Shock and Jaw Tour is a blast.... - 05/14/09 02:32 PM
Left Sunday, met up with Fred & Connie Bingaman and Dave Sefton and a number of folks as we electrofished Fred's pond in Brownstown, Illinois. After a hiccup with water in the fuel tank, we got things going, and going well. We shocked up big numbers of fish and logged their lengths and weights. Fred took notes and lots of photos were shot. Here's a few I took.
Electrofishing Fred's pond.
Pretty big crowd on the dock...
Photo op...nice fish from Fred's pond.
The two biggest bass, largest was over 5 pounds.
Fred (Bing) holds two big bluegill. The one on the right is one pound.
Next, we headed off to see some projects Dave Sefton has been working on.
This site sits north of Brownstown. Looks like a nice pond, maybe two acres, in the making.
Jim Neeley (l) and Dave, stand near some logs they harvested for the client. If they can sell a few saw logs, it helps with the cost of building the pond. That's part of Dave's service.
Then, we headed eastward, to Columbus, Indiana to meet up with Dr. Mark Griffin and Jody Doles, Tony Stewart's ranch manager. Met up with Tony and two game rangers, Tim Beavers and Jay Noble. We shocked up, weighed and measured 180 bass. It was a great day on Tony's 10 acre lake.
Here's some photos....
Part of Tony's collection of cars. For the most part, these are race cars he has won races in. That's Purina's Dr. Mark Griffin.
You might remember a famous race where Tony flipped many times. He kept the wrecked car.
More of the car collection for you to enjoy. He has another room in his warehouse that has more cool cars...street variety, such as a corvette, a dolled up hearse and several other classics.
Daughter Ashley especially liked the "Smoke" Lamborghini. I saw a video on youtube about this car. It was delivered to Tony at the California Speedway.
We collected lots of fish during our electrofishing excursion.
Debbie fell in love with Tony. She said, "I could hang out with him anytime. He is so kind and a complete gentleman. He is so down to earth and fun and funny." She's right. He's a dominant force on the race track, but on his ranch, he's a gentleman, friendly and kind. Oh, and yes, he gets extremely excited about his fish.
Evidence!
Tony was gracious allowing us to take time for a photo op. He even autographed a few things for the silent auction at the conference next September.
This shot came as we struggled to pull this big, heavy electrofishing boat out of a lake from a ranch about 40 miles from Tony's. These folks are wanting to renovate an 8-10 acre lake and turn several different ponds into fishing lakes near Cope, Indiana. Yes, we did get the boat out. It's easy to launch but not so easy to get out sometimes.
Next day (last Wednesday) we headed to Richmond, Indiana to tour the Purina Mills plant where specialty feeds are made. We saw the entire process....and likely some of the fish food you will be feeding in the near future. I was impressed and amazed at their quality control. There's not a question about the ingredients which go into Purina's feeds.
Debbie asked a ton of questions. Manager Eric Kennedy was gracious taking us on the tour. That's Dr. Griffin on the right.
The bagging process. Each bag is tagged and has a batch number. The bagger looks at each bag to make sure the batch number is correct and legible.
Don mixes a batch of feed. His job is to make sure the exact ingredients are mixed precisely to formulate the correct diet for that batch of food.
Dr. Griffin holds two monkey biscuits. That's right, Purina Monkey Chow. This special diet is fed to monkeys involved in cancer research, so it is imperative that this aspect of their diets is properly balanced and the ingredients are pure.
These are the labs where all kinds of tests are run on the ingredients as well as the finished product.
Debbie and Ashley enjoyed their tour of the Purina Mills plant.
Electrofishing Fred's pond.
Pretty big crowd on the dock...
Photo op...nice fish from Fred's pond.
The two biggest bass, largest was over 5 pounds.
Fred (Bing) holds two big bluegill. The one on the right is one pound.
Next, we headed off to see some projects Dave Sefton has been working on.
This site sits north of Brownstown. Looks like a nice pond, maybe two acres, in the making.
Jim Neeley (l) and Dave, stand near some logs they harvested for the client. If they can sell a few saw logs, it helps with the cost of building the pond. That's part of Dave's service.
Then, we headed eastward, to Columbus, Indiana to meet up with Dr. Mark Griffin and Jody Doles, Tony Stewart's ranch manager. Met up with Tony and two game rangers, Tim Beavers and Jay Noble. We shocked up, weighed and measured 180 bass. It was a great day on Tony's 10 acre lake.
Here's some photos....
Part of Tony's collection of cars. For the most part, these are race cars he has won races in. That's Purina's Dr. Mark Griffin.
You might remember a famous race where Tony flipped many times. He kept the wrecked car.
More of the car collection for you to enjoy. He has another room in his warehouse that has more cool cars...street variety, such as a corvette, a dolled up hearse and several other classics.
Daughter Ashley especially liked the "Smoke" Lamborghini. I saw a video on youtube about this car. It was delivered to Tony at the California Speedway.
We collected lots of fish during our electrofishing excursion.
Debbie fell in love with Tony. She said, "I could hang out with him anytime. He is so kind and a complete gentleman. He is so down to earth and fun and funny." She's right. He's a dominant force on the race track, but on his ranch, he's a gentleman, friendly and kind. Oh, and yes, he gets extremely excited about his fish.
Evidence!
Tony was gracious allowing us to take time for a photo op. He even autographed a few things for the silent auction at the conference next September.
This shot came as we struggled to pull this big, heavy electrofishing boat out of a lake from a ranch about 40 miles from Tony's. These folks are wanting to renovate an 8-10 acre lake and turn several different ponds into fishing lakes near Cope, Indiana. Yes, we did get the boat out. It's easy to launch but not so easy to get out sometimes.
Next day (last Wednesday) we headed to Richmond, Indiana to tour the Purina Mills plant where specialty feeds are made. We saw the entire process....and likely some of the fish food you will be feeding in the near future. I was impressed and amazed at their quality control. There's not a question about the ingredients which go into Purina's feeds.
Debbie asked a ton of questions. Manager Eric Kennedy was gracious taking us on the tour. That's Dr. Griffin on the right.
The bagging process. Each bag is tagged and has a batch number. The bagger looks at each bag to make sure the batch number is correct and legible.
Don mixes a batch of feed. His job is to make sure the exact ingredients are mixed precisely to formulate the correct diet for that batch of food.
Dr. Griffin holds two monkey biscuits. That's right, Purina Monkey Chow. This special diet is fed to monkeys involved in cancer research, so it is imperative that this aspect of their diets is properly balanced and the ingredients are pure.
These are the labs where all kinds of tests are run on the ingredients as well as the finished product.
Debbie and Ashley enjoyed their tour of the Purina Mills plant.