Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond Boss Moderator's Retreat

I promised some big news. We are now the proud renters of our very own dedicated server. Woohoo! But, even bigger than that is what just happened....Pond Boss hosted its first ever moderator's retreat. Ewest drove over from Mississippi, Sunil came from Pennsylvania, Bill Cody and Theo Gallus made their way from Ohio, Bruce Condello from Nebraska, Dr. David Willis from South Dakota along with Dave Davidson from Fort Worth, Texas, Mike Otto and myself.
Everyone arrived at Lusk Lodge, two Friday afternoon and evening. We had a fabulous evening meal of ribeyes, baked potato and salad, after some good appetizers. Everyone was excited to be there and to sit down and share some enthusiastic ideas about the future of Pond Boss magazine and our website.

Here are your moderators. Sunil, Theo Gallus, Bill Cody, Editor Bob Lusk, Dr. Dave Willis, Ewest, Dr. Bruce Condello, Dave Davidson and Mike Otto.

We spent much of Saturday morning exchanging ideas how to continue improving the magazine and giving some thought where to take the website.

Ideas were rolling out of everyone.

Yesterday afternoon, most of the guys spent time fishing in several of the 8 ponds on the property.

Dr. Bruce Condello with two big bluegill he caught early this morning.

Condello was the spirit of that ordeal, catching more than 40 fish in less than three hours. But, everyone who chose to cast caught some fish. Sunil is convinced he caught the biggest bass. He thinks it was at least six pounds. Condello caught a glimpse of it and thought it was more like four and a half. After a couple of beers, Sunil rethought, and decided it was probably seven or eight. Later that night, we all agreed it had to be more like nine.
We mixed in quite a bit of fun to go with the "work."
It's an exciting time.
I have no doubt Pond Boss continues to lead the nation as the voice of pond management. But, I also see that we have a bigger mission and part of that is to teach people how to be better stewards of their land as well as water.
I value the braintrust that has developed over the years with our moderators and website participants.
This weekend, we had an aerospace engineer, a natural resources attorney, microbiologist, industrial businessman, PhD fisheries biologist/professor, IT headhunter and a dentist who may well be the best angler any of us has met. Toss in a pond building, earthmoving guru with yours truly, and we had quite a braintrust trading some great ideas.
While we don't intend to make major changes to the magazine, we do intend to improve it. But, we do intend to focus on this website. Since we are now on a dedicated server, we must turn it into a profit center.
The changes to the website won't entail big visible changes, we will have banner ads and change the way we manage the site.
So, thanks for being here with us. It's a great ride, on its way to much, much more.
Over the next few days, you'll hear from the moderators and their experiences of this weekend.
While they all "know" each other from this website, rarely do they get to see each other face to face. This weekend was one of great ideas, fellowship, good food and fun.

Most of the group, this morning next to one of the ponds. From left, Ewest, Dr. Willis, Theo Gallus, Dave Davidson, Sunil. (Kneeling, Dr. Bruce Condello)Not pictured, Bill Cody & Mike Otto. Lusk was on the business end of the camera.

Thanks for the great news, and the great photos! I'm definitely interested in learning more about land stewardship. I'm into that big time already, but there is SO much to learn. I'd like to thank all you guys who put so much time and energy into this site and magazine. Well done!!

Bob, I could tell you guys were up to something because the forum was working so well while the Moderators were at your place.

Bruce, Those BG look awfully familiar.

The retreat was held at the Lusk Lodge II, which is essentially a five-star resort, with the hominess of a bed and breakfast. Bob's wife was wonderful and helped take care of all of us including making sure our tummies were full.

I fish lots of great bluegill waters, but my best two bluegill experiences of the last year were at the Lusk place. Go figure. I caught two dozen bluegill this morning that exceeded 9.5 inches.

The air was just swirling with new ideas, but one thing was certain--Pond Boss is already a super high quality operation, because of Lusk and Otto. Just amazing. But Lusk keeps wanting to take it to a higher and higher level. There's no telling where it may end. But it'll be good.

All of you other members of this forum are HUGE to the success of Pond Boss, it's forum and it's magazine. I've learned so much, from so many of you, and you know who you are. Thanks so much Let's keep it going.

Bruce

The bass was pushing ten pounds, and I caught two like that.

Lusk Lodge II is a wonderful place, and Bob & Debbie Lusk are the most gracious of hosts.

The whole thing was a heady experience, and I'm still gathering my thoughts.

Spending time with this group was an honor and a true reward for me.

In truth, these individuals are representative of the overall Pond Boss subscribership and the forum which is simply put, several notches above the rest.

If you like Pond Boss and this forum, you must come to the 2nd Pond Boss Conference this July '08. My friends (non-Pond Boss) have said to me..."you're going to Texas to meet people you've met over the internet???"

I can only reply, "absolutely," and you should too!

Well that explains why I couldn't get a hold of Bill Cody. Here I thought he was probably whooping it up in Vegas.

Glad to hear of the meeting. This magazine has so much potential!

Has anybody ever thought of putting out some issues on some newstands to see if it draws in subscribers or is that not feasible?

