Fatih and Keith's The Blind Leading The Blind Adventure begins!

Hey everyone!

For those who don't know, my name is Fatih and I am from Turkey. I started a thread about 2 months ago called "Alone in the USA for 45 days", which explains why I am coming here and how this all started.

Here: http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=402680&page=1


If you have comments about the trip please post them on "Alone in The USA for 45 days" so we can keep this one for pictures, updates and stories during our travels.



Lovnlivin (Keith) from Lincoln, NE asked to join me. At first i thought "No one can keep up with my tempo as i will have infinite excitement and never want to rest. And i don't want to let someone else to decide anything for my trip". But then i saw all my worries were unnecessary. Keith has done nothing but help. And i will be saving at least 3-4 grands with his contributions(cheaper car rental, no gear i need to buy, sharing all the expenses).

He always let me decide what to do and not do and never put his thoughts to manipulate anything.




After a lot of planning, talking, changing plans, and talking some more, we will start our ultimate fishing adventure with me flying to NY from Turkey on June 1st and meeting Keith (lovnlivin) in Georgia on June 10th.

Since many of you have followed this and are interested in our adventure, this thread will be our way of keeping you up to date during our travels.

I have also brought along a lot of video equipment to make this adventure into a documentary for the people in my country and hopefully in the USA also.

Here's a schedule of what we have planned over the next 45 days.

June 1st – Fatih will fly into New York and travel to NC to stay a few days with his family.

June 6h - Fatih fishing with a friend at Ware Shoals, SC.

June 6th - Keith arrives in Nashville, TN from Lincoln, NE

June 7th - 9th - Fatih meets with Basslover for some bass and catfishing near Atlanta, GA

June 7th – 9th Keith meets with Yolksac in Nashville for a get together and dinner, and hopefully do some Striper fishing on Percy Priest Lake in TN.

June 10th – Fatih and Keith meet in Atlanta GA and start heading towards Tavernier FL in the Keys.

June 12th – Florida Keys fishing charter with Capt. Ryan fishing the wrecks, reefs and wherever else he takes us!

June 14th – 2-part Fishing charter with Capt. Thadeus for Peacock Bass in the canals near Miami the first half of the day, then we fish the Everglades the second half.

June 15th – 18th – We’re renting a houseboat for 4 days/3 nights on the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, FL and towing along a bass boat for daytime fishing.

June 18th - Meet with Bobby Rice near St. Augustine, FL for some pond fishing and fish fry!

June 19th – Arrive in Pensacola, FL and spending the day fishing and exploring.

June 20th – We’ll be treated to a fishing charter in Pensacola by a forum member Fatih met on a Florida fishing forum.

June 22nd – Renting a Jon boat to fish and explore the Atchafalaya swamp river basin near Henderson, LA (yupp, with the gators! )

June 23rd – 25th Meet and fish with Fireishot (Al) in E. Texas, meet with Dave Davidson and possibly Bob Lusk if he's in the area.

June 25th - Guided Striper trip on Lake Texoma (hopefully)

June 27th – 28th – Meeting CMM in Windsor, MO for some fishing and fun! Rainman will join us if he can.

June 28/29 Meet Rainman (if he's in the area) as we travel through St. Louis, MO


June 29th or 30th – July 5th – Meet with Esshup in IN and we'll be staying at his lake house and taking some time to fish and relax after a lot of driving! Scott has other plans for us as well and possibly hooking us up with a friend of his for a guided Muskie trip.

Also during this time we'll meet with Bob-O, Cecil and Bill Cody before heading to Grand Haven, MI

July 6th - Meet with JKB who will show us around and prepare us for the charter on Lake Michigan.

July 7th – Fishing charter on Lake Michigan compliments of JKB, including Scott, fish n chips, Matt Rayl, Keith and myself.

July 9th – Muskie Fishing charter on Lake St. Claire near Detroit with JKB, Scott, Keith and myself, compliments of Keith and myself for everything Scott and JKB have done for us!

July 11th – Keith heads home from Detroit, MI.

July 13-15th Fatih will make his way back to Turkey

We will try to give daily updates and hopefully share photos of a lot of incredible places, people and fish!!!


And thank you so much to all the Pond Boss members who have done so much to help us make this happen! We couldn't have done this without you and your support!



Fatih (and Keith)

Photos please! We need Before pics of the two of you!

EDIT:
Argh, I will be at the Herman Bros. place in Illinois during your trip through MO. What bad timing

Bocomo, sorry we'll miss you but not necessarily bad timing as you'll have some fantastic photos and stories to tell also! Have a great trip and I hope you're planning on sharing with the PBF!


Meet Fatih


And Keith

Guys, i made it to NC safely. I am fishing lake Hickory right now. My fishing trip hasnt begun yet but i just couldn't stand being so close to lakes and not fishing. In 2 hours i landed 5-6 catfishes. Unbelievable. This is more than all i caught in Turkey all my life.

I can't share pictures because no internet here. I tried to do it with hotspot but T mobile wont let me do it unless i pay more. Haha. Shocking for me...

Everything is great except it is cold as winter...

I have some great footage already, I guess first episode of my documentary is ready to be edited .

HA! You haven't seen any cold temperatures yet!!

Awesome!

Wow, THIS is going to be fun epic!

--- RESERVED --- RESERVED --- RESERVED ---

This post is reserved for pics and videos of Keith trying to choke down a half dozen Olives Don't worry Keith, the ones chillin in the fridge are laced with Jalapeno

Hell ain't freezing over but I completely agree with JKB. Good call Phil

Bob I am proud of you Buddy! What is right is right!

+1 JKB!

Al...ya gonna have any air conditioning and cold beer out there?

These lyrics seem appropriate for Fatih over the coming weeks.

Ha! The picture would have been priceless, the video even better! I would say I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have a feeling there will be another opportunity coming!


Well, as much as I wanted to head out first thing this morning, I was up until 1 AM adapting the PVC rack and loading and at 1 AM when I went to grab my sheets out of the dryer, realized I never started it So there was a another half hour of loading, waiting for the sheets to dry.

So much for a good night's sleep .

So here's before:



And after, working out pretty well:


Fatih, I hope all of your stuff will fit in a small grocery bag!

I should be on the road by 10 AM but now not likely to hit Nashville today, maybe St. Louis..Reexxxx????

Yolk?????

A song that comes to mind and a favorite travel song:
(sorry, I don't know how to post a YouTube link like Zep did)

https://youtu.be/Zf53Pg2AkdY

You did some packing!

After having 2 bad experiences with those foam coolers, I don't use them anymore......... Too many opportunities for them to leak in the car.

The styro is for possibly shipping some fish home, the big one is behind the front seat

Do you know anybody that buys meat from Omaha Steaks? If so, have them save the cooler and the box. Those work great for shipping fish or frozen food.

Made it to St. Louis and spent several hours with Rex (Rainman) and Cathy.

Had a great time with two great people who treated me to, by far the best asian buffet I've ever been to!

Thank you so much, Rex and Cathy and for putting me up for the night!

Hopefully we'll see you (and/or Cathy ) on the other end of our adventure!

Couldn't be off to a better start!

PS - I'll post a few photos as soon as I figure out how from my tablet

esshup. I have a few of the Omaha Steak style containers.....not sure Keith has much more room for them, but we'll see.

I think Cathy and I were the first to enjoy Keith's company at the end of his first day driving. What a great guy! Keith arrived at out home around 6:30pm and after getting lost in easy flowing conversation, we took him to our favorite Asian Buffet. A HUGE assortment of steak, seafood and American dishes.

