Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 45 Days With The Traveling Cast-A-Ways!

Scott, Overtons AND the FedEx guy both deserve atta-boys. The FedEx guy didn't know the rules had changed and just assumed we had picked up the fish from Overtons so he phoned them to let them know what happened. He could have just called us and said we would have to come back tomorrow to get them since he would be closed. That to me was going beyond the call of duty!

Then Overtons who drove back to FedEx to pick them up and get them back in the tanks. Again, way beyond the call of duty!

I can only guess that this is why they're regarded so highly. You can tell they truly care, and what an incredible operation they have!

The next day was a long one for me (I left Fatih here with Al and Dave Davidson at Al's place to fish) as I spent 8 hours and 300 miles getting new coolers and driving back to Overtons and FedEx to try it all over again.

The good news is that the fish arrived safely in New York today at a friend of Fatih's who will tend to them until he arrives there in July to get them home.

We'll be leaving Al's place tomorrow to meet with Bob Lusk at 1:30, then off to Bass Pro in Springfield, MO (this will be a highlight for Fatih and his documentary) before making our way to meet with CMM in Windsor, MO hopefully by early afternoon.

More updates soon about our time (and experiences ) with Al and Dave. A truly unforgettable experience at that!

I suppose that this trip will be burning in your minds for years to come.

After using two trucks to pull Rex out, I sent him on his way around 5 pm today. One truck wouldn't do it. Rex should be around Bloomington, Ill this evening, so he should be home this weekend. (too busy scrambling to get everything done, so no pictures)

Guys,

First of all , i want to thank to Todd Overton for what he has done for me. Thank you!



We have done a lot(!) since the time i shared an update. And most of what we have been through was posted by Keith and Bobby. I will make little additions.

Bobby Rice, Emily and their friends... These guys are from another planet! They eat shark, own freshwater ponds with saltwater fish, own a frozen(taxodermy) lion in their basement, drive monster trucks. He sent me a message saying "bring those snappers to me. i need some in my pond". I want to thank Bobby for everything he has done for us, including that great dinner...




We didn't have luck with casting for LMB during our houseboat trip but i got 2 LMB with trolling. Neither Keith nor i believed we would catch a fish with trolling but it happened .




Gar was one of my dream target fish to catch during my trip. I caught 2 of them. I tried real hard to catch more. I cut a part of nylon ropes of the boat and made a gar lure(when they bite the nylon rope , their teeth get stuck) . But none bited. The next day when i was on the bass boat at least 5 gars bited my buzz bait. Unfortunately i didn't have my gar lure to catch them.



Selfie with a 10 ft gator.He wouldn't leave. Keith tried to lure him away from the boat with some bait. Suddenly gator bit the bait. Keith almost got a gator on his hook...



Discussing what time we will be meeting for our Pensacola charter with Josh and Selina.



Hook accident .




Finally we played pool with Keith. He is a high class player. I thought i was a total loser but he said i was an upper C class. Yayy!



Allen(Fireishot) is not a man you can't fit into words. This guy is simply so cool! He has that style which makes you relax and feel like home. I really, really feel like i am home here. I can go , open the fridge and get whatever i want to eat. I somehow don't feel shy. Sorry if i am being over emotional but i really don't want to leave him.

And i am not gonna say "fishing wasn't good here , but it was great to meet him". Fishing was greatttttt!

I have been to 6-7 states so far and fish(especially predators) don't bite. But here they do bite...

One my my dreams... Catching tilapia. Why a dream? Because i have them in my aquariums.





We caught some bait fish in the afternoon but only 1 of them was fine when we started fishing. And this is what i caught with this bait.



After we ran out of bait i started casting watermelon fluke. For 10 minutes i got a fish for every 2 strikes. Today i was out there for bass fishing again and i caught 3 more in 45 minutes. I lost 3 of them too. Thanks to my guide , Dave Davidson.


Coming true of another dream... Catching bream with fly fishing. Almost every cast for 45 minutes was ended up with a huge bream on the line.




We were on a striped bass charter today. Everyone got 2-3 large stripers(around 5-6 pounds each) . I got a nice blue catfish. At the end of the charter we started jigging for smaller bass species and each of us caught 2-3 fish. It was a great 4 hours!






And Dave Davidson... Ok. I had some misconceptions. For some reason i thought Allen and Dave were around 40 year old guys. Maybe it is because they both are super cool! It was a pleasure to be around Dave and listen to his stories, full of his wisdom. As we both told to each other while we were shaking hands before he left: "It was a privilege to meet you!" .

When we first arrived at Fireishot's place, we were greeted with the true meaning of southern hospitality! As Fatih said, he made you feel as if his home were your home.

As it was for the next 3 nights, which I'm guessing Al got more than he bargained for as I'm not sure that was in the original plan .

Then Dave Davidson arrives which brought on a whole new perspective! Seeing these two together is a treat in itself!

