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#237092 10/07/10 05:37 PM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,345
Likes: 96
Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
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Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,345
Likes: 96
Greetings, Pond Boss friends!
Looking back over the summer, I'm amazed at what's happened...again. Not long ago, July would happen and time would seemingly stop. Pond management business would grind to a halt, scorching hot summer temperatures would take our breath and I would have some time to catch up. My original plan was to take a week, maybe ten days, head to the mountains, probably New Mexico, read, write and rest. Not so this summer.
Here are a few photos and explanations for what's been going on. Naturally, there's too much to share in this space, so I'll hit the highlights...and there are some good ones.

July 20-25 LL,2 hosted Kids Outdoor Zone Pink. We had 9 girls here at the house with two lady chaperones and the leader, my friend T.J. Greaney. Most of the folks live near Round Rock, Texas. The mission was to fellowship and help the girls with their spirituality...that's the purpose of KOZ. (They have a webpage at www.kidsoutdoorzone.com) Originally, TJ designed the organization for boys in need of spiritual mentoring, or kids from single parent families. Not long into it, some girls started seeking the Lord through KOZ, so TJ set up KOZ Pink. Here, they learned how to catch fish, how to identify them, how to clean them and eat them. They also learned a little fisheries biology, dragging a seine, studying population dynamics and just general "fish" stuff all the way around.


Here are the girls posing with their catfish, just before they learned how to skin, gut, fillet, cook and eat the catch.

A few days after the girls left, Debbie and I headed to West Palm Beach, Florida for the Purina Mills Dealer Expo. (I'm so sorry, Sue Cruz...I thought about calling you just as we left...I owe you.) I had an airplane ticket bought and just a few days before takeoff, Debbie suggested she might want to tag along. Well, if you've never bought an airplane tickets four days before a flight, it ain't cheap. Then, my bride said she wanted to take our two year old granddaughter, Jentry. Oh my...that meant driving that 1,300 miles with a baby in a car seat. Princess, 'er Queen Debbie was VERY pursuasive...actually she wasn't pursuasive at all. She was going and that was that. So, we did.
I can now sing every nursery rhyme in two languages. And, believe me, the wheels on the bus DO go round and round. Twinkle, twinkle has a whole 'nuther meaning to me now.
That sweetheart child was a darling the whole trip. Of course, Debbie, being the grandmother she is, had all kinds of kid things packed from dolls to movies to books to snacks to cd's. We stopped often enough on the way down. On the way back, we rang ewest's phone and he and his bride, Ruth, graciously invited us to stay the night at their house. We had a great time.
Instead of being gone 2 1/2 days, (had I flown), the road trip ended up lasting 8.


On the way back, we stopped at Cocoa Beach and let Jentry make her first venture into the ocean. Those little two foot waves may as well have been two stories tall to that baby. She stayed a safe distance from saltiness.

The next day after getting home, we turned around and drove to Chicago to gather Debbie's grown daughter for a visit back home. Debbie hasn't seen her for several years, so their reunion was a special time. That trip took only four days. We decided to drive straight through on the way back, about 800 miles.

By now, we were headed into the third week of August and I had agreed to speak at 5 Wildlife Expos for Purina Mills in Texas. The first was in Jacksboro and the next evening in Mineral Wells, Texas. So, I thought it wise to use the daytime to accomplish a few things and then do the speaking engagements at night. I contacted our friend Steve Alexander, with Private Water Fishing and offered to electrofish some of his properties for a steep discount, in order to train my newest biologist, Josh Flowers, how to use the Smith-Root electrofishing boat. It was a win-win-win deal for all of us. Josh learned much about the boat, Steve got an idea of the fisheries of five different lakes and I got to tag along and get some goode photos.
It was scalding hot...too hot to electrofish, but we were cautious and the fish did very well. We probably didn't collect sample sizes and numbers as we would have had we waited until fall, but we caught some representative fish of each population...enough to draw a few conclusions.



Josh (l) and Steve pose during the hottest part of that August 17.



Who says you can't shock up a big bass in hot weather? This fish was sitting next to a grass line in five feet in clear water. We caught her, weighed and measured, shot several pictures and turned her loose.