Keith had mentioned him and Fatih will have to try crawfish while in Louisiana, but he was not sure how to easily get out the tails. This restaurant has the second best crawfish in the St Louis area too. After eating, more talking and before we know it, at 10:30 we are an hour past when the place had closed for the night. I drive him back to our place and then took him over to my man cave for him to sleep. Hopefully Yolk Sac will get to spend an evening with Keith tomorrow if Yolk's schedule will allow.

Keith on the left, me on the right...crackin craws...


Our selfie out front of Hokkaido...Cathy, Rex, Keith

Keith , you are having funnn!

So am i. Guys i finally have a chance to share some photos even though i don't take lots of photos since shooting videos is already taking all my time and it is irritating while fishing !

Today, i was with Nick(i still am). In the morning we were in Lake Russell , caught nothing. It was a bad day for every single fisher on that lake.

Then we got to Nick's pond and i landed 3 LMB(about 1 lbs each), and some good size BG's ( to use as a bait for the catfishing we will be doing tonight in lake Saluda).


By the way i am "WORN OUT" ! I did get no sleep yesterday , as my train was at 02:45 AM and i have been fishing since 7 AM . I hope i will get some sleep on the boat tonight . Honestly i did not think i would ever say "i am tired" because my excitement is just at an amazing level.

I will share my Lake Hickory and Lake Russell pictures.



[img]http://imgur.com/oPr0zOR[/img]

Lake Russell


Nick and Danny(The guys i met on Fly Fishing forum)

Great pics! I see that you are finding out that fishing is the same around the world - not every day you fill the boat.

Be prepared to not sleep much in the next 40 days!

You have to take pictures - that's the only way that we can see what you are doing.

Many of you may not get it but after so much going on in ones life, to be camped out in Tennessee, surrounded by a forest with trees so tall you can barely see the tops, on a dead calm night listening to John Denver Live At The Sydney Opera house is nothing short of Europhic!

I wish there were a picture to capture it!

Got a better spot after everyone left, still at J. Percy Priest Lake near Nashville. I'll head towards Atlanta, GA tomorrow as they're calling for a possibility of strong storms here.

Not a great fishing spot but at least I got a line in the water and it's a beautiful day!

2 more days to meet up with Fatih!

Keith, enjoying the trip & pix. Have fun...

Fatih and bluegill.

The rod, reel and line basslover bought for me. It was very thoughtful of him. He knew i didn't want to buy any gear as Keith was bringing all the stuff and i didn't want to waste my budget on gear(i can't even take a rod back home) and he bought everything for me. Thank you very much man!






Bowfishing in Clark's Hill. A 17 pounder Carp.



Weather was not very good but we shot some(With basslover).


Catfishing in lake Oconee. It wasn't a good day. I landed a 10 pounder(photo coming soon) . But that was it...




Bait on the hook.



Oh , i am not photogenic at allll!

Loving it!

Fatih -

Yer very welcome for the setup. Hope you land some fish using it!

Fatih Georgia Update:
So spending 2 days with Fatih was good fun. Here are some snaps.

No one can snag a lure like Fatih. Hands down he's the champ. In this case his worm snagged 2 nice crankbaits (the frog was my lure he utilized to help bring the snag to us).




The kids are asleep.




Whomever is hanging with Fatih get used to buffets ... he loves 'em!




Bowfish practice.




Fatih got this carp (apology for the soft focus snap).




I gave Fatih first draw at this cat, and when he missed I nailed this cat through the head. It was cruising the shallows with a large crankbait buried in its head.




Our guide hit this carp but needed a second arrow to secure the carp. I let mine fly and it literally nailed this carp to the tree as my arrow drove through the carp and through the tree.




Our haul that didn't get away. One gar - lucky shot 13 finally hit the darn fish. As our guide said "gar are just stupid". We missed that fish 12 times before finally hitting it.

The good times continue! I loved the picture of the "kids" sleeping!!! Funny stuff!

Keith loved the Asian buffet we took him to also....Him and Fatih will always agree where to eat on the trip!

I guess we're not supposed to post on this thread, but I have to say...basslover...nice report!

Rock on, Bros!!!

Fatih Georgia Update #2

So first day we fished for bass and bluegill, and I showed Fatih how to land some bullfrogs using an artificial frog lure. Then that night we went bowfishing.

Folks I hope Fatih publishes some of the video from that excursion because it was some seriously funny and fun schtick! He was like a kid in a candy store for the first time. Between losing arrow tips, missing fish under, missing fish over, wanting to video everything action oriented, not drawing the arrow all the way back, and the cursing ... Bill Dance has a challenger!

BTW, everything above is said in pure love - I flippin loved hanging with that kid because he has a genuine interest in learning - from the bait to the knots to the landing to catching big bullfrogs Fatih wants to learn it all. Was a great 2 days.

So here are some more snaps. Most from the second day of debacles.

FATIH: "Hey if you get tired I can help and drive. Just tell me."
ME: "Sounds good, thanks."
3 minutes elapse
FATIH: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
!!!! So Keith - good luck with a co-captain to help ya drive! LOL




Fatih snapping away. We're on Lake Oconee.




Fatih battling a flathead catfish.





Fatih's flathead.





His personal best catfish. I hope he lands a larger one while stateside!





I have to include this snap. This was not caught on video, but if it were you'd see: Fatih saying he can cast a baitcaster no problem he's got it he landed a catfish already. Then LITERALLY he builds this bird nest just after he said the aforementioned he casts out and poohs the bed! It was so darn funny because the guide tried to undo the mess but gave up saying he'd never seen such a nest before. Yah probably had to be there but just imagine someone saying they can do something and then right after that they fumble the ball on that very thing! LOL





Fatih and Bilbo Baggins:





The Last Supper, Keith, Fatih, and two of mine enjoying some delicious Indian table fare.




Keith and Fatih packed up ready to head out of Georgia. It would be a major pain to get a flat tire and have to pull ALL of this out to get to the spare tire ...

Hey everyone! And before I go too far, I've been keeping family and friends up to speed on Facebook which is so much easier with photos than the forum, that if anyone is interested please PM me your name and I would be happy to add you as a friend. There's some great photos and moments captured that I just don't think I can get on here. Fatih will do much better when he wakes up . But in all fairness, this is the first break we've taken! Past 2 of 3 nights were 2 & 3:30 am fishing!

I started typing this out on Fatih's laptop, but since it's Turkish,,,,,, well I gave up and I'm now on my tablet, so I will type this out and then edit to add photos from Photobucket on his laptop because I can't copy/paste them from my tablet. And even typing on this thing is a royal PITA!

Wow, there is so much to report, about so much we've done and experienced in just 4 days. For me personally I've already fulfilled my bucket list and feel I've done and experienced more than I could have ever dreamed of.

After a great dinner with basslover on the 9th, we made it to just north of Tampa to call it a night. Pretty tough driving after a big dinner!

We left early on the 10th and drove to Ed's place, a guy Fatih met on a Florida fishing forum. And Ed's place? Well, if you could imagine the most remote area of the Everglades, off a road that 5 mph was even too rough, turning into a driveway leading to a mobile home with stuff strewn everywhere, you'd be wondering if you would ever see your family again!

But Ed was one of nicest guys you could ever hope to meet! He gave Fatih a great interview, let us fish his pond and told us about fishing the Chuckoloskee bridge in the Everglades. Then gave us a 5 gal bucket, 2 bags of cut bait, a large knife to cut it with along with a cutting board, some very large hooks and some 3 oz pyramid sinkers, and flat refusing anything in return. Oh, except for some Turkish money from Fatih and asked that we call him now and then to let him know how things are going. He also got some Pistachios from Turkey and some of Keith's beef jerky.