I sacrificed my last issue by leaving it at the doctor's office. I'm hoping it will lead someone to subscribe. The issue before that went to a bank branch manager that also has a pond.

Just got in and caught up. A wonderful time with a small part of my Pond Boss Family. I hope to see the other part of the Pond Boss family (that is all of the many great Forum members and friends like you) at the Convention. I will not repeat what is posted above. I will post some pics tomorrow. Many ideas on both the forum and mag and on the convention. Please send us emails or PMs on what you would like to hear about at the convention. Planning is ongoing with a focus on what you want to hear and learn about. That goes for all 3 places (forum , mag and especially at the convention). We need to get more people involved from mag subscribers , to forum members to convention attendees - so please pass the word and join in the journey.

Go ahead and admit it. It was mostly about having a beer with some good friends. That was the only way I could explain it to my wife.

I felt seismic tremors from the north, the Red River turned green and flowed backwards...
I knew something was going on...

What a great weekend!

First off, I want to thank Bob and Debbie for putting us up, and for putting up with us. Food, accommodations, and hospitality were all first rate. They even had Fritos for Mike Otto!

I will hopefully have time to empty a bunch of photos out of the camera later to day and post the highlights here. Until then, I want to post a few mental snapshots:

- What Bob Lusk has done with PBMag (developing a world class magazine down in Texas, constantly striving for improvement and perfection with a down home atmosphere), his wife Debbie has done with their gorgeous home.

-The retreat was a great source of ideas for improving PBMag, the Forum, and the 2008 PB Conference, and for increasing the number of Pondmeisters enjoying and learning from these different entities. Expect to notice improvements. Subscribe to PBMag so you don't miss any. If you can make it to the Conference in July this year, do so.

-Given a fishing pole and a body of water, Bruce Condello turns into a fish-catching Terminator with the grin and excitement of a 6 year old. The fishing at LL2 was really good, but after catching a huge BG each day, I found it more fun and VERY educational to watch Bruce land fish after fish after fish ...

-Bob's house is NOT in the flight path of Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. Those jet engine noises at 2:00 AM were either Bruce, Sunil, or Bill Cody snoring.

-According to Bruce, Sunil beat me in reading lamp football by a score of 27-14.

-Quote of the weekend (Sunil, after watching Bill Cody crash Lusk's Space Shuttle): "Well, there goes ten million dollars!"

-Bob Lusk is a lucky man - there is a little corner store only 1/4 mile from his house where you can get live bait, Diet Mountain Dew, and t-shirts commemorating the annual Gordonville Crappy Tournament. We also ran into wildlife biologist and regular PB columnist Dan Van Schaik there, who had the pleasure of being introduced to world-famous PBForum Moderators Bill Cody and Theo Gallus. Dan seemed rather impressed to meet Cody. My own Kodak-moment, Van Schaik-inpiring introductory handshake was quite moving. Dan was so overcome by emotion that he developed an unfortunate nervous tick, involving rolling his eyes, shaking his head, and repeating "Theo Gallus. Theo Gallus." As a result, the poor man was unable to request an autograph from moi. Don't worry, Dan, there'll be another opportunity.

-Trips to and from the airport were highlighted by stops at such memorable locations as Pond Boss World Headquarters, the Birthplace of Pond Boss, and the trailer park where many years ago Dave Davidson lost his virtue not once, but twice.

More later with photos!

I'm afraid that Dave D is right. I don't think I'll need to eat again for at least another couple of days.

OK, my photo story in rough chronological order.

After picking Sunil, Cody, and myself up at the airport, Bob drove us up to LL2. Right on the way is Pond Boss World Headquarters, near Whitesboro. Here are Sunil, Gallus, Lusk, and Cody under the PBWHQ sign:


Back issues of PBMag are kept, of all places, in the back room of PBWHQ. Here is Sunil with the very first issue of PBMag, which was printed about the time he would have been getting his first PhD:


Finally, here is the headquarters think-tank, showing that PBMag is required reading at PBWHQ:


We arrived at LL2 about an hour before sunset. Eric West had arrived a few hours before us. Late bloomers Davidson, Willis, and Condello (we have yet to see Bruce blossom into the full flower of womanhood, but his offer to wear a bikini is encouraging. Or, rather, disturbing.) arrive a couple of hours later, at dusk.

Bob took us on a tour of the grounds. There are many spectacular views at LL2, so many I am not sure which is the choicest. This, however, is definitely the best view I personally managed to catch on film. It shows LL2 itself as seen across the largest of 8 ponds, the "swimming pond".


Just above the swimming pond is another relatively large pond, which I think of as the "gully pond", which probably offers the best all-around fishing at LL2. It is home to an incredible number of medium to large sunfish and LMB ranging from 2007 YOY to Sunil's 4 (12?) pounder(s). Here is the gully pond with one of many, many BG Bruce caught at LL2. You can see that this pond has the floating island that Bob and Debbie installed last year, which is discussed in a recent issue of PBMag.

Bob says this pond "has a few big BG and a lot of small bass" in it. Bruce and Sunil's fishing results show that Bob either can't measure fish or was being quite modest, since the pond holds a remarkable number of large (9"-10") BG and CNBG, and a decent size selection of bass.


