Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fishin' 2009

I just wish that there were more in Indiana. The wild birds are few and far between.

neat fish caught on a local public lake fishing with the fiance:

normal fish side


"other" side



Looks like a Redear/Bluegill hybrid to me. The state doesn't stock the hybrid, but the lake contains both parent species, so must have happened the natural way. He fought like a bluegill: circle, circle, circle some more. But for being 8.5" had a lot of power.

Not sure what caused the sores on the one side. It looked like that when I caught it.

The fish had a lot more color to it when first caught. The dark lines in the face were a really brilliant orange. I should also note that my fiance outfished me

That's the sign of a keeper!

I'd be willing to bet George's lovely bride outfishes him all the time.

This will be good for the Rotenone-Engagement Pictures.

Cool, looking sunny... Definitely a hybrid, are there any pumpkinseeds in the lake?

Still not healed up from spawning?? Nice looking fish (at least on one side.)

Maybe something tried to eat it.

Theo:

That's what I thought at first, but I can't discern any mouth/beak pattern or shape.

Very helpful info, catmandoo. I never keep a bass from ponds I'm managing for trophy 'gills, and like you, I culled heavily in years past when I had several such ponds. I just recently started managing ponds again after ten years in CA, and I have a five-acre pond that I'm working with that I've been wondering if I should be culling in more heavily. The 'gills average about 8" but they averaged close to 10" and very chunky when I last worked with the pond twelve years ago, and I used to keep quite a bit of them. This year I've just been keeping some of the females, but I may start keeping more of them as well as some of the smaller males.

Congrats on a great pond! Any man who manages for trophy bluegill is a man I admire. I too would love someday to produce a state-record bluegill or shellcracker. There's a good probability that a shellcracker caught about fifteen years ago from the pond I mention above would've stomped the TN record (the record is 3 lbs. 5.5. oz.), but it was eaten without being weighed. There's a photo of it in my photos on bigbluegill.com; it's almost as long as the torso of the man who caught it, and is so thick it looks like it recently played major league baseball.

Me either. That slash on an angle is too wide/spread out to look like a heron strike, and to straight to fit a bass mouth.

Maybe the fish was just clumsy.

Not that I know of. Its in Southern Iowa a couple hours South of where the first lakes with pumpkinseeds are. I helped the DNR shock this lake once and we didn't see any then either.



The fiance is definitely a keeper. She has both a BS and masters degree in fisheries. Her interests lie in the Human Dimensions part of fisheries: peoples beliefs and attitudes, why they fish, what they keep, etc.

Shes also a Texan. The midwest girls couldn't keep me in line so I had to go to Texas to get my own supermodel wife.

my first thought too cj...cool looking fish.....lucky man csteffen

Way to go! God blessed Texas in many ways...beautiful women is certainly one of them.

"The fiance is definitely a keeper. She has both a BS and masters degree in fisheries. Her interests lie in the Human Dimensions part of fisheries: peoples beliefs and attitudes, why they fish, what they keep, etc.

Shes also a Texan. The midwest girls couldn't keep me in line so I had to go to Texas to get my own supermodel wife."

So the Rotenone-Engagement Photo Shoot was/is really a WIN-WIN for both parties.

davatsa got his own supermodel wife from Texas.

Here is a picture from last week, a sea run cutthroat trout from Puget Sound.

and another picture from the "big" pond out west last week.

Nice use of the Condello fish-holding technique, Shorty...but that fish didn't need it!!

Nice catch!

She didn't help out with the rotenone, we did the engagement photos a different day.

I know about davatsa's supermodel wife. Thats what inspired me to go looking for a wife in Texas (actually met her doing stream fish assessments in MO). Turns out transplanting a Texas girl into an Iowa winter isn't the best idea.....

That's incredible, Shorty!

You were in the Puget Sound area, and the sun was shining!

Now, now Theo, the "hundred days of darkness" (more like 6 months) is primarily a wintertime thing in the Puget Sound area.

I also caught a whole bunch of these "bullheads" out of the Sound in addition to that sea run cutthroat.

That's a cool fish. Where'd you catch it? Your location says Lincoln, NE. You didn't catch it in Lincoln did you?

I was on vacation last week visiting the Puget Sound area in Washington state, the fish is called a sculpin. The locals call them "bullheads", they are fairly common and will readily hit a curly tailed jig. The one pictured is 10" and is pretty good sized for a sculpin out there.

Oh, ok, very cool. I saw something similar last October when we were vacationing in Ft. Lauderdale except they were nearly 3 feet in length. Not sure what it was. Resembled a plecostomus, but they were huge. Didn't know how to hook one though. Caught a "walking" catfish while we were down there though. And a number of black bass, tilapia, and peacock bass.

Shorty did you eat that salmon or throw it back? What did it weigh? It looks huge!

Dang, that thing looks like an overgrown sculpin! Those and warmouths have something in common...