This is a picture Fatih posted above, but look a little closer and you can see the captain with his arms crossed as Dave is getting a little animated in a conversation with Al. We were almost thinking the captain was about ready to turn the boat around and head back! And I'm sitting between them laughing so hard I can hardly stand it!


Well, Photobucket's being a PITA so I'll have to update more later

I have more pics at Al's place, our visit with The Pond Boss at Lusk Lodge and our flyfishing visit/stay (and more) with CMM.

Sorry we're getting behind with our updates!

Keith and Fatih

(it's working again!)

LMB at Fireishot's:


Getting ready to head out for Hybrids with a beautiful sunrise!







Our Catch!


Dave Davidson, Fatih and Fireishot


Al's chickens decided to roost in his flower bed!



A nice Coppernose (I think)

Oh, by the way, Al here's the mugshot you've been wanting



We left Fireishot to set out for Lusk Lodge to meet with The Pond Boss himself, Mr. Bob Lusk.

Bob was gracious enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to visit with us, leaving us each with two books; Perfect Pond, Want One? and Raising Trophy Bass, signed and autographed, as well as the newest issue of Pond Boss magazine hot off the presses!

We also fished the catfish pond where Fatih once again outfished me!

After leaving Lusk Lodge we headed for Springfield, MO as Fatih wanted to get some footage of Bass Pro for his documentary.

From there we headed to CMM's place in Windsor, MO.

There we were greeted by CMM and like the others, made us feel very much at home!

We relaxed a while, then headed to the pond for some flyfishing.

But not just any flyfishing, and as we can't rival Sprkplug's attire provided him by YolkSac, CMM was sure to have our own Fishtitution gowns to continue the "trend?"



We then got in some target practice with CMM's .45 cal Ruger, where Fatih wanted to place a bet. Needless to say, I lucked out, even on the double or nothing so he got to pay for my next buffet dinner


We did some flyfishing that evening before a wonderful home cooked lasagna dinner made by CMM.

Then after dinner we went back out for the evening bite with Fatih and CMM in one canoe and myself in the other, so I apologize for not having any fish photos.

But it was an outstanding evening with Fatih outfishing me once again, catching LMB, BG and HBG.

What made the evening for me was CMM's husband Michael sitting on the dock singing and playing his guitar. It was a surreal moment for me that I will never forget!



He also captured this which will surely be the background on all my computers!


Fatih, CMM and her husband Michael in front of Michals prized Galaxie 500:


Next was another 8 hours on the road, heading to Esshup's place in Indiana, updates to come!

Keith and Fatih

Get ready Esshup, they are a comin' !!

Keith, I'm honored by your and Fatih's posts. Thank you.

Going to Al's place is like taking a trip to Disneyland.

Complete with all the Disneyland characters?

I'm pretty sure "Goofy" was present and Fatih would be easy as "Sleepy"

From there we'll just leave it open

Keith, get ready ta meet Grumpy. I'm so worked up about tomorrow that I washed the dishes and ran the sweeper. I'll be on the look out for any road kill in case you fellows want ta stay for supper.

June 29th we arrived at Esshup's lake house in Indiana, where we will call home for the next week!



Complete with pier for Fatih to catch some big carp!



The generosity continues with Pond Boss members, with Esshup being no exception! We arrived with Scott giving us a list of things we can do while we're here and letting us decide what, when and where.

The first day Scott took Fatih to a property Scott is working on, with Fatih casting a line while Scott was spraying for mosquitoes. And apparently it wasn't just few skeeters, it was an infestation which caught Fatih off-guard, especially while relieving himself causing an itch no man wants to experience

Upon their return I was glad I stuck around the lake house to finally glue together the PVC rack that didn't fare too well after an abrupt stop in St. Louis .

We then made a run to Walmart to pickup some groceries for the week including some big cans of corn to try and snaggle some carp off the pier.

The next morning after chumming with some Libby's whole kernel corn, the lines went in with Fatih again outfishing me, and how excited he was pulling in some nice sized carp!

I started off with a 7 1/2 pounder:


But not long after that, Fatih snapped it off in my you-know-what with a 14 1/2 pounder!


Fatih caught several carp that morning which made for a great start to a week at Esshup's!

Next on the agenda was visiting Scott's home and doing some fishing in the pond, and for the first time in nearly a month, I was able to outfish Fatih, if we're going by weight because after the first 4 lb+ LMB, Fatih ceded to fishing Scott's Yellow Perch

I strapped on a Chatter Bait and caught 3 LMB, all over 4 lbs with the largest at 4.6 pounds, the 3 totaling 13.5 lbs!

Keith, have you guys done the big lake yet? Did ya get the pics I sent?

National Weather Service Grand Rapids - Latest Marine Forecast

LMZ847-062130-
GRAND HAVEN TO WHITEHALL MI-
1202 PM EDT MON JUL 6 2015

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...

