a surprise for you!

2) Taught my son to worm fish. He'd always been a chunk and wind guy, so this was a big day for him. We loaded the boat with small fish and then he caught this one on a Fluke (guessing 8-9 lbs). The boss said I had to PS her out since she looked fat on her Yak.




3) We drug out the steel plates, and shot Zombie guns in the pasture all afternoon and had a large time. At dusk, we decided that Tannerite was required, so anything that wasn't tied down got "blowed up".

4) After eating dinner, we saw beavers and decided they needed to be removed. They were.

It was just nice to spend time with the family and no one lost a limb.

Sounds perfect!!

Great report, FIH! That photo shop thing is pretty dang funny!

Nate,
We were indeed in Venice. I'm impressed by your powers of observation. We were on the tuna for a while before we decided to chum, but when we did things picked up. We were out past mars, 75 miles out. Blue water fishing is definitely amazing. Who are you fishing with down there?

Capt Josh Howard with Deep South Charters. Fished with him in February and had a blast! You?

Peace Marvel with Peacekeeper Charters. Did you target wahoo in February?

Nate, how do you like the taste of Wahoo compared to Tuna?

p.s. no cheating by resting the rod on the boat!!

I don't care what the books say, I think the Wahoo is the fastest fish in the ocean.

Wahoo is nice and sweet, but the fresh tuna is just hands down better.

Up until today I'd never caught a flathead bigger than 1 pound.

Holy smokes that's a good fish.....

You're not soaking wet, so I'm assuming you didn't noodle him?

I caught it crankbaiting! A good friend of mine showed me the pattern. Great fights!!!

Nice Fish Bruce!!!

Woo hoo - that's a brute! Any photos of the cranks you were using?

A crankbait for cats? This I gotta see.

When I used to Bass fish, it was not unheard of to take CC on sinking Rapala minnows, and I can definitely see a big Flathead hammering a crankbait.

That flathead is well fed too. Nice fish!

Bruce should hook up with that dude on River Monsters!

Jeremy Wade is my hero.

Jimi Hendrix is my hero. He has a song...Catfish Blues.....

Catfish Hunter was a very good pitcher for the A's & Yankees...

Interestingly enough, I just looked it up, and Catfish Hunter was Jeremy Wade's hero.

Bruce, what's the stats on that Flathead? Length and weight?

When, ever, are you throwing a crank bait and expect to hook into that thing?

Great catch Bruce! Congrats.

There's a lake near us here where people troll for flatheads using crankbaits. They're predators and will strike a lure.

39 inches and an estimated 30 pounds. I was going by my friends estimate.

That's a huge fish! I don't think you'll be able to beat your personal Flathead record by that much again.

I think Hookedup12 smoked ya, Bruce

Hope he don't mind me moving these here.





Fame is fleeting at times

I do like that show. Based on a couple earlier episodes, tell JHAP that his BCNCP won't do him any good!

I'd say Bruces is pushing 40..

Seems like HookedUp's cat had to take a dirt nap. So sad...

I would eat both of those fish in a heartbeat!

Nice looking fish Nate. Isn't wahoo supposed to be the fastest 'sprinter' in the ocean?

Bruce, that's a great fish. You have to love catching those big cats.

I know, n8ly, but they are both some impressive specimens!

Fished in the gulf this past weekend about 40 miles out of Galveston. We ended up cutting the trip short due to windy conditions and high seas but while we were there the bite was good for Red Snapper, Kings, Wahoo, and a few Sharks.

Oh man that is a big red snapper and I love ocean fishing!!!!!

Big King mackerels? I haven't fished salt water in years. Ribbon fish still used for bait?

Nate, That Snapper was by far the biggest of the trip. The guy that took us out was excited about it, called her a Sow Snapper.

Dave, Yes, they were King Mackerel. We were using Sardines, Squid, and Butterfly Jigs.

It was my first time fishing that far offshore. Really fun never knowing what you might catch next. Those saltwater fish fight HARD!

Nothing like the monsters above, but I think that pond is a lot bigger and saltier than mine.

Got this critter on about a 6-inch dead chub this morning.



This was one fat catfish. I haven't cleaned it yet, but from the way my fish pellets have been disappearing lately, I'm assuming that is what it is full of.