Here's a few pics of Ed's place and the Chuckoloskee bridge:




I will start adding photos and add appropriate captions later.

Our charter in the Keys fishing the reefs and wrecks was called off for Friday due to high winds with 5-7' waves expected. But Captain Ryan agreed to take us out on Thusday at noon but that at any given time we may have to turn back due to the storms rolling in. He just knew how much this meant to us and wanted to help out.

So off to Islamorada, FL we went hightailing it to get there by noon! And dang happy about it as well!


As we left the marina we could easily see the storm, and how interesting to watch the captain focusing on it and our safety. Here's what we were looking at!



With the radar screen not looking too pretty!




So what did he do? He headed farther out to sea to get out of its path, in hopes it wouldn't take a turn. Oookaaaay

The boat was really rocking but we did get some fishing in with Fatih catching the first Yellow Tail Snapper!



Then I got one as well, one the Captain called a "Flag" due its size as he said you will seldom catch them that big. What a beautiful fish, especially watching it approach the boat in that crystal clear water! Unfortunately its a poor photo.



At about 4pm the waves were really rolling and he gave the word "We gotta go!"

We ended up with 3 Yellow Tail Snappers that he cleaned for us.


Then it was off to Snappers Restaurant to have them prepared for us, and what an experience it was!

I had mine blackened, Fatih had his grilled. And the server couldn't figure out why I wanted her in the picture too




We sat outside, a spectacular view of the ocean, with the ocean breeze blowing on us, a 3-piece band playing all the favorites in a truly Jimmy Buffet setting, making this a day that will live on in me forever.



Bucket list fulfilled, making my trip at that point complete! An absloutely incredible day!

Guys, i am going to be honest with you... I was so sad after catching almost nothing on most of the lakes in SC and GA, despite all the people trying too hard to provide some good memories for me.

And then we met with Keith and weather was awful in Florida. We had to leave Chokoloskee bridge an hour after we started fishing and fish were biting like crazy. We were probably about to catch some sharks or tarpons but another storm came and everything was ruined.

The same night we go to hotel and the captain calls to cancel our Keys charter which was one of the most important charters for the whole trip. When i heard that from Keith i felt like "I am done here. This trip will be the biggest disappointment of my life..." .

But then things started to improve and now it is at its peak!!!

I will try to go chronologically.

Catching mangrove snappers on our hotels dock, right after our Keys charter. We stayed only for a night in that hotel and i got at least 25 of these fish. Nothing significant but fun to catch!



The same night we go to Channel 5 bridge(we are not sure if we were on the right bridge). We used shrimp and live crab. Keith had a very big fish on his rod and i was the one close to the rod. So i tried to hook the line but the fish was so big ( and apparently i used a very tight drag ) , it snapped the line in 3 seconds. Sorry Keith . Hey but, 10 lbs line for bridge fishing in the Keys? Are you kidding me?
I caught 2 snappers there and we headed back.





We headed to Miami but before that we stopped on Tamiami trail which has been recommended by lots of people. At first i got nothing but with Keith's teachings and awesome soft lure i got 2 LMB in 30 minutes. One of them was close to 2 pounds.



The next morning we are ready to go to fish canals of Miami for tropical fishes. And we fished Kendall Canal. Bite was too slow. Actually those Peacock Bass would run away from our lures, instead of going after them. Except at 1 spot. There was a shopping cart in the water and all the fishes around that shopping cart would bite it. I caught 3 fish, lost 2 of them. Keith wasn't so lucky that day.

Sorry , i make horrible pictures...







Thanks to God we fished for Peacock that day! Because our Peacock charter captain called us and told he wouldn't make it because of his technical issues. He said "i can put you on fishing for peacock or LMB. But those guys won't do the both in the same day". We knew that peacock wasn't very eager to bite. So going after peacocks for a whole day could be a waste of time and Everglades probably didn't have very good bass fishing. I told Keith "why don't we just go to legendary Okeechobee which is also very close to our destination Deland?".

And miracle happened and we found a locally famous charter captain to put us on fishing. This was probably the only Sunday he had free! We were so lucky.

We woke up at 04:30 and drove to that place and met the captain. We were on the water at 07:30 . We would use live shiners but the supplier didn't have as many of them as we would need. We could get only 3 dozen.



Guess what... We got 20-25 basssssssssssss and the average size was probably 2-3 pounds. I got a 7 pounder ! I have at least 80 photos of this fish taken. Because i probably won't catch something like that ever again. This was the best fishing of my life.







Tomorrow we will be on a houseboat for 4 days on St. John's River on a 44 ft houseboat, towing a bass boat behind us. We might have internet access. And after that we will meet Bobby Rice to fish his pond and have fish fry and we will try to give you update the next time we have internet service.

Thanks everyone.
Fatih and Keith
PS: We are having the times of our lives.

We're now on the house boat on the St. john's river with bassboat in tow. And witin 15 seconds of Fatih dropping in a crainkbait to troll, he's got a LMB, then lands an Alligator gar, and next we spot our first Gator!

For the 3rd time in just 10 days, tears of awe are flowing! It's just beyond incredible what we've seen, where we've been and what we've done. Just incredible (as I'm sitting on the upper deck of the houseboat hearing nothing but nature,,,, )!

Fatih is in heaven!!!

Well, we're pretty much getting shut out on LMB on the St. John's river than other a few trolling, a turtle, bonefish, and gar but for the first time neither one of us care too much. This place makes you feel like you're hundreds of miles from civilation!

We've seen countless Gators, Spanish moss hanging from all the trees and a true feeling of being in a swamp. And at night the sounds you hear are just incredible.

It will be hard posting all the photos once we have internet service again but please check out my FB page if you're interested. It's just spectacular.

Keith McGinnis on FB and I'll accept all friend requests.

Thanks everyone and we'll update more when we can.

Keith & Fatih

PS - water temp is 92 degrees with avg max depth @ about 12'.

Oh, if I could only share the videos of Fatih fishing in the trees!

And I put him in charge of the trolling motor on this outting.

Good times!

What's he trying to do, catch squirrels??

Well done man! You are showing him all the features of US fishing. Please post a pic of Fatih with a nice tree trout! We have all caught them!

Those guys have not been able to post so I figured I would give a little up date on the trip for them

We met at the pond after work thursday night and enjoyed some Fried Shark and Maypport Shrimp.

We then fished the pond but things were really hot and slow. The water was like a hot tub, even when the feeder went off it was not as active as things normally are. Once dusk came things improved, Keith had on what we think was a tarpon and lost it near the bank. We saw a few flounder laying in the shallows waiting to feed (that was pretty cool). I hooked and landed a nice flounder and Fatih hooked and landed a nice "bream", ID not required.

We got up at 6 this morning and fished an hour before work and things were much better as the water cooled some over night. Fatih had several take downs. He finaly was able to hook a really nice snook (maybe the largest in the pond??). The snook Bulldogged him for a bit and as we scrambled for the net his line broke right at the bank.

Not but a few minutes later Keith's bobber went down as he was walking back to the truck to grab something. He ran back and grabbed his rod got what seemed like nice a nice hook up with a prerry good sized tarpon. After a pretty high and acrobatic leap it quickly overpowered his line and popped it.

It was very enjoyable visting with these guys and I will be watching for more updates as they continue the trip .

Bobby, we can't thank you enough for the great time we had with you and Emily, including the fish fry with Chris & Suzie as well! And we're still baffled as to how you have acclimated saltwater fish in a fresh water pond! Crazy stuff!

