Pond Boss Forums INTRO Bob Lusk's blog It always seems to be an adventure....

I have a great life!
Come tag along with me, some time. Seriously.
Some things are planned, others are spontaneous.
Last week, I started working on November-December Pond Boss. About half way through it, as of right now...
But, last weekend, Debbie and I actually spent a couple of relaxing days. We traveled to Cisco, Texas, for Friday night football, stayed overnight in a hotel and shopped the next day. On Monday, headed out early and drove near Hondo, Texas, west of San Antonio, to meet up with Sue Cruz for a quick visit with Fred Middleton. Fred is an amazing fellow. He is a charter subscriber of Pond Boss and has never missed an issue of the magazine. Better yet, he shopped for ten years, starting back in the 70's, and found his "dream" ranch in 1981. Since then, Fred has been a hands-on pondmeister, guided by his grand vision for the best fishing lakes and ponds he can have. With water rights for pumping from his well, he has the ability to keep his lakes full of water in this arid part of Texas. His ranch sits just on the fringe of brush country, slightly south of the Texas Hill Country, bordered by fairly flat farm land. It's a unique property.
Fred built several lakes ranging beyond forty acres. Like the businessman he is, he has hedged his bets with the lakes. They are all in different stages and styles of management, from trophy bass to big sunfish.
The purpose of our visit was to meet up with Sue, take a look at each lake's aeration system and meet Fred. Sue, with Vertex, helped engineer an amazing maze of an aeration system for the lakes, effectively hedging the bets of water quality improvement.
Here's a few photos to share.



Sue Cruz, Fred Middleton and fisheries biologist Bob Zerr look at a box with valves and gauges of a Vertex system.



Fred shows Sue the methods he used to split the airline to more diffusers. The line runs 1,400 feet from the compressor. The wire panels keep nearby cattle away. Hoses are inside pvc conduit to keep beavers and nutria from chewing through hoses.



Fred and Sue look close up at a Vertex System Sue designed and Fred and his guys installed.



Not everyone was interested in the aeration system.



Yellow jacket nest on the side of one of Fred's boathouses.



Zerr stands beside a 15 year old cypress tree. I have never seen such rapid growth rates. Fascinating trees that Fred planted.



Fred has a boat house on each of his four lakes, with boats at the ready. The floor is slanted and the boats are on rollers, with electric winches that pull the boats out of the water. Each boat has a compact battery charger that turns off when the battery is charged. He has some batteries which are ten years old. That's unheard of around boats.



Fred is all about family and friends. He loves his grandchildren and built them a neat playhouse on the shore of one of his lakes.



Of course, we had to look at a few fish. Here, Fred and Sue stand on a catwalk that extends over and overflow pipe. The Sweeney Feeder tosses out Purina's Game Fish Chow and giant coppernose bluegill take advantage of the unscheduled feeding.

Tuesday, I went back to work on Pond Boss, and edited about four stories. Would've gotten more done, but my bride needed a little help with the two youngest grandpeople. The stay with us four days a week rather than be herded into day care. It's great to have little ones around the house...unless one needs to work.



And, when there's a little girl smiling and cooing at her Papa, who wants to work?



Here's all three of the grandpeeps...Ethan, Jentry and Nolan. Huge fun.

Wednesday, more Pond Boss and babies...and Taylor's 17th birthday. I made him a birthday cake. Taylor loves chocolate, so I decided to make the most chocolate thing I could possibly concoct.



You'll laugh, but I bought three brownie mixes, a large bottle of chocolate syrup, a chocolate cake mix and two boxes of chocolate pudding. I baked the brownies in two pans and the cake in one, then laid a pan of brownies on the bottom of a platter and soaked it in chocolate syrup. Then, I slopped some chocolate pudding on the brownies and laid the cake on top of that. Then, I soaked the cake in chocolate syrup, globbed on some more pudding and laid on the second slab of brownies. Splattered the rest of the chocolate syrup on the top, added the remaining pudding and then two cans of chocolate icing. Can it be more chocolate? Taylor couldn't wipe the smile, or the chocolate, off his face.