.REST OF TODAY...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. MOSTLY SUNNY. AREAS OF FOG. WAVES 1 TO 3 FEET BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FEET LATE IN THE DAY.
.TONIGHT...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS VEERING WEST TOWARD DAYBREAK.
PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING...THEN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. AREAS OF FOG
THROUGH THE NIGHT. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET.

.TUESDAY...NORTH WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. MOSTLY CLOUDY UNTIL MIDDAY THEN BECOMING MOSTLY SUNNY. AREAS OF FOG UNTIL MIDDAY. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET.

.TUESDAY NIGHT...NORTH WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS VEERING NORTHEAST 5 TO 10 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. MOSTLY CLEAR. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 2 FEET AFTER MIDNIGHT.

$$

LMZ846-062130-
HOLLAND TO GRAND HAVEN MI-
1202 PM EDT MON JUL 6 2015

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...

.REST OF TODAY...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. MOSTLY SUNNY. AREAS OF FOG. WAVES 1 TO 2 FEET...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FEET.
.TONIGHT...SOUTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A
CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING...THEN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. AREAS OF FOG THROUGH THE NIGHT. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET.

.TUESDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. AREAS OF FOG UNTIL MIDDAY. PARTLY SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES 4 TO 6 FEET.

.TUESDAY NIGHT...NORTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHEAST 5 TO 10 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. MOSTLY CLEAR. WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FEET AFTER MIDNIGHT.[u][/u]



The boy's are on their way up, so we'll discuss plan "B" (guided fly fishing) after they settle in.

Boo on the weather advisory.

Hate when weather gets in the way of a perfect fishing plan.

CMM

Gotta agree with CMM. It's a shame that they may miss such a great opportunity but like Keith posted it has turned into a friend appreciation trip more than a fishin trip. Heck it's already provided many life long memories.

Yeah, it sucks but we'll make the best of it.

We're working on a guided fly fishing trip for salmon on the Muskegon river so hopefully that will work out!

And with the practice and instruction from CMM, we should do well

Captain officially pulled the plug after the 4:00 pm report. 30 knot winds and 4'-6' waves near shore, much larger where we would be going.

Can't change the weather.

I

I am sure no teacher, but you two have some fishing to do and can catch some fish on the fly. You must have picked that up before you got here! Good luck. Do try to stay out of Fatih's back cast though, it can be treacherous. Lol

Cmm

Is the tour over? Who saw them last?

Well, a bit bittersweet but I got home safely Thursday afternoon and spent all of today getting stuff put away and easing back into reality, and Fatih made it safely to New York.

Bob-O, our last "tour" was fly fishing on the Muskegon River with Fishnchips, JKB, Fatih and myself. From there we headed back to Grand Rapids where Fatih would fly to New York and I would head back to Nebraska.

I should get the rest of the trip updated hopefully tomorrow.

Good deal. Now when Fatih reports back that he is home we will all expect a detailed report of both of your opinions of how the folly impacted your lives.
Congrats to both of you for pulling off such an adventure.

While in Indiana with Esshup, who pretty much blocked out his week to host us, we took the day on Friday (3rd) to visit some other Pond Boss members, the first being Cecil Baird who took the time out of his day to show us around his beautiful place, including a tour of his ponds and his fish taxidermy operation.




What was so cool about Cecil is there was no question he wasn't willing to answer, taking the time to explain all the steps required in fish taxidermy. A process this man seems to have mastered!






Cecil and Fatih holding two giant frozen BG awaiting their turn!



Cecil, myself and Esshup. Cecil was in the middle of a busy day when we arrived, dropped what he was doing and spent the next couple hours showing us around and even allowed us to fish his Yellow Perch pond, and joining in the fun.

After leaving Cecil's place we drove to NE Indiana to meet Bob-O and also Bill Cody who drove to meet us at Bob-O's place.

Like all the other PB members we had met along our journey, Bob-O was no exception when it came to his excitement to be a part of our adventure and making us feel right at home! We sat in his living room talking about our adventure and getting to know one another before heading out to his pond to do some fishing.

After all the fishing we had done up to that point, our list being over 35 species caught, my CRS is kicking in to remember what we caught where. But if I'm correct, we caught some Yellow Perch, Scott with a SMB, with him then reeling in one of Bob-O's nice HSB!

With Fatih having the honors of kissing Esshup's bass



Fatih, Bob-O and myself after another day of fun!

Saturday morning Scott took us to shoot some sporting clays, a first for Fatih and myself. There were 10 stations with 10 birds to shoot at each station.

Here's how it's supposed to be done, with Esshup schooling us on the sport! This man doesn't miss often!!!



With Fatih and I having a bet on the total score after 10 stations, this time with a firearm he kicked my butt! On the last two stations he hit 9 out of 10 which put his score out of reach! Nice shooting, Fatih!