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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,346
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Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
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Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
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Joined: Apr 2002
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Likes: 97
Some months ago, King Fisher Society founder, Dr. Jim Morgan, let me know he was excited about an upcoming article called "Quest for the 2 lb Bluegill"...an assignment from In-Fisherman magazine to writer Jim Gronaw and Pond Boss moderator Dr. Bruce Condello. Dr. Morgan decided to invite the two guys back for a follow up. Anyone who's been around Bruce knows the man is an absolute angling fanatic...bordering on obsessive. (He's not really on the border, I'm just being nice...I love Bruce). Jim Morgan decided the next visit would be "Quest for the 3 lb bluegill. As he and I discussed the event, we knew the guys didn't have a writing assignment and part of the mission should be to promote King Fisher Society... www.kingfishersociety.com . The more we thought about it, the more we thought this event should be more of a summit meeting of a few people of like minds, to invite them to fish and share their ideas and help promote King Fisher Society. Besides, I was pretty confident there weren't too many 3 lb bluegill to be caught...yet.
So, the King Fisher team talked it over and here's what was decided.
We decided to change the crux of the event to "Quest for Your Personal Best" and invite Alan Warren to produce a television show about the event. Check him out at www.alanwarrenoutdoors.com. He is quality and passionate about what he does.
Invite Condello and Gronaw and expect them to produce several story lines and be published as much as possible to tell their stories and help with the branding of King Fisher Society.
Dr. David Willis, head of the Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences was invited to get a better idea of cutting edge southern fisheries management and to bring academia closer to some of the techniques currently being used in the field. T.J. Stallings, of TTI-Blakemore, makers of six brands of hooks and producers of Roadrunner Lures, was invited to make an introduction between the tackle industry and King Fisher. Plus, TJ needed some images of big bluegill caught on his baits. And, we knew TJ, in the tackle business for 40 years, knows lots of outdoor writers and people who can get some ink for KFS.
Then, there is Darren Simon, from Purina Mills. Darren is directly in charge of aquatic feeds and came, not only to catch his personal best bluegill and bass, but to directly see what Purina's feed is doing for this burgeoning fishery.
Last, but not least, we invited forum member AaronM to come and see the lake, learn the business model and help with future plans to replicate KFS.
Those six guys spent the better part of two days fishing for the biggest fish they could.
And, they did well.
I drove the camera boat, cooked, weighed fish, guided guys to help them learn the lake and held court around the fire pit the first night.
It was an energetic 2 1/2 days.
Here are some images of the event.



Bruce with a fish on. He shared the boat with Darren Simon that morning.



Alan Warren's cameraman, Gerry Olert, capturing a Condello catch for the television show, which will air next spring.



Here's what Gerry was filming, up close.



Darren Simon, battling a two pound bluegill.



Gerry Olert, cameraman extraordinaire.



Jim Gronaw, shooting photos of Aaron's nice fish. Gronaw got lots of images.



Gronaw, an excellent outdoor writer, with one of his many big bluegill. You should see him set the hook. As a matter of fact, here's what happened with him...I just happened to be in the boat when it happened. Hint...if you ever fish with him, wear goggles and a helmet.



He stuck the front hook squarely into his cheek. The tip of the hook came out of his face. He started tugging on it and I looked closely and told him to stop. I could see the hook sticking out of his face and knew it wouldn't be hard to get it out, if he just left it alone. I got on the radio and called for a pair of wire pliers at the dock and we headed in. Jim took a seat on the patio, I pulled the hook gently, snipped it at the shank and that released the lure. Then, I asked Jim to take his finger and push his cheek out from the outside, where I grabbed the tip of the hook with the pliers and pulled it straight out. Nothing to it. Someone lesser than Gronaw would have turned pale and passed out. He was fishing ten minutes later.



Darren Simon with a two pound bluegill, his personal best.



Dr. Willis on his way to the dock.



Last edited by Bob Lusk; 05/21/10 03:41 PM.

Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...
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Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
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His first warmouth, ever.



Alan Warren and Bruce Condello pose with some mighty nice bluegills.



A very interesting thing happened. Bruce caught the fish on the left. It weighed just over 1 lb, 13 oz. That's huge. As he looked, it wasn't a bluegill. It had several attributes of redbreast sunfish. He and Aaron used an iPhone to look up the North Carolina state records for redbreast and this fish was 2 oz. larger. He brought the fish in, both Dr. Willis, a fisheries biologist, and I looked at it. We agreed it wasn't a redbreast, but that it had attributes to both redbreast and bluegill. We kept the fish and Bruce wanted to weigh it and submit for a potential state record...even though we didn't know what the fish was.
As I thought more about it, this fish appears to be about 5 years old. It looks like a hybrid cross between a bluegill and redbreast. As I thought about it, Richmond Mill Lake was mainly empty during the time this fish was spawned. The conclusion I have tentatively arrived is that in the spring of 2005, while the lake was still low, the redbreast were spawning. As the fish were doing what they do, a "sneaker" bluegill came in, dumped some of his milt onto the female redbreast's eggs and ran off. It makes good sense and is a logical explanation.
The record was submitted and the fish is currently alive and being kept at Aberdeen Tackle, in Aberdeen, NC.