Twenty-seven inches and 9-1/2 lbs.







Time to go clean this critter.



I still need to take 2 or 3 of the remaining siblings out of the pond. I can't remember for sure, but I believe these were put in three years ago as 6-8 inchers. It is possible it was four years ago.

Here is the first catch ever out of my pond, on a fly.



This is one of the 20 SMB I stocked last fall.

Did it go back in the pond or get invited in for dinner?

That is a very healthy looking fish.

Shortay, I'm experiencing a warm feeling right now at the joy of the smallie!

Thrilled for you Shorty. Be proud.

Beaming with joy over here - that is a porker - well done!

Did you catch that with a fly tied on a spinning rod? MAN THE PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES

Yep! An ultra light spinning rod, a casting bubble, and a black gnat fly, the most efficient way to fly fish!

Flame suit on!

I don't care how many layers it has, it won't be enough!

nice fish bruce how did you catch it exactly? I know you said a crank bait? Nice fish catmandoo! I really like your t square for the length

We were dragging Rapala D-10 cranks in 8ish to 10ish feet of water, bumping the bottom hard. The fish would just obliterate the crank when they hit it! The fights were amazing. The technique was harder than it looked however, as the boat operator need an exquisite knowledge of the bottom contour, and the associated snags and hangups.

I aint scared!



Nice flathead Bruce!

I too, am a devotee of using flies with spinning gear. I love the slow fall, (sink rate) of a wet fly presentation made with a fly rod, but don't usually have room for a backcast.

I've been experimenting with popular wet fly patterns emulated on 1/80oz or 1/100oz jigheads with foam bodies. The weight allows for a decent cast without the need for a casting float, while the foam bodies slow the sink rate through the water column. Still looking for that killer combo for big BG's, but I am seeing very promising results.

2 words. Roll Cast.

Caught a nice GillCracker today, using an ice-fishing jig below a slip float. Not a big fish at 9", but it was one of many that fell to this setup.

From what I can see, still not enough room for some of the places I fish. And, when you're straddling a multiflora rose bush, or a brush pile, I think several coils of line at my feet would not help my blood pressure any....

I've got my casting distance up to around 30' with this setup, and the fly/jigs I'm making still sink slow enough to entice a fish or two.....

Sparkplug,

Hey - I've done it that way in tight situations for many years too. Especially with small poppers.

So, what are those fish? What the heck is a "GillCracker"?

Nine inches for any sunfish is more than respectable -- and delicious!

Ken

Sorry Ken... Gillcracker is slang for a RES x BG hybrid.

Geeze. I'm learning all kinds of things from you today. Thanks.

Wow! That smallie is a brick!

Slab!

Nice SMB! Now, how long is the handle on the fishing rod?

The handle is 11-1/2", the other SMB I caught earlier was right at 10".

Back in late October of last year I put twenty SMB in the pond, all of them were 5-6" with one 8-9" fish in the batch. It looks like they are growing well on fathead minnows.

Have they unionized yet?

Excellent Shorty!

These do not compare to the fish above but my daughter out fished me again and this is what we have for dinner.

Nice mixed catch! Are those FW Drum?

The bottom three are and if prepared correctly are delicious.

I figured Omaha would comment on the Drum he seems to be one of the few that care about these fish. As they are much fun to catch and with the size in the pic are pretty tasty.

Omaha, what would you consider as prepared correctly?

The fish/fillets need to be iced right away and the red meat removed. That's basically it. Put that next to walleye and you won't know the difference.

If I ever get the chance to catch some walleye and eat them I will let you know my thoughts on them compared to one another.

Since these were so small I did not mess with cutting out the red strip and they fried up nicely.

Here is a pic of the end result.

Ain't the drum full of bones or something? I thought you couldn't just fillet them because of the bones? All I remember is my dad telling me when i was a kid was " that's a damn drum, full of bones and trash, throw it back" never even thought of keeping one since then lol

No bones. Solid fillets. This is why I consider them to be the most underrated freshwater fish that swims.

I wonder how/why freshwater drum ended up with such a bad reputation...

It's got to be just how they look. With their downturned mouth, people just assume it's a bottom feeding trash fish.

Funny how their saltwater cousins are some of the most revered eating fish... So much so they were heavily over fished for many years!