Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Regional PB Gathering this weekend - Somerset PA

Me too. Imagine things would have gotten even a little more crazy...if possible.

Things have calmed down now that 3/5 of the attendees are now domiciled at the palatial Knights Inn in Somerset, PA.

Again, amazing what you don't get for $45.00/night!

I have no idea what's going on at the pond right now with the other 2/5.

From the camera angle it looked like the gun (or the shooter) was shooting a bit high.....

There's rain headed your way! Should be there by the morning.

Looks like you all had a great time... Bullheads are some great eating, I like em better than CC. Which species of bullhead are they?

Brown Bulls, I think.

We're heading back over now for more culling.

And perhaps more video...

Is that Todd in the video?

Is there a shiny head in the video?

Shiny on top but the bottom is hairy. Sort of that upside down look.

That's great. I know you guys had a "wild & crazy" time!!!!!!!

I'll let Sunil and/or Todd explain these photos from this morning.





A great time was had by all. Sunil's pond is incredible. He's got the biggest bullheads and yellow perch I've ever caught anywhere.

Geez, drunks with guns. Wish I could have been there.

Yikes, not what I want to see in a toilet with my family jewels so close by...

So there's a total of (5) of us. Three PB Members (catmandoo, Todd3138, and myself) plus two of catmandoo's friends from WV (Gary and Dwain).

We all get there Sunday, and have a great time catching fish, drinking beers (and some Crown), having a good time. Then, catmandoo, Gary, and Dwain proceed to clean and cook a mess of fish.

Todd tries to cook some taters, but somehow only ends up with three edible tots for the five of us.

So Sunday night, cat, Todd, and myself are staying at the palatial Knights Inn in town while Gary and Dwain are camping out at my pond.

On Monday morning, we three go get some breakfast at a diner. Todd divulges that he is still drunk, and I inform him that I'm not feeling so hot myself.

All the fried fish seemed to work over my gut.

When we return to the property, Gary and Dwain are out on the boat. As the other three of us start shore fishing, we also generally chat with the two WV boaters.

I finally declare that I have to hit the Port-O-Pod, and Gary replies "you've got to do what you've got to do."

So I head up to the john, throw open the door, and almost step in, when I see this snapping turtle just sitting there in the footwell of the john. I almost crapped my pants, and then just shut the door. I had almost stepped on the turtle. I thought to myself, was there really a turtle just sitting in there. I really had to go to the bathroom. I thought to myself, these guys are a total bunch of yahoos, but it was very funny.

Then, as I walked back to the pond to tell cat and Todd about the new denizen of the john, I wondered if these two guys were just storing the turtle there in lieu of a better place, pending departure.

These two guys, Gary and Dwain, are just great people.

We had a blast and culled about 80-100 bullhead from the pond, along with catching some YP, BC, BG, SMB, and LMB.

Good times!!!!

Yes, that is me sporting the upside down look. I figure anyone can grow hair on the top of their head, so why not accept the challenge of just flipping things around!

All I can say is the trip did not disappoint! We had an absolute blast from the moment we arrived until we left. The turtle this morning was hysterical! Poor Sunil had as genuinely a crestfallen look on his face as I've seen in a long time. He was emotionally bound up, struggling between the need to use the port-o-john and a strong desire to have nothing to do with that turtle! He wasn't about to move it out and so Ken and I had to come to his aid. A swift kick got it out of there so Sunil could attend to business. What a hoot that was!

Scott, the first shots were on target with the cans and then the rest were actually intentionally high because we wanted to capture the rounds hitting the water for the video - we all agreed it was pretty amusing and somewhat spectacular to see the spray. I had to shoot over top of the spool to avoid shooting it up. Of course, quite a few rounds ended up grazing the top of it anyway so it now bears permanent scars from the BR Squared weekend festivities. Seems the black rifle is becoming a staple of days at Sunil's pond!

Catmandoo did not disappoint on the camp food end of things, again! He and Gary actually made quite the team cooking up the bullheads. Those guys are just plain good! Next time I'll double wrap the potatoes in foil as opposed to a single - two of them ended up coming out of the foil somehow and got just a tad on the crispy side!

What fun!

Oh, there's always room for improvement! I'm sure you would have added richly to the experience!

Shoulda seen us about three hours later! The video was shot upside down somehow! I knew Dwain had more to drink than he was letting on! We did manage to scare away the geese from Sunil's pond after that round in the dark - we heard them honking as they flew off into the night!

Yeah, drunks with guns are cool but would've been better with you around for sure!

What a waste...no PVC?!?!?! Not even a ventilated porta-potty....

No, but your exploits with PVC muskrats did occupy some of our discussion last night! You are now becoming legendary even among the non-PB crowd!

If my schedule would allow it, I'd drive over for the next one!

I'm taking a break. I just filleted somewhere around 80-90 bullhead's that we brought back from our weekend at Sunil's pond near Somerset, PA. More on the filleting in another post.

First of all, if you've never met Sunil, you need to make the next PB conference. Todd L., and I feel very fortunate to now have been invited to fish his pond for the second time. It is just an incredible fishery, with the most overweight fish you've ever seen -- and with varieties you usually only see in really large bodies of water.

I knew a little bit about Sunil from my early days of the PB forum, but when my wife and I walked into the first official PB conference a number of years ago, he opened the door to the conference center for us, and he greeted us with his usual bear hug. Sunil could have been the activities director on the "Love Boat" or the emcee at some popular star's facility in Branson, Myrtle Beach, or Las Vegas.



Although it may not always be obvious, Sunil brings out the best in people.



Before dinner, in complete darkness, our friend Dwain filleted and skinned a bunch of the bullheads we caught. He's got a great technique where he somehow does it with just his pocket knife over a bucket. As far as I know, not a single bone was detected in any of the fried bullhead filets that cooled enough for us to consume in very quick bites.



In the very dark of dark, our friend Gary prepared the breading and beer batter for the filets.



Sunil tasted the first piece of Gary's cooking.



The fish and friendship were fantastic.

Sunil -- thanks so much for hosting such a great time.

Looks like you all had a great time!

When Sunil is around, it is always "SHOWTIME"!!

I have to completely echo Ken's sentiments - just an all around great time and Sunil is truly fun to be around!

Come on Guys!! We're all fun to be around!

Ken has been recounting what he, and Gary/Dwain, were seeing in the bullheads they cleaned. Little to no fish. Lots of what looked like FA.

Ken, can you add in?

Funny thing is we were catching a lot of them on fatheads and small shiners. A lot were caught on worms. We also caught a lot during times when feed was thrown out as well as no-feed times.

Somehow, I transposed my hatred of Bullhead onto Todd. He talked real bad to them, and even kicked them a few times.

I think my opinion on bullheads may be 'evolving.' Well, no. I still can't stand 'em.

I knew bullies eat "anything", but FA?! New one on me.