Alan Warren and I wanted in on some photography action. Alan and I have become pretty good friends and we'll share this image for a long time...even though we didn't catch the fish.



Dr. Willis and I, same scenario.



Oh, yes, a few bass were caught, too.



Well, I did fish a little bit...not much, though. It was the other guy's weekend.

That event ended on Sunday...oh, before I forget...I was able to tape several podcasts with these guys over the weekend and we'll get those up on the website as soon as I can get them to our podcast editor.

Then, the whirlwind continued. On Monday and Tuesday, Darren Simon and I made customer calls and visited Purina dealers around the Carolinas. We visited Moree's Sportsman's Lodge in Society Hill, toured the facility and talked pond management. After that, we stopped in to meet an intriguing fellow, Mr. Grainger, and talk about his pond. We looked at his fishing trophies and the man needs a special trophy room for all of them. After that, we met up with a feed lot owner who raises cattle and hogs and wants to improve his fishing. After that, we headed to Will Scott's house. He's the owner of Chadbourn Feed Service near Whiteville, NC. He and Purina Sales Rep Tim Jackson were our tour hosts. After a great supper, Darren and I headed back to our hotel room in Laurinburg. We hit the sack about 11ish. The next morning we were up and gone at daylight, heading east. We made four more customer stops that day, looking at ponds and meeting more interesting folks. During mid-afternoon, we headed to a pond location and videoed a stand-up, pond side television show with the local county agent for play this week on the cable channel in Columbus County, NC. Tune in, if you can.
Tuesday night was show time again. We put on a pond management seminar for local Purina dealers and customers. It started at 7 and ended about 9. Then, it was back to Laurinburg, to the hotel in preparation for the next fun event.
My friend and client, Lee Roy Mitchell, had brought several of his friends fishing at King Fisher.
I joined them Wednesday morning and helped host the event.
Here's some images of that event.



Norm Miller, of Interstate Batteries, with Lee Roy's brother-in-law, Walter and guide Robby, head out to enjoy the King Fisher experience.



Walter fighting a nice bass.



Lee Roy Mitchell, (r), guide Gene Jensen (c) and former Redskins coach and NASCAR owner, Joe Gibbs (l). Between the two boats, there were at least 75 fish caught that day. It was a pretty good day fishing for those guys.



Last edited by Bob Lusk; 05/21/10 03:46 PM.

Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,346
Likes: 97
Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
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Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,346
Likes: 97
Lee Roy brought his buddies from Texas and Joe came over from his home base around Charlotte. Lee Roy's pilots wanted in on the action so I grabbed some tackle, the pilots and we went fishing.



Pilot Steve Fryer with his best bass of the morning, just under 5 pounds.



Head pilot Rick Lust with a nice bass.

Before long it was time to head to lunch...quite an event at King Fisher. They bring in a personal chef to cook each meal.



The guys enjoyed the food and camaraderie immensely. After lunch, they headed back out on the water.



At the end of the day, Norm and his boat let us know exactly how big their fish were.



Joe Gibbs shared his stories of the day's events before heading back home to get ready for the race weekend.



Here, Joe and Jim Morgan share tales of the day.



By then, the live jazz band was playing great music, wonderful smells were coming from the kitchen and it was soon time for supper. Rack of elk on seasoned mashed potatoes and locally grown aspargus followed the appetizers. King Fisher brought in a chef from Pinehurst to prepare the food. Apps were salmon tartare with cilantro and a sauce, served on a ceramic flat spoon. They also has scallops in a banana-curry sauce, something this Texan had never had or heard of. Grilled shrimp topped off the appetizers. Dessert? Of course...creme' broulee.



Our supper guests...Lusk on the left, then Norm Miller, Walter, Jim, Lee Roy and Dave Buhler, property manager.

After dinner, it was brandy and cigars around the fire pit and bedtime shortly after 11.

The next morning, I tagged up with the pilots and hitched a ride home on Lee Roy's plane...much better than driving to RDU and dealing with the game called "commercial airlines".



Lee Roy's plane and the pilots getting ready for the 2.5 hour trip from Laurinburg, NC to Dallas, TX.



Pilot Rick Lust offered to shoot a photo of the Pond Boss next to the plane. I accepted the offer.



Last edited by Bob Lusk; 05/21/10 03:48 PM.

Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,346
Likes: 97
Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
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Very comfortable inside this Cessna.



Steve, (l) and Rick show their smiling faces at 34,000 feet as we head to Dallas.

It was a great 8 days, jammed packed to the hilt. It's a great life and I'll ride the wave, God willing...



I'll close with this...everywhere I go there seems to be peace and harmony. Nature holding hands with man, man holding hand with man, Nature holding hands with itself. These geese symbolize harmony, family and life. There will be trials. No way all these goslings will make it to adulthood. Something will eat some of them. But, Nature's ways afford them the opportunity to survive and thrive. There's so many things we don't have control over. People worry, fret and wonder what the next day brings. I suspect these geese wonder what the next minute brings and that urgency allows them to live their lives as full as possible.

Fish on.

Bob Lusk


Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...

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