Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New Stubby Steves works!

Yep, you need a fly rod...
Maybe we need to get Stacy and Mrs.G to give SS fly fishing lessons...

Something.... dang it. Oh and you can forget catching them with a bobber. We caught some that way this last spring but now they won't even go near that. They know better now. Fricken fish are to smart for their own good!

RC

Thank you, Mr. Glazener! It was SO much fun. I caught another one just a tad smaller. The fly rod you suggested helped tremendously!!! I wouldn't have gotten it in on our regular rod. They are just too large and strong!

This is AWESOME!!!! Mrs. G is amazing! I know how strong they are and how difficult they can be to get in on a fly rod,... Mrs. G is THE WOWMAN!

This is a wonderful photo. We're so excited about the catch. I love that she is the one to catch it!

We also use the different combos of pellets/worms. Steve's largest smb he's ever caught in a stream was on a "Red" worm tipped with a "White" pellet...

I caught several smb on a "Earthworm Brown" worm tipped with a "Lightnin' Bug" pellet.

...and, I really like the "Hemi Orange" worm tipped with a "White" pellet.

We don't know if the different colors make a difference or not... but it sure is fun trying all of the combos we can think of.... the "Black" worm tipped with a "White" pellet is pretty awesome!

Stacy, how long are the creatures and the crayfish?

Jwwann:

Send me a PM.

Hey! They are right at 3 inches long. Very durable!

You think Steve might try making a creature about 1"- 1 1/2" long? I'd bet it would be killer on BG and maybe Crappie too.

I'll gladly volunteer my BG ponds for product testing ...a smaller version for targeting lepomids sounds just like what the doctor ordered!

We are already working on something smaller....:)

You mean something like this



Google quadapus and this is the second image that shows up on the net.

I should draw up a mold or tool and have my buddy buzz it out on the CNC. You can squeeze/press this stuff into reasonable shapes. The legs need to take a good set in order to stay flared, which is difficult if you just cut them. This one still catches fish!

The Black has a definite gloss to it. A little light reflection works wonders. Leeches are shiny. Thanks Stacy!!! Keep the Blue in mind.

About the kid with the stick. No one has seen him since that day. Probably moved is what the neighbor said.

I realize I'm resurrecting an old thread; the good threads survive the test of time, don't they?
Are any of you PondBossers still using StubbySteve's products? After several years of mediocre luck hand feeding my fish, I finally got many takers this past season. So, I'd like to start fishing with something that imitates pellets.
Here's the rub: I'm feeding Optimal Bluegill. Does anyone have experience with the several StubbySteve's baits when feeding food shapes as Optimal is shaped?
Rather than PM Stacy4Stubby or esshup, I'll throw this out here on the forum first.

i love using stubby steves. i feed both optimal and aquamax. optimal sent me a sample of a fish bait similiar to their pellet last year to try. i never got around to it. i bet it will work though.

I've found that using an actual pellet inserted in the inside bend of hook works really good and is cheap

I've tried that trick before and it works, but with optimal the pellets are quite small and oblong. I wonder if you could use fly thread or sewing thread and tie the pellet to the inside curve of the hook?

Although Stubby Steve's are advertised to work in all fishing conditions, I have not found them to work in lakes around my house. I don't know if you need a pellet conditioned fish to eat a bait that looks like a pellet? Or maybe you have to switch over to the larger stubby steve's that look like worms or leaches or critters?

I still use Stubby Steve's, chumming with Aquamax first the way George Glazener taught me.

I switched to putting them on circle hooks instead of baitholders last year, and had a much better connection rate.

I thing more than anything SS lets you catch the more hungry fish and or aggressive, but from my experience they don't seem to be consistent. For this very reason I keep AM600 around in a separate container to use in the belly of my hooks. Specially if the kids want to catch a few it's dang near a hookup all the time. I like to use small spinners and Mepps and such even a small minnow for my bigger BG. Not saying SS doesn't work cause I have caught fish on them as well, but they don't seem to be the smoking gun I thought they would be.

RC

It’s all I use for bg. One lasts a long time. Never thought of trying a pellet. If I hook the ss right, they very seldom swallow the hook.

What Theo said.

We usually pinch off a piece of SS's, or add more to it to match the size fish food the CNBG being fed. We've often used the same SS's pellets for several weeks.

Thanks, each of you, for sharing your experiences with StubbySteve's.
I put some smaller trout, tigers (sorry, I didn't look up our acronym for these beauties) and RNBT, in my pond last fall. I purposefully have not targeted them, letting them put on some size.

3 and 4 years ago I grew some larger browns and rainbows. Along with the tubby 30+ inch GC that came up for pellets, the trout fed on the round pellets I was hand feeding. I found them all to be extremely selective about what they'd take, living up to the stories of wild trout ignoring a fisherman's fly while taking a seemingly identical living mayfly right alongside the fake. A pellet pressed, or glued, onto a hook floated or sank differently than a free-floating pellet, and consequently, was ignored! Picky fish indeed.

The GC are still in there, larger than ever; the trout have died of old age at up to 24".

I'm ready to order more Optimal. I'll ask them about the bait that may mimic their pellets.

Even though we have detractors that may believe our ponds are like "fishing in a barrel" (I've actually had that said to me!), it is still fishing, and Not Grocery Shopping, right?!

I think of it as "harvesting."

Think of it as management of an asset which requires harvest.

Yeah you need to remember your also doing it for the fun. I would say it's not about being skilled haha but I have had days on my pond that I swore all my fish had died.... It's not always easy peasy that's for sure....