Yesterday morning early, I was working on Pond Boss and got to thinking about some of my clients. I spoke with the earthmover for my most recent client, Eagle Nest Ranch, near Athens, Texas. The county Judge had just called him and said the National Weather Service was projecting 15-20 inches of rain for that area of east Texas. We decided it best to open valves and begin draining water from the 130 acre main lake.
I ran some quick numbers and figured out that 15 inches of rain on that watershed would bring twice the volume of water the lake currently holds at full pool level.
I felt a sense of urgency.
This is where the spontaneous part comes in.
Debbie wanted to tag along, so she bundled up the two younger grandchildren, Nolan and Jentry, loaded them into the car, strapped them into car seats and we headed to Athens.
Along the way, I called four other clients to make sure they were aware of potential problems.
Each took the advice to heart and made efforts to open valves, pull boats from the water and prepare for the imminent threat of heavy rains and high winds across the entire eastern segment of Texas.

When we arrived, the first job was to open two valves and begin draining water off the lake. That job was accomplished quickly. Next, I contacted the earthmover to shoot some elevations. (see the thread in Questions and Observations....just got off the phone with the ranch manager and the lake has dropped 4 inches in the first 24 hours. I am hoping the lake will drop at least 12-14 inches before the rains hit.
The earthmover cut the spillway (along with a gas line buried in it) and was able to drop the spillway by two feet. We have projected that to be enough to keep water from the buildings.

Now, we await the wrath of Ike. I'm watching Fox News and The Weather Channel while working on Pond Boss again.

As always, I would like to ask for prayers for those who will be impacted by this catastrophic storm.

Fish on.

Ike passed and caused some amazing damage. Today, news reports say there are still more than 400 people unaccounted for from Galveston. Hurricanes are an amazing natural fete.

Personally, son Jonathan was affected, however minimally. His home in Houston was not damaged, just didn't have power for more than a week.

For the fish guy, we saw 35 mile an hour winds and about 2 inches of rain here at LL,2 from the hurricane. I have spoken with all the clients in east Texas. One received 7 inches of rain and his lake rose quickly, but never went over the spillway. Everyone else did well.

The last couple of weeks have been exciting, full of adventure and travels.

September 15, I was contacted by Aaron Martin of Bass Edge, for four interviews to be used for podcasts on bassedge.com. Look for those interviews. He asks some provocative questions. I'll be heading to St. Louis next Sunday for three days of video shoots for their television show.

On the 16th, met up with a new client who wants to build several large lakes. Toured his west Texas ranch, a beautiful property. He has the potential to build some fantastic lakes. Referred him to one of my favorite engineers, John Rutledge, of Freese and Nichols in Fort Worth to see what it would take to permit and build several nice lakes.

Late on the 16th, I headed to the airport and flew to Montgomery, Alabama, where Ray Scott picked me up with our friend Don Watts. We headed to Ray's house. I love that guy. He was extremely excited. He asked me to drop my bags by his front door and head straight through his house, out the back, to his lake. It was well beyond sunset, actually totally dark. As we went through the back sliding glass door, I saw this irridescent green glow, almost psychidelic looking. He had a light on the bottom of his lake, next to the dock, in about six feet of water. It was a cool deal. He had traded Nate Hermann for the light and had one of his guys install it. What was amazing was the number of fish in the light...bass from 1.5 pounds to six or seven, swimming in a big circle, counter-clockwise or, as Ray described it, "Anti-clockwise." We caught a few fish off of it, but the next night, Jim Liner and Don Watts caught 25 fish off that light in fifteen minutes. Of course, I didn't have a camera, so no photos. Traveled light that day. But, that light, called a "Monster Light" was a cool toy. Fish everywhere, in all depths above it. We must get one.
Then, on the 17th and early on the 18th, we worked on a project with a client from Georgia. That project will make great fodder for the magazine and you will read about it. This guy attended the Pond Boss conference, where we met. He is a fascinating man and what he has done will leave you shaking your heads...in more ways than one. Plus, I got in some fishing time on one of the most famous lakes on the planet. Caught some good fish with Don Watts...who is much better than I am.

I got home just in time on Thursday to travel to Bonham, Texas and watch Taylor play football. Then, Whitesboro had their homecoming game on Friday.