Bobby went out of his way to prepare a great dinner for us, followed by some pond fishing until dark, and even rearranged his work schedule to get up early and fish the pond some more in the morning, and this includes putting us up for the night with (finally) some freshly brewed coffee in the morning! (It's the little things ).

Before meeting with Bobby we spent 4 absolutely incredible days on the St. Johns river in a 44' houseboat with bassboat in tow. So please check back in on this post as we have so many photos we'll try to get uploaded, including a video of Fatih's bout with tree fishing while a bug finds it's way up his shirt. Just too good not to share!

(I just spent over 90 minutes uploading photos through the hotel's wifi only to have them all just disappear before postin g them, ARGH!!!!!!)

This is our houseboat that we would find a spot along the banks each night to tie up to trees.


Some amazing sights along the St. Johns river, where you would swear you were hundreds of miles from civilization




Fatih's (squirmy & slimy) Bowfin that ended up flopping in the boat several times befoe finally getting a picture of it


After tying up for the night, we realized the next morning we were parked next to a tree with some kind of "bird?" nest that was NOT made of small twigs!



Let alone this hole right in front of the boat! But the sounds at night were incredible!




Figuring we would take advantage of having a grill on the houseboat we had Ribeye, baked potato, corn on the cob and grilled asparagus


Seeing several gators, this big one decided to keep an eye on us until we decided to move on,,,,, well, it was mainly the reason we decided to move on

[img]http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums...uanib.mp4[/img]



We caught several BG and Crappie as well as a catfish I caught on a chatterbait which we fried up for dinner along with some grilled broccoli





Fatih has pretty much mastered tree fishing but this one had to take the cake! While being in charge of the trolling motor he landed another branch, managed to put the boat in the trees, and at the same time had some kind of bug crawl up his shirt!



[img]http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums...j9cqd.mp4[/img]

After our fishing with Bobby Friday morning we made our way to Pensacola for a full day on-shore fishing trip on Saturday.

Friday night at 7 pm we met with "Josh", a guy Fatih met on a Florida fishing forum that wanted to take us out in his new Skeeter SX 200. We met at a bait & tackle shop to get some necessary tackle and decided that we could get an early start so we decided to meet at 3 am instead of 7, to be fishing the Gulf by 4 and do some night fishing before the sun came up.



Yep, not much sleep and we stayed at it until about 12:30 pm, pulling in some speckled trout, Blue fish, Spanish Mackerel, Lady fish and a nice Red Snapper!




Then the bonus visit by a friendly dolphin who was more than happy to allow us to feed him on some of our cut bait. And a great video to go along with it. More than cool!!!!

[img]http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums...riawn.jpg[/img]

But the highlight of the day had to be the ornery speckled trout that landed a treble hook in Fatih's thumb, barb and all! And Fatih's bravery of pushing that barb through! We then drove around until we found some friendly folks parked to party on a white sandy beach with a pair of needle nose pliers and a first aid kit. Fatih then cut off the barb and pulled it through! And back to fishng we went!

[img]http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums...fnhwg.jpg[/img]

After fishing with Josh and Selena we headed to Pensacola beach for dinner at "Crabs, We Got 'em". Just a completely different way of life, but one I think I could get used to

We're still in Pensacola and will be heading to Henderson, Louisianna tomorrow where we have rented a 14' Jon boat with an 8 hp motor to fish and explore the Atchafalaya Swamp on the 22nd.

As it's after midnight, we over indulged at a Golden Corral and we're running on very little sleep (well, except for Fatih,,,, he sleeps a lot! ), I'm hoping to get pics and videos posted in the morning before we hit the road.

Keith & Fatih

Fatih's bout with a "trouble"hook!



But a real trooper for pushing it through the other side to be able to clip the hook and pull it back through!



Sorry the video of feeding the dolphin won't post from photobucket, it's really cool!



"Crabs we got 'em" restaurant on Pensacola Beach. Great food and great atmosphere as well



[URL=http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/lovnlivin2/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-06/IMG_20150619_162556381_zpsgoixf5fh.jpg.html][/URL

Arriving Sunday in Henderson, LA near our launch site we found a hotel right on the river with a restaurant next door, so we both had some crawfish etoufee and fried crawfish



Monday morning at 7:00 we rented a 7' Jon boat and headed out into the Atchafalaya River Basin in Henderson, LA.



Ever watched Swamp People? The Atchafayala is where it's filmed.



Using nightcrawlers we caught over 40 bream and one drum. Species caught were BG, GSF, RES, BCP and we think the one pictured is a Coppernose? We need some help idenifying that one.





After 8 hours in the swamp (and we have a lot of pics if you want to see more), we hit the road for another 5 hours of driving, heading towards Overton's fish farm as Fatih will be picking up some Camelot Bell and Coppernose BG to eventually make their way back to Turkey.

After getting them to FedEx around 3:30 today (Tuesday) we'll be meeting up with Fireishot for dinner. And with the recent storms he is trying to find an alternative to our Striper fishing on Lake Texoma as it had to be cancelled.

We figure we're about half way through our trip and excited to be in Texas, with then beginning to head North which is getting Fatih a little more excited as the heat and humidity has been pretty brutal on him, but he's handling it well, all things considered. The humidity in the Atchafayala was incredible! One step out of the car and it was instant sweat!

More to come so stay tuned for some Texas updates!

The above are a RES and a male regular BG.

The swamp is incredible. Glad you did not get lost in the swamp - it happens all the time.

Pretty cool!

I don't think you will have to worry about hot temps and humidity on the lake. Doubt many boats went out this morning with the waves splashing over the piers.

I just hope it's a good day to hit the lake.

Glad you had such a great southern tour! I'm looking forward to seeing Keith and Fatih this coming weekend. I won't make it to Windsor, since esshup has me working but is letting me get back home this weekend...lol

Thanks for the fish ID, Ewest! Beautiful colors on the BG that neither one of us had seen before.

Getting lost in the swamp? I admittedly made a few wrong turns and if not for a few "homes?" as landmarks, we could have easily gotten lost! It's enormous and almost all looks the same.it's a good thing we decided on the full day rental!

JKB, Fatih will be glad to hear about some cooler weather!

Rainman, we should be on our way to Windsor, MO after meeting with Bob Lusk Friday afternoon. So depending on what we get worked out with CMM it may be Sunday or Monday before we hit St. Louis. I hope we can still work out meeting up with you, and Fatih is hoping we can hit that buffet!

We arrived at Fireishot's place around 7:00 tonight and treated to by far the best smoked Brisket dinner either of us have ever had! I've had Brisket many times but never knew it could taste that good!!!

Al then gave us a tour of his place and had a nice relaxing visit before turning in for the night.

Tomorrow we'll do some fishing in his pond, joined by Dave Davidson. And also some fly fishing!!!

More to report but gotta get some sleep. Oh, and pulling into Al's place we just passed 4000 miles in the car! It will feel good to get a break from driving for a couple days!

Keith & Fatih

If the schedule goes as planned, I'll be done with Rex before noon on Thursday.

Overtons should get a big attaboy for running back to the FedEx place after they wouldn't accept the package of fish that you shipped. Why the guy at the counter didn't tell you that they wouldn't take it is silly.

Rex, invitation to Windsor is open if you can make it. Anyone else close to Windsor that wants to stop by while Keith and Fatih are here are welcome as well. Last I heard they should pull in sometime Saturday afternoon or early evening. The top water hit should be good late afternoon to dark. Hope they will hang around for a while on Sunday for fishing and maybe some target practice. CMM

Pm me for phone number and directions.
Cmm

Scott, Overtons AND the FedEx guy both deserve atta-boys. The FedEx guy didn't know the rules had changed and just assumed we had picked up the fish from Overtons so he phoned them to let them know what happened. He could have just called us and said we would have to come back tomorrow to get them since he would be closed. That to me was going beyond the call of duty!