On the top of the hill across the swimming pond is Bob's fish workshop, with many large tanks and three small, nearly identical hatchery ponds. They are filled pretty much completely by well water, which was running at 75 gpm while we were there. From the hatchery ponds, the well water runoff can be sent (directly or indirectly) to all the other ponds on the property. One of the hatchery ponds can be seen in this picture, with the workshop/barn/fish building in the left side background:

Photo Story part 2:

Down a steep hill from the house and the swimming pond lie the three lower ponds. These include a put-and-take catfish pond:


the middle lower pond (whose contents escape me at the moment):


and the newest pond. This latter pond is filled with water from the swimming pond which seeps not through the dam, but rather through the rock of the hillside next to the pond. Bob told of installing this small pond as an improvement over a skeeter swamp in a recent issue of PBMag.


UNOFFICIAL PB MOD FISHING DERBY:

Okay, it was closer to a one man demonstration than a derby. Like Bob mentioned above, if you put a line in the water, you caught something. But the following photo sums up the experience well. The wisest fishermen have already retired their reels, the slowest fishermen are still trying to get their poles rigged, the worst fisherman is taking pictures, and Condello has just hooked his 35th BG. I must say I learned a couple of things from Bruce - 1) his piece of worm on a jighead technique and 2) never compete against Bruce in a fishing derby.

From left to right, here are West, Willis, Otto, Davidson, Sunil and Condello, with yours truly at the shutter.


Here are just a few of the medium-sized BG caught over the weekend (the large-sized BG went back into the water quickly, and there basically weren't any small BG caught):


Now, an observation on Bruce's alleged freakishly long arms. This is merely a myth; his arms are almost a normal length. What Bruce does is to actually make fish larger by holding them at arm's length. The following photo is a BG that measured 7" long when caught, but an honest 8 1/2" after Bruce held it out for the photo:


The truly amazing thing is that Bruce's stiff-arm transformation even works on animals other than fish. For example, after the following photo was taken, the LL2 attack dog, Romeo the Yorkie, was able to climb stairs for the first time:


All good things must come to an end, and it's the same with the Moderators' Retreat. On the way back to the airport Sunday, we stopped and got lunch at the "Birthplace of Pond Boss" - the Lewisville Whataburger (for those unfortunate enough to never have experienced the world's greatest fast food hamburger, this is pronounced "WOT-uh-burger"). In this restaurant in (IIRC) Nov 1991, Bob Lusk and Mark McDonald conducted the all-day brainstorming session that was the genesis of PBMag, and hence all that currently lies before you on your computer screen.

Theo,Is it just my computer? I cant see any photos.

They were there when I posted, and the img codes are still embedded, so I suspect a photo hosting web problem. Let's check back later.

Home town



The homestead



Tough Texas RES



Nice BG - look at Bruce's finger and see what Tex Redear did - blood sport



Big CNBG - see BC's finger.

Sunil,

You remind me of my taxidermy customers. The fish grows and grows and grows while it's in my freezer.

I don't believe it....I've actually SEEN that WhataBurger. Killing time at DFW...Bass Pro Shops and a little drive to Garza Little Elm Reservoir. I was THERE man!!

It's right near the airport.

Did anyone else notice how calm and relaxed the "gills" appeared in the Doctor's hands? Accident......coincidence .......... I think not! :-)

ha ha...something more amazing? look how calm the dog is

that must have been a really fun time, thanks for posting pics and telling the story. theo/and or bob, is that second middle lower pond the one you did yer GSF experiment in? it just struck me like a good GSF pond

BarO you should have seen those RES bite the heck out of Bruce's fingers. He was bleeding from several appendages.

Well readers the posts above provide a very good description and pictorial summary of the moderators weekend at Lusk Lodge 2 (LL2).
I was honored to be included in the retreat. Cecil (CB1) thought I was in Vegas, but I learned in my visit to LL2 with these people that the experience was more fun than one of my typical trips to Vegas. There were no losers, just winners at LL2. If all members are like those at LL2 then the entire family of Pond Boss Members including those on the forum are a very friendly, considerate, caring and wise group of pondowners. I highly recommend that if you ever get a chance to attend one of their conventions to meet and mix with all these people, you will not regret it.

The gathering of moderators was to generate ideas to improve and enhance the PBoss magazine and website pond management forum. Look for some interesting and beneficial changes in coming months, but don�t expect them to happen all at once. Bob Lusk and Mike Otto have received lots and lots of good ideas for improvements that are going to make the magazine and forum even more rewarding for readers and members. Stay tuned.

On the lighter side, I was thankful that I survived unharmed in Bruce Condello�s dream, when I crashed Lusk�s space shuttle costing 10 million dollars.

Below is the actual photo of Bruce's bloody finger that needed first aid during the LL2 visit. I'm still not convinced that a redear bit his finger. Secret member info: the bloody finger showed up after Bruce cleaned some fish for the evening meal.

I'm laughing my tail off right now!

Funny thing is, I don't think we ever told Lusk the story.