Then, early on Saturday, I headed to DFW airport to catch an 8 a.m. flight to go to St. Louis, where Fred "Bing" Bingaman, picked me up. We headed to Brownstown, Illinois for Dave Sefton's Pond Boss regional seminar. Dave did a great job organizing and putting the thing together. It takes a lot of work to put something like this together. Boy Scouts provided hamburgers for lunch, several speakers were in the lineup and we had a great day. Then, we went to a local restaurant for fellowship with several Pond Boss regulars.

Sunday, we spent the morning with Fred and Connie, with Nate and Justin Hermann, with Brett295 and Dave Sefton at the Bingaman home. They have a beautiful pond right outside the back door. We had planned to go see some ponds, but it rained heavily, so we used the wetness as an excuse to converse. And, converse we did. It was a blast. Lots of energy and many topics, one of which was trying to persuade those wild Hermann boys to video their fish underwater. I'll be darned if they didn't do it and....you see the results. Maybe one of the coolest videos on YouTube.

Home late Sunday night, then Monday was spent with those darn grandpeeps. I just can't say "no" to them.



Jentry is a doll. Just a little, living doll. (I did get some work done, but not much with Nolan wanting to catch a fish, hit the hot tub, read a book, watch a movie and take a nap.) That's life.

Somewhere in here, I don't remember exactly when, I shot a few "fish handling" photos with Blake Wilson and Ethan Lovelace "Lovelace" on the website. Here's a few of those photos, taken here at one of our ponds, not far from the very spot Condello caught the giant bluegill which graces the cover of this issue of the magazine



Here's a pretty good bluegill, caught by Ethan, using the Condello method of a jig with a hunk of night crawler.



Ethan releases a large bluegill.



Blake caught a nice feed-trained bass.

But, on Tuesday, I met up with my business manager, Walter Bassano, to do some evaluation of Lee Roy Mitchell's lakes and pond on his Eagle's Nest Ranch.



Lee Roy is building a nice boathouse. One of the workers dropped his pencil holder and decided to retrieve it.



One of the fish we sampled.

I hate to admit this little faux paux, but during this expedition, I had something happen that has only happened one other time in my entire life. Walter and I were electrofishing and I saw a school of shad topping the water with bass attacking from below. I made a hard right with the electrofishing boat, hit an underwater stump...the boat stopped dead, but yours truly didn't. Wish I had it on video...glad we didn't. I went feet over back, straight into the lake. As I sank, I could see at least five feet of water above me. All I thought about was the stinkin' blackberry in my pocket. I surfaced, Walter's face was priceless. Thank goodness my foot was on the switch and as I left the boat, the electricity left the lake, too. Whew! As I surfaced, somewhat embarrassed and totally soaked, I pulled the phone out of my pocket and looked at the water in the display screen. I figured out how to get my beached-whale butt back in the boat, over the side and began to assess. Hat...gone. Glasses...at the bottom of the lake. $75 dip net...adios. Blackberry...deceased. We motored back to the shore, loaded the boat and cut our trip several hours short. I needed glasses and a new phone. Spent all of Wednesday doing that. My little trip into the water was about $700 overboard. Oh well.
But, Thursday was spent writing.

Friday was busy, too. Busy stuff, but busy.

Saturday morning, headed to Aggieland to watch A&M play Army. Loads of fun. Then, early Sunday, I drove to Port Aransas for a board meeting of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association. These two photos were shot from the ferry from Aransas Pass to Port A. near Corpus Christi.





Meeting started at 1 and I bailed out at 6 to head home for a meeting this morning in Whitesboro. Here's a ship heading out from port as I waited on the ferry to go back to Aransas Pass just before dark.



Rested today...tomorrow I catch a 6 a.m. flight to North Carolina. Will shoot some photos and catch you up later this week.

Fish on!

Proofread Pond Boss for November/December. You will like it, I promise. It should be on the presses in the next day or so.