Then Overtons who drove back to FedEx to pick them up and get them back in the tanks. Again, way beyond the call of duty!

I can only guess that this is why they're regarded so highly. You can tell they truly care, and what an incredible operation they have!

The next day was a long one for me (I left Fatih here with Al and Dave Davidson at Al's place to fish) as I spent 8 hours and 300 miles getting new coolers and driving back to Overtons and FedEx to try it all over again.

The good news is that the fish arrived safely in New York today at a friend of Fatih's who will tend to them until he arrives there in July to get them home.

We'll be leaving Al's place tomorrow to meet with Bob Lusk at 1:30, then off to Bass Pro in Springfield, MO (this will be a highlight for Fatih and his documentary) before making our way to meet with CMM in Windsor, MO hopefully by early afternoon.

More updates soon about our time (and experiences ) with Al and Dave. A truly unforgettable experience at that!

I suppose that this trip will be burning in your minds for years to come.

After using two trucks to pull Rex out, I sent him on his way around 5 pm today. One truck wouldn't do it. Rex should be around Bloomington, Ill this evening, so he should be home this weekend. (too busy scrambling to get everything done, so no pictures)

Guys,

First of all , i want to thank to Todd Overton for what he has done for me. Thank you!



We have done a lot(!) since the time i shared an update. And most of what we have been through was posted by Keith and Bobby. I will make little additions.

Bobby Rice, Emily and their friends... These guys are from another planet! They eat shark, own freshwater ponds with saltwater fish, own a frozen(taxodermy) lion in their basement, drive monster trucks. He sent me a message saying "bring those snappers to me. i need some in my pond". I want to thank Bobby for everything he has done for us, including that great dinner...




We didn't have luck with casting for LMB during our houseboat trip but i got 2 LMB with trolling. Neither Keith nor i believed we would catch a fish with trolling but it happened .




Gar was one of my dream target fish to catch during my trip. I caught 2 of them. I tried real hard to catch more. I cut a part of nylon ropes of the boat and made a gar lure(when they bite the nylon rope , their teeth get stuck) . But none bited. The next day when i was on the bass boat at least 5 gars bited my buzz bait. Unfortunately i didn't have my gar lure to catch them.



Selfie with a 10 ft gator.He wouldn't leave. Keith tried to lure him away from the boat with some bait. Suddenly gator bit the bait. Keith almost got a gator on his hook...



Discussing what time we will be meeting for our Pensacola charter with Josh and Selina.



Hook accident .




Finally we played pool with Keith. He is a high class player. I thought i was a total loser but he said i was an upper C class. Yayy!



Allen(Fireishot) is not a man you can't fit into words. This guy is simply so cool! He has that style which makes you relax and feel like home. I really, really feel like i am home here. I can go , open the fridge and get whatever i want to eat. I somehow don't feel shy. Sorry if i am being over emotional but i really don't want to leave him.

And i am not gonna say "fishing wasn't good here , but it was great to meet him". Fishing was greatttttt!

I have been to 6-7 states so far and fish(especially predators) don't bite. But here they do bite...

One my my dreams... Catching tilapia. Why a dream? Because i have them in my aquariums.





We caught some bait fish in the afternoon but only 1 of them was fine when we started fishing. And this is what i caught with this bait.



After we ran out of bait i started casting watermelon fluke. For 10 minutes i got a fish for every 2 strikes. Today i was out there for bass fishing again and i caught 3 more in 45 minutes. I lost 3 of them too. Thanks to my guide , Dave Davidson.


Coming true of another dream... Catching bream with fly fishing. Almost every cast for 45 minutes was ended up with a huge bream on the line.




We were on a striped bass charter today. Everyone got 2-3 large stripers(around 5-6 pounds each) . I got a nice blue catfish. At the end of the charter we started jigging for smaller bass species and each of us caught 2-3 fish. It was a great 4 hours!






And Dave Davidson... Ok. I had some misconceptions. For some reason i thought Allen and Dave were around 40 year old guys. Maybe it is because they both are super cool! It was a pleasure to be around Dave and listen to his stories, full of his wisdom. As we both told to each other while we were shaking hands before he left: "It was a privilege to meet you!" .

When we first arrived at Fireishot's place, we were greeted with the true meaning of southern hospitality! As Fatih said, he made you feel as if his home were your home.

As it was for the next 3 nights, which I'm guessing Al got more than he bargained for as I'm not sure that was in the original plan .

Then Dave Davidson arrives which brought on a whole new perspective! Seeing these two together is a treat in itself!

This is a picture Fatih posted above, but look a little closer and you can see the captain with his arms crossed as Dave is getting a little animated in a conversation with Al. We were almost thinking the captain was about ready to turn the boat around and head back! And I'm sitting between them laughing so hard I can hardly stand it!


Well, Photobucket's being a PITA so I'll have to update more later

I have more pics at Al's place, our visit with The Pond Boss at Lusk Lodge and our flyfishing visit/stay (and more) with CMM.

Sorry we're getting behind with our updates!

Keith and Fatih

(it's working again!)

LMB at Fireishot's:


Getting ready to head out for Hybrids with a beautiful sunrise!







Our Catch!


Dave Davidson, Fatih and Fireishot


Al's chickens decided to roost in his flower bed!



A nice Coppernose (I think)

Oh, by the way, Al here's the mugshot you've been wanting



We left Fireishot to set out for Lusk Lodge to meet with The Pond Boss himself, Mr. Bob Lusk.

Bob was gracious enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to visit with us, leaving us each with two books; Perfect Pond, Want One? and Raising Trophy Bass, signed and autographed, as well as the newest issue of Pond Boss magazine hot off the presses!

We also fished the catfish pond where Fatih once again outfished me!

After leaving Lusk Lodge we headed for Springfield, MO as Fatih wanted to get some footage of Bass Pro for his documentary.

From there we headed to CMM's place in Windsor, MO.

There we were greeted by CMM and like the others, made us feel very much at home!

We relaxed a while, then headed to the pond for some flyfishing.

But not just any flyfishing, and as we can't rival Sprkplug's attire provided him by YolkSac, CMM was sure to have our own Fishtitution gowns to continue the "trend?"



We then got in some target practice with CMM's .45 cal Ruger, where Fatih wanted to place a bet. Needless to say, I lucked out, even on the double or nothing so he got to pay for my next buffet dinner


We did some flyfishing that evening before a wonderful home cooked lasagna dinner made by CMM.

Then after dinner we went back out for the evening bite with Fatih and CMM in one canoe and myself in the other, so I apologize for not having any fish photos.

But it was an outstanding evening with Fatih outfishing me once again, catching LMB, BG and HBG.

What made the evening for me was CMM's husband Michael sitting on the dock singing and playing his guitar. It was a surreal moment for me that I will never forget!



He also captured this which will surely be the background on all my computers!


Fatih, CMM and her husband Michael in front of Michals prized Galaxie 500:


Next was another 8 hours on the road, heading to Esshup's place in Indiana, updates to come!

Keith and Fatih

Get ready Esshup, they are a comin' !!

Keith, I'm honored by your and Fatih's posts. Thank you.

Going to Al's place is like taking a trip to Disneyland.

Complete with all the Disneyland characters?

