Time for a new update.
After trying to find a time when all of us could get together, my dad and I finally met Todd Overton and Clint, his right-hand man, down at the ponds on a warm, South Texas December 9, 2008. At July’s conference, my dad was fortunate enough to win the auction for a free electro-shocking survey by Todd Overton. All proceeds went to the Jesse West Endowment at SDSU—an extremely worthy cause. Thanks, Todd, for being selfless enough to offer such a great service for the auction.
To make the trip a bit more worthwhile, Todd also brought some FHs, GSH, RES, and BC. They all went into the new crappie pond that is about half full. That pond will have FHs, GSH, TFS, RES, HSB, and BC.
It was neat for me to be in the boat with Todd and Clint when they did the survey. Of course, I played back-up and netted the ones Clint missed. The only problem with that is that I missed way more than he did. Oh well. Nonetheless, I was impressed with how many pounds of fish we netted in just a short amount of time. The gizzard shad and BG seem to be doing well. It appears we need to harvest some of the HSB—we caught many more than expected and their growth rate has not been as good as we’d hoped. The LMB, with the exception of some low Wrs on the smaller fish, are doing very well.
The LMB pond filled in January and February of 2006. Although it is just under three years-old, the largest LMB shocked-up was just shy of 7 lbs. We missed a few other large fish. On a side note, my dad hooked a LMB in that pond a few weeks ago that he conservatively believes was pushing double digits. He did not land the fish, but it came completely out of the water and gave him a few close looks. That’s when you realize the hard work is paying off.
Todd did stock 50 feed-trained LMB and a few 3-4# fish about a year-and-a-half ago. Could one of those fish (gorging on gizzard shad) have already reached double digits? Either way, this is not a trophy LMB pond. Our goal for this pond is to have as many 3-6# LMB as possible so family and friends can enjoy catching quality fish. An occasional lunker will be a great bonus. In line with the rest of this thread, and because a picture is worth 1,000 words, here is the day in pictures.
One final note: Todd is a class act with a first-rate operation. It has been a pleasure knowing him and doing business with him. Despite having a new baby boy, he was willing to come down and share his time and knowledge with us. Thanks, Todd!
Todd’s rig:
We don’t have any action shots because yours truly was helping Todd and Clint in the boat. But here are some pics of Todd weighing and measuring our haul.
Here is a shot of Clint recording all the data.
And my personal favorite photo.
Just as Todd and Clint were weighing and measuring the final fish, a much-appreciated cold front blew in and the temperature started dropping. They hunted for hogs on our place until dark. Both saw hogs. One of them couldn’t get a shot at the fast-moving critters, and the other one got a good shot but missed. To protect the innocent, I won’t say who is who. Hopefully the hogs will not be so lucky when I pay them a visit in the morning. Fresh pork…YUM!