When we last visited, I was headed to Richmond Mill Lake and an excursion with King Fisher Society. New client, Lee Roy Mitchell and his wife, Tandy, were guests. They had an absolutely great time. I'm helping the Mitchell's with their property in east Texas and we wanted them to experience the King Fisher experience of great bass fishing, fabulous food and live jazz music. Jim Morgan has created a unique business model and it's working well. All he needs is for the word to spread. It's a fascinating new idea that no one has done and it works well, really well.



Tandy Mitchell caught a nice bass...this photo shows guide Gene Jensen, from Augusta, Georgia, holding the fish. Gene is a moderator on bassresource.com. Tandy Mitchell is in the front of the boat, Lee Roy is in the back. Lee Roy is the founder and CEO of Cinemark Theatres and owns a spectacular piece of property in east Texas.



The Mitchell's flew in their Citation to enjoy this experience. On the right is one of their pilots, Rick Lust, a retired American Airlines Pilot and bass fisherman extraordinare. His guide, Dr. Robert Fulton, affectionately known as the "Rivergeezer", had a lot in common with Rick.



The guides get ready for the day on a fog shrouded Richmond Mill Lake in North Carolina.



Richmond Mill Lake is an amazing lake, producing some amazing fish. Some 9,000 gallons per minute flows over this spillway. Never mind the pH which sometimes slips below 5.0. Never mind how sterile the water is. Never mind the acidity. We have found a combination that works and works well.



Here's the entire group...from left: Dave Buhler, Morgan Company property manager, Pilot Rick Lust, Lee Roy Mitchell, Rivergeezer, Pilot Brien (didn't catch his last name...he was in the hotel room, ill, much of the time), Tandy Mitchell, Dr. Jim Morgan, and Guide Gene Jensen.



Jim and Lee Roy enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the second day.



Lee Roy's smile says it all.



The live music adds to the evening, after a great day on the lake.

I was able to fly back with the Mitchells on their plane. It was a great time and privileged trip back to the metroplex. Hit the ground last Friday around 3:30 and headed home in time to catch up with Debbie's son, my step-son, Taylor. I was banished from home. Seems my bride had scheduled a slumber party with several of her girlfriends. No guys. No problem. Taylor hopped in the manly Dodge pickup and we headed to Cowtown. Had dinner together, just he and I, then booked us a room, checked in and headed to Billy Bob's Texas, for a night on the town. Taylor had never been there, so it was a special treat for both of us. We saw some bullriding, spent time walking around and marveling at the size and circumstance of the largest honky tonk in the world. Then, we made our way to our seats for a concert by country upcoming star Aaron Watson. It was a great time and both of us enjoyed the "Guy Night."

Then, Saturday morning, we met up with Debbie to attend a seminar sponsored by the Laser Back Institute. Debbie has an out-of-place vertebrae that needs attention. Got back to Whitesboro just in time to watch grandson Ethan play peewee football.



Ethan, 81, got to be captain. A fourth grade football game is a fun way to spend the afternoon on a Saturday.



As Ethan toiled on the football field, little brother Nolan tried to dye his tongue as many colors as possible with as many different ring pops as his sugar-laden belly would hold. He was bouncing off the bleachers.

Saturday night was more family time, as was Sunday morning, before heading back to the airport to catch a flight to St. Louis. Here I sit, at this moment, at the Super 8 in Washington, MO, after a day of shooting stand ups for Bass Edge TV for next spring. Don Hertz and Matt Wilson are true pros at putting together a television production. Plus, they are able to take a simple fish guy and help him put a few words together for something worthy of TV. Tomorrow, we do some more. Today, we were on location, next to a lake. Tomorrow, we are scheduled inside, in the studio. I'll try to shoot a few photos so you can see what we are doing.

This weekend, I have another really cool adventure. Stay tuned...I promise you will enjoy it. It may be one of the best opportunities ever.

Fish on!

Well, just finished the day, shooting for Bass Edge. We shot a total of 7 standups for the TV show and 10 "quick tips" for the website. These guys are truly pros at what they do. The set (see below) is pretty cool. It's fun to be able to stand in front of a camera and talk about your passion. Enjoy the photos....



Matt Wilson, cameraman, gets the set right.



Producer Don Hertz gets ready.



Almost ready.



Here we go...all day long. Great fun.