I'm pretty sure "Goofy" was present and Fatih would be easy as "Sleepy"

From there we'll just leave it open

Keith, get ready ta meet Grumpy. I'm so worked up about tomorrow that I washed the dishes and ran the sweeper. I'll be on the look out for any road kill in case you fellows want ta stay for supper.

June 29th we arrived at Esshup's lake house in Indiana, where we will call home for the next week!



Complete with pier for Fatih to catch some big carp!



The generosity continues with Pond Boss members, with Esshup being no exception! We arrived with Scott giving us a list of things we can do while we're here and letting us decide what, when and where.

The first day Scott took Fatih to a property Scott is working on, with Fatih casting a line while Scott was spraying for mosquitoes. And apparently it wasn't just few skeeters, it was an infestation which caught Fatih off-guard, especially while relieving himself causing an itch no man wants to experience

Upon their return I was glad I stuck around the lake house to finally glue together the PVC rack that didn't fare too well after an abrupt stop in St. Louis .

We then made a run to Walmart to pickup some groceries for the week including some big cans of corn to try and snaggle some carp off the pier.

The next morning after chumming with some Libby's whole kernel corn, the lines went in with Fatih again outfishing me, and how excited he was pulling in some nice sized carp!

I started off with a 7 1/2 pounder:


But not long after that, Fatih snapped it off in my you-know-what with a 14 1/2 pounder!


Fatih caught several carp that morning which made for a great start to a week at Esshup's!

Next on the agenda was visiting Scott's home and doing some fishing in the pond, and for the first time in nearly a month, I was able to outfish Fatih, if we're going by weight because after the first 4 lb+ LMB, Fatih ceded to fishing Scott's Yellow Perch

I strapped on a Chatter Bait and caught 3 LMB, all over 4 lbs with the largest at 4.6 pounds, the 3 totaling 13.5 lbs!

Keith, have you guys done the big lake yet? Did ya get the pics I sent?

National Weather Service Grand Rapids - Latest Marine Forecast

LMZ847-062130-
GRAND HAVEN TO WHITEHALL MI-
1202 PM EDT MON JUL 6 2015

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...

.REST OF TODAY...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. MOSTLY SUNNY. AREAS OF FOG. WAVES 1 TO 3 FEET BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FEET LATE IN THE DAY.
.TONIGHT...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS VEERING WEST TOWARD DAYBREAK.
PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING...THEN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. AREAS OF FOG
THROUGH THE NIGHT. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET.

.TUESDAY...NORTH WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. MOSTLY CLOUDY UNTIL MIDDAY THEN BECOMING MOSTLY SUNNY. AREAS OF FOG UNTIL MIDDAY. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET.

.TUESDAY NIGHT...NORTH WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS VEERING NORTHEAST 5 TO 10 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. MOSTLY CLEAR. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 2 FEET AFTER MIDNIGHT.

$$

LMZ846-062130-
HOLLAND TO GRAND HAVEN MI-
1202 PM EDT MON JUL 6 2015

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...

.REST OF TODAY...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. MOSTLY SUNNY. AREAS OF FOG. WAVES 1 TO 2 FEET...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FEET.
.TONIGHT...SOUTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A
CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING...THEN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. AREAS OF FOG THROUGH THE NIGHT. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET.

.TUESDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. AREAS OF FOG UNTIL MIDDAY. PARTLY SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES 4 TO 6 FEET.

.TUESDAY NIGHT...NORTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHEAST 5 TO 10 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. MOSTLY CLEAR. WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FEET AFTER MIDNIGHT.[u][/u]



The boy's are on their way up, so we'll discuss plan "B" (guided fly fishing) after they settle in.

Boo on the weather advisory.

Hate when weather gets in the way of a perfect fishing plan.

CMM

Gotta agree with CMM. It's a shame that they may miss such a great opportunity but like Keith posted it has turned into a friend appreciation trip more than a fishin trip. Heck it's already provided many life long memories.

Yeah, it sucks but we'll make the best of it.

We're working on a guided fly fishing trip for salmon on the Muskegon river so hopefully that will work out!

And with the practice and instruction from CMM, we should do well

Captain officially pulled the plug after the 4:00 pm report. 30 knot winds and 4'-6' waves near shore, much larger where we would be going.

Can't change the weather.

I

I am sure no teacher, but you two have some fishing to do and can catch some fish on the fly. You must have picked that up before you got here! Good luck. Do try to stay out of Fatih's back cast though, it can be treacherous. Lol

Cmm

Is the tour over? Who saw them last?

Well, a bit bittersweet but I got home safely Thursday afternoon and spent all of today getting stuff put away and easing back into reality, and Fatih made it safely to New York.

Bob-O, our last "tour" was fly fishing on the Muskegon River with Fishnchips, JKB, Fatih and myself. From there we headed back to Grand Rapids where Fatih would fly to New York and I would head back to Nebraska.

I should get the rest of the trip updated hopefully tomorrow.

Good deal. Now when Fatih reports back that he is home we will all expect a detailed report of both of your opinions of how the folly impacted your lives.
Congrats to both of you for pulling off such an adventure.

While in Indiana with Esshup, who pretty much blocked out his week to host us, we took the day on Friday (3rd) to visit some other Pond Boss members, the first being Cecil Baird who took the time out of his day to show us around his beautiful place, including a tour of his ponds and his fish taxidermy operation.




What was so cool about Cecil is there was no question he wasn't willing to answer, taking the time to explain all the steps required in fish taxidermy. A process this man seems to have mastered!






Cecil and Fatih holding two giant frozen BG awaiting their turn!



Cecil, myself and Esshup. Cecil was in the middle of a busy day when we arrived, dropped what he was doing and spent the next couple hours showing us around and even allowed us to fish his Yellow Perch pond, and joining in the fun.

After leaving Cecil's place we drove to NE Indiana to meet Bob-O and also Bill Cody who drove to meet us at Bob-O's place.

Like all the other PB members we had met along our journey, Bob-O was no exception when it came to his excitement to be a part of our adventure and making us feel right at home! We sat in his living room talking about our adventure and getting to know one another before heading out to his pond to do some fishing.

After all the fishing we had done up to that point, our list being over 35 species caught, my CRS is kicking in to remember what we caught where. But if I'm correct, we caught some Yellow Perch, Scott with a SMB, with him then reeling in one of Bob-O's nice HSB!

With Fatih having the honors of kissing Esshup's bass



Fatih, Bob-O and myself after another day of fun!

Saturday morning Scott took us to shoot some sporting clays, a first for Fatih and myself. There were 10 stations with 10 birds to shoot at each station.

Here's how it's supposed to be done, with Esshup schooling us on the sport! This man doesn't miss often!!!



With Fatih and I having a bet on the total score after 10 stations, this time with a firearm he kicked my butt! On the last two stations he hit 9 out of 10 which put his score out of reach! Nice shooting, Fatih!

After the shooting range we made our way to Chicago for a 4th of July party, at a friend of Scott's a few houses down from where he grew up.

On the way there, through the south side of Chicago, Esshup took us through a part of town that was, let's say a little less than desirable, and one we wouldn't be going back through after dark! And after seeing that, I'm very happy to be living near the little town of Walton, NE!

What a culture difference from where we had been, to visit with these folks from Chicago! We met some great people and heard some great stories!

My new friend, Wayne, a retired building inspector in Chicago. Think he didn't have a few stories to tell?



After a great party and meeting some great people, here's Scott (Esshup), Wayne, Fatih, myself and John who put it all on:



I hope you're able to see this video of the incredible fireworks display Scott's friend John had put on for the neighborhood!

