Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Making memories...

You know we're havin' good days
And we hope they're gonna last
Our future still looks brighter than our past
We feel no need to worry
No reason to be sad...


Following the second coldest Nebraska October in meterological [?] history the weather for the last couple weeks has remained in the mid 60's and the YP bite has been phenomenal on the main pond.

I stocked 380 4-6" YP in September 2008 with Bruce from Rob Hofpar near Lincoln, NE. Pellet fed 2x daily [Dawn and Dusk] for 1 second using AM 500 and super secret formula eventually graduating to AM 600. YP fed aggressively. Fish are now ranging btw 9-12".

Brought the family out last weekend to join me on a glorious afternoon in the mid 70's with a light and variable wind.



Main pond is full pool, 18' max depth, 2:1 slopes.





Few pics of my main pond







SW creek arm





East creek arm





Perfect day for UL jig fishing. My panfish rig: Shimano Symetre 750 spooled with 2 lb Berkley fireline crystal on 5'6" UL G Loomis IMX , 1/32oz chartruese jighead and crawler nub.



Learning the ropes...Teaching August to detect the subtle tick of the YP





Learning fish ID





This one will go a little better





He's on his way...





Not to be outdone...







Wonder where she learned the Condello pose?





Even Mom gets YP fever





Not a bad day





Couple smaller males[?] for the dinner table





My YP certainly have excellent taste - Condello Gill!





Hey Dad...we love fishing!





Gushy sentiments aside - this post is dedicated to Bob and Mike for their commitment to continually publish the only pond management resource that matters; Bruce, Bill, Dave, Eric and TGall for their infinite patience and lending their YP expertise; and my PB Forum family who allowed moments like this to happen! Cheers, y'all!

Thanks for taking the time to post those wonderfull pictures.It made me think about what is realy important in life.

Oh my!!! Thanks for sharing TJ.

Making memories like that - it doesn't get any better.

Yes the blessings of PB create joy.

Word! nuff sed
(OK, just a little more: congrats TJ...ya made it!)

Where did you put that boy's teeth?

Nice TJ! Excellent growth rate on those perch too. Yellow perch are such wonderful pond fish if you can keep their numbers down! Beautiful in appearance, easy to catch, and very tasty. It doesn't get much better than that. In a couple of years you will have 13 to 14 inch fish and you should end up with some 15 inch fish.

Absolutely beautiful TJ. The weather's been awesome for extending the fishing opportunities for the family. That 2nd pic of the still water is just gorgeous. Well done.

Great post!

I see you still have some 'live' PVC.

Good looking kids, TJ! Obviously you wife had more to do with that than you did.

TJ, great looking BOW and family too. How large is it? I love the creeks coming into a pond like you have - always seems to be a good place to catch a few fish. Have any of Bruce's gills gotten real big yet?

Thanks TJ !!!! What a great gift you have shared. This is an absolutely incredible thread on many levels. The scenery , the families (yours and PB) and their connection , the fish , and the caring that goes into all of them. One of the great joys of life is seeing and helping people grow happily into their potential. Just as you are justifiably proud of what you kindly shared with us , so too are we of our small part in your journey. Well done on all accounts. Have you considered writing a PB story about the TJ family journey?

Great photos TJ, this is truly what pond meistering is all about. I take back eleven of the bad things I've said about you.

Be proud, young man!

Nice looking YP.

You know we're havin' good days
And we hope they're gonna last
Our future still looks brighter than our past
We feel no need to worry
No reason to be sad...

Our memories remind us,
Maybe TJ's not so bad.

"Caress of Steel" - obscure, Dude.

I missed seeing that PVC varmint, twice!!!


Glad to see you spent a day enjoying the wonderful place you created. Well done my friend!

You obviously know who I was aiming for!

Yo Randy - main pond is around 3.5-4 acres...not entirely sure now that its full pool. More than anything else I feel very fortunate my kids have taken immediately to the land - don't mind the mud, bug bites, getting wet, pinching nightcrawlers with their fingernails, drinking from the well right at the spigot, and catching and handling fish. One never knows, it's a crap shoot if a kid's going to take to the water/outdoors/getting roughed up/etc. I'm hopeful once I get a beach, dock and our water trampoline they will be begging to head out daily. I plan on introducing them to ice fishing this year if I can find my long ago submerged rock piles and congregated YP.

Cecil - thanks for the props - I'm actually a little perplexed with the pellet feeding all Summer and abundant forage [FHM, GSH, PK Shrimp] these fish were not thicker. I think the WR is below 100 for sure...can you estimate that from just looking at the fish via a photo or would I need weight measurements? I personally feel they were a little on the light side, which surprised me.

Maybe Bill Cody (aka Dr. Perca) can chime in here but 4 to 6 inches to 9 to 12 inches in one year is good growth anywhere IMHO. That's a minimum of 3 inches in a year. Perhaps they will put on weight when they slow down in growth? Dr. Perca?

Great job all around TJ.And thanks for the smile it put on my face,it aint been a real good day at work around here,but I feel much better now.

I'm happy to hear that Tom!

I have a video I'd like to post on the forum that would be right up your alley...not sure if it would be wise as it has something to do with compacted flash powder.

Any ideas on the forum's policy for posting videos of fireworks that just nudge over the legal allowable limit for % of flash powder?

When young YP grow fast similar to growth rates you are seeing, they often are not real plump. Similar to lanky teenagers most of the food intake goes to elongation. As your mature YP get older, esp females, they will accumulate higher Wr values especially during the period when gravid August to March.

For well fed YP, plumpness is often sexually related, where females are usually noticably plumper than the males. Males usually tend to be thinner bodied and more streamlined than similar length females. The exception is for a short period after spawning. Then spent females are thin bodied. Once one is real familiar with the dimorphic characters of YP, males can be fairly accurately separted from females just by body shape, esp during winter. Some pondowners near me select mostly the males for harvest during the winter ice fishing. When harvesting my perch, I always harvest all males and only a few slot length females all larger lightly hooked females are released.

A recent report (In-Fisherman mag) found that slim appearing male YP produced as big of fillet after cleaning as plump female YP. Thus harvesting mostly plump females for table use is not as beneficial as many anglers think is the case.

Thank you Bill - this really helps ease my mind regarding the YP WR. Right after your SMB book you need to get started on your YP book!

I noticed Bill didnt touch the video questions. :)I say go ahead and post it.