Shortly after that trip, Josh went with me to Fredericksburg, Texas, to meet up with a long time Pond Boss reader to look at the prospects of building a lake. Since we were in the area, I called Alan Warren to let him know we were in the neighborhood (sorry, Sue, I won't ever forget to call you...ever). Alan has started a radio show over the last year and has had me as a guest almost every Saturday morning. So, we met up with Alan at 4:45 that Saturday at the WOAI studios in San Antonio and did a live radio show. It was a fun, frantic two hours. You can listen to his show from 5-7 a.m. every Saturday at WOAI.com if you wish. His show is now on a number of stations around the country. Here are some images of that morning.










Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...
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Next, I spent a few days at home. We had some serious rainfall that first week of September, as the next three speaking engagements set up. Here's a few images of rainfall consequences at LL,2



This is a 12 inch pipe overflowing from the swimming pond.



Jentry wasn't quite sure how to handle all that water rushing around her little feet.



So, Meems rescued and reassured.



Water rose about two feet over our dock. You can see the climbing ladder and a bench on top of the dock. Lots of rain in a short time.

Then, we headed to Eagle's Nest Ranch in east Texas, one of my best clients, to check in with the fisheries program.



I shot a few scenic photos, weighed and measured some fish and checked aquatic plants.



There were garden spiders all over the place. It was their time of year.



Debbie saw this on a window at the house and didn't know what it was. I didn't want to tell her. Do you?

Then, I headed to King Fisher Society in North Carolina to meet up with TJ Stallings of TTI Blakemore. TJ has been in the fishing tackle business for 40 years and I think he's only 54...he was seining minnows for his dad's Alabama tackle store before he had armpit hair. The man knows fishing tackle. As a matter of fact, he invented Bleeding Bait hooks. Our mission? O'Neill Williams, from Georgia, wanted to shoot a couple of TV shows for his O'Neill Outdoors, on the Versus Channel. We had two incredible days shooting a bluegill show and then a bass show. I got to participate in the bluegill show with O'Neill while KFS owner Jim Morgan did the bass show. It was fun.



TJ Stallings, fishing and fishing tackle expert. I watched him do some trick casting and fabulous catching. The guy is amazing.



TJ and his brother Ron, fishing and standing ready in case we needed anything during the shoot.



Jim Morgan (c) and O'Neill (r) with the cameraman Mike, headed off to do their thing on that fantastic lake.




Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,345
Likes: 96
Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
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Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,345
Likes: 96


Bass were feeding well at KFS. Here's a few of them hitting AquaMax Largemouth.



O'Neill and crew, preparing to do their "stand-ups" where they introduce the show and end it. Always interesting to watch these pros do what they do so well.



While the stand-ups were happening, I couldn't help but try to jig up a few big bluegill around the dock. Caught this monster near the dock.



One of my favorite things about King Fisher is the music. There's always live music. It's a way of life. Here, property manager Dave Buhler (l) tunes up with KFS salesman Jack Miller.



At the end of the day of shooting, Dave (l), O'Neill (c) and Dr. Jim Morgan at the piano, had an impromptu jam session of five or six jazz greats. I love that place. But, it was time to head home and get ready to give another speech...this time at Buffalo, Texas. I got to stop by and hang with Todd and Walter Overton for a few minutes before heading to the venue.



O'Neill was gracious and we had a blast...and caught lots of fish on camera...exactly what a TV guy wants to happen.

After the speech in Buffalo, Debbie and I headed back to Eagle's Nest Preserve to help get ready for Lee Roy & Tandy Mitchell's big party. It was their 30th wedding anniversary and Tandy's birthday, too.


Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,345
Likes: 96
Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
OP Offline
Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,345
Likes: 96
Debbie was all dolled up for the party...a western themed event.



The weather was great and Debbie looked like dynamite. Prettiest girl at the ball.



A local band opened the show, with friend and earthmover Larry Everett leading the way. See the guitarist at the right? He's 92 years old.



But, the headliners were Ray Price (He's 84) and Moe Bandy. Here, Debbie swoons and poses as she hears "For the Good Times." The man still has a strong voice, even at 84. It was a magical evening, with almost 300 of the Mitchell's friends and family at the event.



Lee Roy and Tandy enjoy the show. They are wonderful, Christian human beings.



The Mitchell's good friends and business associates, Gary & Marj Witherspoon, enjoy the event they helped prepare. Gary was the emcee.



Last Saturday, Josh and I seined our little experimental smallmouth pond. Read about what we found in the next issue of Pond Boss.

So, as the sun set over Eagle's Nest, I'll bring this blog to a close. We live a full life and we never really know what turns it will take.




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

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