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd46...28yqop.mp4.html

[video:youtube]http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/lovnli...28yqop.mp4.html[/video]

Sunday was a day of rest before heading back over to Scott's to fish his pond and then later sit down for an incredible Ribeye dinner!

Scott had the butcher cut some 1 1/2" thick Ribeye's to go on the grill which had been marinating for 4 days, along with sauteed mushrooms and onions, baked potatoes and corn on the cob.



And finally I was able to contribute when he asked if I would grill them. Absolutely!



Let the feast begin!



Thanks AGAIN, Scott!

What an incredible trip!!!

Monday we headed to Grand Haven, MI to meet JKB, Matt Rayle, and Fishnchips (Jim and his wife Diane).

Even though our charter on Lake Michigan had been cancelled due to the weather, we all met up for dinner compliments of JKB!

From left: Fatih (even smiling!!!), Matt Rayle, myself, JKB, Esshup (Scott), Fishnchips (Jim) and his wife Diane.



While we all had hotel rooms for the night, fishnchips and his wife were set up in a tent, and the unfortunate benefactors of the evening storms that rolled in giving them their own light show with some incredible lightning and heavy rains

I remember the next morning seeing a PM on PB from fishnchips asking "anyone know where we can get a DRY breakfast!

With our Lake Michigan charter being cancelled I'm so glad we were able to all get together, and I know we (once again) stayed past closing time!

And JKB, thank you so much for picking up the tab!!!

Since our Lake Michigan charter was cancelled on Tuesday due to the weather, JKB set up a guided fly fishing trip for trout on the Muskegon River, for Fatih and I as well as Fishnchips and JKB.

Fatih and I were with one guide, JKB and Fishnchips with the other. And on this trip, JKB could do no wrong! Every time we saw their boat he was reeling in a fish!

We had probably the nicest captain out of all the charters we had been on and I know he did his best to put us on fish, but JKB that day had the magic touch! Fishnchips said that even if JKB's fly was just dangling in the water, it was "fish on"!

Getting ready to launch on the Muskegon River:



Although I felt my bucket list had been fulfilled weeks ago, I couldn't deny that fly fishing on a running river for trout wasn't on it. So, here's my first trout from fly fishing on a running river!



We caught some Brown's and Rainbow's totaling about 10-12 between Fatih and I, but a far cry from 30 or so caught by JKB! And with this being fishnchips first fly fishing adventure, I think he reeled in about 10 himself!

Special thanks to JKB for all the work he put into setting up the Lake Michigan charter, keeping up on the weather reports and staying in touch with the captain, and for hosting this trip on the Muskegon River!

I just can't say enough about the hospitality and generosity shown to us by all the Pond Boss family! Including those following along on the forum with your comments and words of encouragement! Thank you all so much!

Before fishing the Muskegon River we drove down to the beach and walked the North Pier.



And saw for ourselves why the charter that day was cancelled!



Again, I can only hope this video works, but it shows the waves on Lake Michigan, even washing up over the walkway on the pier:


http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd46...zhywb4.mp4.html

Oh, and the parking lots in Grand Haven look much different than those in Nebraska

Regarding our stay with Esshup, we can't thank him enough for opening up his lake house for us and blocking out his week to offer a taste of Indiana, fishing his pond and treating us to many events during our stay!

One thing about Esshup, is this man is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge! I've known this throughout the 3 1/2 years of being on the forum but meeting this humble man in person was truly a treat in itself!

Thank you, Scott for putting us up and putting up with us

On Wednesday after arriving in Grand Rapids and getting a hotel, Fatih asked if I would narrate our trip on video as a part of his documentary, so we found a walking park with a nice background to get that done.

Then after getting back to the hotel around 5:30 and past Fatih's nap time (sorry, Fatih I had to throw that in ), I decided to grab a bite to eat and start my long drive home as I didn't think I could drive the 12-13 hrs in one day, after already logging over 6,000 miles.

Fatih and I spent some time reflecting on our trip before I headed out, with knowing I had met a wonderful man from Turkey who's soon to become a daddy, and with whom I can now call my good friend!



PS - Hopefully within a few days I will type out a final synopsis of this incredible adventure, that turned out better than I could have ever dreamed.

Thank you all for following along!

BTW, apparently my babies in my pond missed me!





It was another "Welcome Home!"

WE MADE THE NEWS!!!

Stopping in at the office I found an envelope with a copy of "The Windsor Review" inside, sent by CMM who hosted us in Windsor, MO., with a note saying "See Page 2".

How cool is that!

Thank you so much, Cim!

Hey, it's a small town. We take what we can get for news, lol.

We were tickled to host you and a number of people have commented on how neat it was for you to be in Windsor after they saw the paper.

Just don't read the police report, I think I got stopped for having a turn signal out that week. Hee hee

Cmm

That was a great article, well written and very accurate!

Nice work

That's cool!!!

Makin the news was great. Their visit to my place was better...for me. If Butler had a newspaper I would only hope to have such an article run. Windsor must be BIG time!!
Hats off to LL for his great report all the way through. Now I think the pressure is on Fatih to top that. Since they always wanted to put up wagers, I'd bet the Turkey guy can't top Keiths report.
Thank you Scott for bringin em over. Thank you Bill Cody for comin over and bringin the Corn King with ya.

We might not hear from Fatih for a while, I believe he's getting ready to head back overseas and once he hits home I'm sure there's a long list of things that he needs to catch up on!

I will share an update in a day or two guys.

See Scott, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Yep!

I got a text update last night, but I'll let him fill in the details.

Should be interesting.

Guys, now i am ready to write an update, next to my beautiful fish, swimming in their new home.

After we leave Allen's place , we are headed to Cim's place and 30 minutes before the arrival we find out he is a lady .

She gives us a great welcome. You can see that she is happy for seeing us. And so are we!

We do some shooting and fly fishing on a canoe. In the morning we ate the best breakfast in the USA so far.

Cim's husband , Michael is a great man too. By the way, thank you guys for that newspaper publishing thing. I will be very cool when i show it to people here .




Then we head to meet Rex and Cathy in St.Louis. They take us to the best buffet ever, where you can eat 10 or 15 bizarre foods(crab legs, octopus , crayfish etc.) .

More bizarre food the better !



Then we head to a pool place where we all take turns to play each other. Rex and Keith dominates the evening .

After staying in Rex's hotel room for the night(Thanks Rex) we head to Indiana, to meet Scott and get some rest and peace in his lake house.

Oh , i almost forgot. And of course to catch some hugeeee carps , as he promised ! The first thing after we get to town we go buy some corns and toss them in the water.

I cast my line in the water. I leave my drag loose and with another pole i cast lures for other fish. Suddenly i see my rod bending down and i run 50 yards in 10 seconds.

That fish snaps the line when it gets under the pier. I catch couple 5-7 pounders that day. The next day i got a 10 pounder along with probably 5-6 other fish. The next day the same. The next day i catch a 14 pounder. Largest carp of my life! So in that piece of water i probably caught 15-20 fish in 4-5 mornings. It was just great !



I know carps are trash fish for you and you don't fish for them but i doesn't make any sense. They are hard to catch. They fight like hell and they are nice looking fish. If you want to eat one they are delicious too!

Why do you hate'em guys?

We pay a visit to Scotts place 2-3 times during our stay and fish our pond. Man, Scott's pond is great! You can catch fish anytime. I caught my first SMB and Perch on his pond. It was just so great!



During our time in Indiana we go see Cecil, Bill Cody and Bob-O. All great people ! We spent little more time with Bob. We caught some great fish on his pond. Scott and i had a competition for a dinner and i won! Hehe. We ate in a Chinese Restaurant.

