Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations New "personal pond" LMB record

The fish weren't biting while the company was here over the TG holiday. At 5:15PM this evening, I caught the largest LMB to-date out of my pond. I was nervous, my wife was nervous(taking the pix) all while I wanted this big girl/boy back in the pond to finish growing out.

She weighed in at 8lb-2oz on my digital scale and was approx. 24". The previous record fish was 4lb-2oz and caught last fall.

Here is the pic



BarO

Another pic.....it is really me. I am the headless fisherman!

What a fabulous fish! That's a huge jump from 4 lb. 2 oz. up to 8 lb. 2 oz.!!!!

That fish looks like it's in really good body condition as well. To what do you attribute such a big jump in size.

I'm pretty jealous of you Texans sometimes. That fish would be one of the ten biggest caught in the state of Nebraska this year. Wonderful fish and congratulations.

P.S. Did you specifically go for Florida strain genetics?...and how big is your pond again?

The pond is only 6 years old and .75 acre. This has to be one of the 4 Florida females the original owner put in the pond. He told me they were 10" when stocked if my memory serves me correctly. The other "little" 4 pounder had to be an offspring, I guess. I have seen a couple of "biguns" in the past during spawn in the shallows. It was really fat and probably full of Tilapia and CNBG.

I was reeling in a 6" BG on my ultralite earlier and something(?) grabbed it and headed for deep water before spitting it out. Might have been the same fish....hope not. I would like to believe there are more than one in the pond.

Nice fish BarO!!

Thanks Todd,

Hope to be showing some Big HSB in the near future! I'll be calling in early March.

Sounds good!!

Hey BarO,
If you catch smaller fish you can get your head in the picture.

Until now I have only heard stories of the "Headless Fisherman"! Legend has it that he sneaks onto peoples property....only to remove all of the big LMB from their pond! Kind of gives me chills just talking about it!

IL, what is really scary is that the "Headless Fisherman" is everywhere and he doesn't just take LMB.

Well, I can tell you one thing for sure! The "HF" above does not even resemble/have EITHER of my chins. HA!

Rad, what is that, a crappie? Hard to see at that angle,

Or may be a HSB can't tell if I see spots or stripes on the side but the head looks very SILVER.

I think I see Ichabod Crane somewhere in the background there.

Looks like Rad is holding a Tilapia from the looks of it's lips.

Naw that's a pacu and it is holding the scale hook in it's teeth. See the black band on it's tail? Those guys are over 5 lbs now.

What is it, Rad....like 27 o'clock in Thailand right now?

Rad, do you let the neighbors take them off the hook for you? How big are the teeth on a 5lber?

27 O'Clock next Tuesday.

Actually it was a little before 8, and Theo is close, Saturday morning.
I use barbless hooks and leave them in the net most of the time, the neighborhood kids won't touch them once they hear the teeth gnash the hook. I will get a picture of the next one we catch. Bruce will flip over the amount of tartar build up they have, they look like life long smokers.
When I fly back to the US from here I usually land within half an hour of take off. Of course it takes two days to get back.