Dadgummit Aaron, this post was supposed to be fun and you done got serious on us, if you understand East Texas redneck vernacular ��

Let me be perfectly clear � I understand a challenge and have great respect for what you have accomplished and you should be proud, and what you have achieved in creating an artificial environment is even more awesome than little bitsy pellet flies.

 Originally Posted By: AaronM

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First, it's your pond so do whatever the you want. If you want easy fishing, use a pellet. It�s your pond and your fish! \:\)
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(note: genetics are important, and I think I started with great fish from Todd Overton and chose his fish because of the great things people say about them)
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I�d also argue that George has proven this numerous times in his quest to find a pellet that will produce the best (yes, lots of old posts talk about that.) The goal is to find the bait that the fish eats most aggressively/readily. That bait is more often than not a bait that resembles as closely as possible what it normally eats. (same with live bait fishing as recently discussed in another post)
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�Don�t catch your fish�
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Don�t fish with pellets.
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So in the end, why would I want any individual fish, or all my fish, getting wary of the magical pellet? It�s the easiest food for them to eat, and I want them eating as many of the darn things as they can. Ever seen a fish get tired chasing a pellet? Pellets are like me eating a perfectly nutrition meal sitting on the couch.

Now I�d argue that we�re cheating nature with almost everything we pondmeisters do to manage our ponds, but that�s the fun of it. But isn�t fish food the most wonderful cheating yet? Food is almost always the limiting factor in growth, and we get to stuff their mouths with Aquamax everyday.
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Why would I want them ever giving a pellet a second look, for even a second?


The MOST important thing I have learned about the use of pellet flies is from Greg Grimes (cork pellet), Cecil Baird (fish food pellet), Bruce Condello (pom-pom pellet) is that this is the VERY BEST technique to sample/survey a feed trained fish population, short of seining or shocking.

The second best reason to use fish food pellet flies is to teach someone how to fish, without the disappointment of NOT catching a fish, as Nate explained so well.
I can teach some one to fly cast in 15 minutes if they are catching fish, whereas teaching casting on a lawn there is no association with fishing or motivating to learn.

I love to stroll the banks of our pond at first light, fly rod in hand, casting a bug or fly that I tied myself, not really caring whether I catch a fish or not.

But on the other hand, at least one a month, - sometimes more often, I want to observe the growth and condition of my feed trained fish, and I can catch as many fish to satisfy this requirement easily with a pellet fly.
Using this technique I can select the most desirable genetic traits that I want to develop in my pond, and remove any inferior traits that I choose.

This new product will enable a pondmeister that does not want to develop the skills to �tie� a pellet fly to use this technique, and if he/she wishes, to catch feed trained fish every time he goes to their pond.




Last edited by george1; 02/22/09 01:01 PM.

N.E. Texas 2 acre and 1/4 acre ponds
Original george #173 (22 June 2002)