By the way, I was fasting during our Indiana and Michigan trips because of religious reasons and every single day, these guys waited until it was 9:30 pm to eat , so i could join them!



Oh by the way, he gave me a hookless lure, so i wouldn't get myself again . I will use it as a key chain ! Thank you Bob.


Our Muskie charter was a nightmare. Fish of 10,000 casts? Are you kidding me? I can catch one every hour in Turkey. Later, i figured out that it was because we had all small fish and so there were plenty(instead of couple hugeee fish).

That 25 bucks brandnew lure , coming out of water was great though!



Michigan? Michigan was supposed to be the best part our trip. But weather ruined it again! Our lake Michigan charter was cancelled. We wanted to cancel our musky trip because fish was not biting in lake St. Clair. But Phil is a generous person, no doubt. He buys us a great dinner and then arranges a trout fly fishing charter. Phil and Jim outfishes us , which irritates me ,hehe, but after all having caught my first trouts on flies is something i will never forget:) .





With being successful in taking my dream fish species back to Turkey and being the first person ever to have these species in Turkey, this trip is literally "Mission Accomplished" . Scott has been trying to get those fish to my country for years now and i will never be able to thank him enough.




Do you know what was so important? Not the fishing or anything else. Being able to take a part in all those people's lives during this trip was something someone couldn't buy with money !

Eating a homemade Texas Brisket , made by a real Texan? Or someone driving around to get us the best shrimp in the US? Having a real musician playing guitar for me , without paying him anything , while i am catching fish? Living in a lake house which was occupied by generations and is full of history? More than this, the best friendships for no charge or nothing in return?

You can't buy these things !

I thank all those friends who let us share their place, gave all kinds of efforts to get us enjoy our time and showed the best examples of hospitality.

Thanks Keith, for being a part of it and making things easier for me.


Please forgive me , if i missed to mention anyone who helped us on this topic.

Till the next time... I love you all guys.

Fatih,

Thanks for the update. So glad you got your fish home. I was wondering if that would ever happen. You are proof positive of the saying "where there is a will, there is a way"

Missouri is looking forward to your next trip.

Cmm

Fatih, you were fortunate to have acquired such a good chauffer and fishin partner.
You make a pretty good guest except for taking advantage at wager time. Of course it was against Scott, so not to bad. I'm sure all your hosts enjoyed your visits as much as you did.
I'm hoping that some Turkey movie producer sees my pretty face and wants to make a movie with me as the star.
You can eat all the carp ya want. I personally try ta avoid bottom feeders, met too many in prison.
Good luck with your new fish.

Fatih and Keith, it was a pleasure having you here.

Bob, for some reason he didn't want to wager at the Sporting Clays range.

Glad you had a good time and got some fish home. Sorry the fish would not cooperate in my pond. They just won't cooperate until feeding time.

Take care!

What a great and epic adventure. Certainly the biggest in Pond Boss history.

I'm sorry our crazy schedule didn't permit us to participate in this event. But, I've been fortunate to be part of many other wonderful PB activities. It sure makes me proud to be a part of Pond Boss and to have so many good friends in this friendly and big-hearted group.

What a great trip. Glad you guys enjoyed Missouri as a part of your big adventure. This thread really illustrates the good folks that are part of the PondBoss community.
Great story.

It was a true honor for Cathy and I to be a waypoint, twice, for the Traveling Castaways!

Glad you both made it home safely!!!

Thank you all guys, for your good words. I just can't wait for my next dream trip(this time perhaps with my wife and baby) .

Fatih -

You and yours are always welcome to visit us in Atlanta. River says he'll teach you how to catch more bass

Haha. Sure he will. He will probably be a teenager the next time i will visit you . But i definitely will. That bowfishing trip hasssss to be repeated. This time i will outbow you haha.

(video attached)

Although it's been nearly 6 months since our adventure ended, there's rarely a day goes by that I don't relive or reflect on the places we went and the things we did, but more importantly the people we met, and specifically the Pond Boss members who so graciously opened their hearts, their homes (and for many, their wallets!) to offer us such incredible experiences!

Experiences that will always be remembered, cherished, and never forgotten!

As I'm trying to compile a full video of our adventure, after over 4 weeks, 6000 miles, and a lot of photos and video footage it will be very lengthy, and with my computer skills a long time in the making to try to get it right .

In the meantime, I wanted to compile a short video, a tribute of sorts to the people we met along the way, with whom I can't thank enough for adding so much to what is and will always be, for me the trip of a lifetime.

My sincere apologies if I've missed anyone, and as the video includes those who hosted us I want to also include those who followed along and commented via the forum and encouraging us along the way.

To begin the video with how it ends: Thank you, Pond Boss!

https://youtu.be/o-R41Rfx0k0

PS to Rex - I apologize for misspelling Cathy's name in the video (or anyone else's for that matter!) and will try to get it corrected and republished, and/or any other corrections that may get pointed out .

Nice video, Keith. Did I send you the snaps of your car all loaded when you came to pick up Fatih in Atlanta? If not PM me an E-mail address and I will E-mail you those pics.

Very cool video Keith. Lot's of good times in it.

Well done Keith. I had a ball.

Nice video Keith. Thanks for taking the time and posting.

Thanks guys, and as I told Scott, I couldn't have made that video without you all!


You got pics of the loaded car in that downpour? LOL

Sending PM, thanks!

Awesome video!

I like it!!

Fatih might have spanked you while fishing for Carp, but you got him back fishing in my pond for LMB!!

I never went and looked for that chatterbait..............

Scott, Keith never caught as many fish as i did except once or twice. But it was because he was very busy with enjoying the scenery or posting on Facebook, haha.



Thanks Keith, that was great...

Then I saw the once!

What an adventure you guys had. So many of us were honored to be part of it, through an in person visit or by following you here on pb. Thanks again for letting us share this with you two.

Until we meet again,
Cmm

Cmm, this is still one of my favorite pics, taken by Michael while fly fishing on your pond! (let alone the great article you wrote for "The Windsor News"!)

Thank you!



(although I think George would shoot me for seeing my wrist bent like that ! )

Keith,
What an awesome tribute. That was an awful nice thing to do for Fatih...This is what community is all about. It's unselfishness like this that makes me want to be a part of our unique group.
Charlie

Keith,

+1 to what the others have said!

When I saw that picture of you standing in the canoe my first thought was....if that was me trying to stand in a canoe, wonder whether I would have fallen forward or backwards into the puddle!

Pretty cool , Next time you will land that tarpon///// LOL

Hope Pond Boss member Fatih and his family/friends are all ok after such a horrible day in Turkey.

God Bless...

Amen Mark, Amen! Keith reminded me in a PM that it was one year ago today that him and Fatih visited our place after a great time at CMM's. We went to dinner, then out to shoot some pool before they went to a room I had at a local extended stay place... Keith was a little freaked out that we were enjoying ourselves while under multiple tornado warnings, with sirens blaring much of the evening...lol

Thoughtful post, Zep and I hope to touch base with Fatih in the morning as he's 7 hours ahead of CST. Hopefully he and his family and friends are all safe.

Istanbul is about 600 miles from where Fatih lives, so again hopefully everyone is safe. Horrible to think what goes on in that part of the world, let alone in other parts as well.

Let's hope he chimes in tomorrow!

PS to Rex - With the sirens blaring I had wondered if that's why the pool hall was nearly empty that night!

Fatih texted me a picture of a fatty LMB in a tank tonight. That was before I saw about what happened over there.

He flew back into Istanbul from being in Texas a few weeks ago.