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Fear not, my friend! The pics are in the (slow) process of uploading to Photobucket, then I've got to do some writing before sharing with the gang! And breakfast was good!

catmandoo, do you plant the favas in the Spring or in the fall and let them overwinter in the ground?

Oh Man! Am I glad to hear that. I was afraid you might have perished from my cooking.

Now that I know you are still alive, take your time with the photos. They will make good conversation next winter when the blizzards start.

So, here is the story of some sane table fare prepared by our friend, Catmandoo. Let me just say, Ken and his wife are wonderful hosts and we had an absolutely great day hanging out yesterday. Ken is managing a property right now with several ponds on it, so we visited there and caught a mess of BG and a few LMB for a fish fry last night.

After filleting all of those we had caught, Ken set them to soak in brine for a little while, so we ventured down to his pond to see what real BG look like. Here is Ken with a nice example of his management efforts:



Ken has done an amazing job of growing big BG - these two were very average for his population and were an absolutely blast to catch! The one Ken caught was deep hooked and wasn't going to make it, so it went into the mix with the other fillets. Here it is just before going under the knife:



And here is our pan full of fillets:



Then the process of prepping began! First, the host of our show prepped some flour and a secret ingredient to dust the fillets prior to mixing up the batter. I'd tell you what the batter was made of, but I've been sworn to silence so it'll have to remain a closely guarded secret:



Then it was final prep of the beautifully seasoned cast iron pan with some canola oil, and then the whole shebang was moved outside to the grill. Once grillside, with the oil heating, we put the fillets into a dusting container to coat them with the flour mix.



I was even entrusted with this responsibility at one point as part of my apprenticeship (notice the professional shaking action I am employing in this shot!):



Next came the battering, then the management of the cooking process (And you all thought that pond management stopped with the fish still in the water!):





My apprenticeship was eventually found to be complete, and I was bestowed with an appropriate emblem of my graduation - a genuine Pond Boss apron - to go along with my new skill of tending the fillets.



In the end, we sat down to what my grandfather would have called a "mess of fish" to eat and we feasted like kings on our hard won spoils! (Well, really they weren't so hard won, but it sounds good in the context of the story! And, hey, I did have to brush a couple of ticks off of my legs, so there was some adversity out there yesterday!) Here, my mentor and I proudly display the fruits of our days' labor:



All in all, it was a great day and one that exemplified what Pond Boss has come to be about for me, and probably for most of us. It was a fantastic time for friends with some common interests brought together by this forum. This is the sort of thing that reminds us that we truly are a family here.

Cheers to Catmandoo!

Todd & Ken, now that's what I'm talkin' about!!
Great pix and stories. Those fillets look mighty tasty....

Our expedition was the most enjoyable and relaxing day I can remember in a long long time.

I think that maybe an international pond management magazine based in Texas might be interested in Todd's photo-journalistic skills.

I couldn't agree more. Great story, photos. Makes me hungry. MMMMmmmmmm.

And with the slabs that you are known to grow, Bruce, it wouldn't take much to satisfy that hunger following Ken's recipe!

Great pics, great story!

Ken, where'd you get the "dusting" container? We could use something like that when we have the monthly fish fry at the neighbors.

<------drooling.

Dudes...too cool...the only thing missing is a pic of my standing beside you guys!

I wish more of us could get together with fellow PB members and chronicle their escapades like this. Brings a new element to the forum. I'll try to document my next few outings with Condello and Omaha and any other NE PB members that want to circle around. Great work guys.

Catmandoo, Burgermeister and DIED, pm's sent.

Great write up and photos Todd!

I agree, TJ! It's little get togethers like this one, and like what you, esshup, omaha, and Bruce did last month, that make this group really special and it's something that ought to be really encouraged. And write ups are the best way to share the fun, at least to a small extent, and get others fired up to get involved with getting to know one another. The convention is great, I'm sure, but these things are the stuff that keeps us going in between.

Thanks, Jeff! Ken and I had a blast together and that made it easy to memorialize with the gang here.

That one was a gift that I believe came from either Shield's store in Lincoln, NE or the Bass Pro Shop in Oklahoma City. But, I've seen them in the outdoor cooking sections in Cabelas, Gander Mountain, and Bass Pro Shop.

Good cookin'
Ken

Thanks, I'll so some on-line browsing and shopping.

For me, it is well past my bedtime. I'll post pictures tomorrow night.

I tried the lead-head jig with spinner and the yellow boa wrapped around its butt. Nothing was hitting it. I threaded a full night crawler onto the hook. Viola! I hooked a 7-footer. It took a while to land! I've got photos.

Since using the jig wasn't very exciting, I put on a foam strike indicator and I threaded a Stubby Steve through a #4 bait hook. All I could catch were pesky little overweight 10-11 inch bluegill. More photos taken.

(Lastly, I know there is a much bigger momma bluegill in there -- I caught her yesterday. She was the biggest bluegill I've ever seen outside of a Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop aquarium. My grandson was with me. We simultaneously caught fish that bent our rods. He pulled in a beautiful 19-20 inch fat bass. A few seconds later I pulled in a female bluegill that I couldn't get my hand around. When it hit, I thought I had a big catfish, as she just stayed down at the bottom. I'm guessing she was over 13 inches, and she was well over an inch thick at the shoulders. The rest of the family had gone up to start preparing dinner. My son left his camera on the dock. I grabbed it. The batteries were dead! We threw the bass and bluegill back in the pond. A few minutes later, the family came back down and my DIL said "still not catching anything??" My grandson's attitude, and mine was -- oh well, nobody will ever believe us anyway, but there is always a next time. )

Awesome, Ken! Man, I'd have loved to see that BG! Congrats on having that lunker in your pond! Your management efforts are admirable and the quality of your BG from top to bottom, from what I've seen, is fantastic!

13"?!?!?!

What an awesome double for GPA and GSON. Perfect...this story made my day.

Now, that's a heck of a story. You guys did it up right. Quite an impressive pan of BG fillets. They just cant be topped in the fryer.

All right. It's tomorrow night, so here are some photos.



Here is the bedraggled looking jig hooked to the 7-footer -- yes, it was a 7-foot Christmas tree from a couple of years ago. I had to get the grappling hook to make sure I didn't loose the fancy jig. Now, I'm just not sure what species to list this under for ESSHUP's list.







This little fella just didn't want his picture taken.


This little girl was a little more cooperative.


And, then there was this little critter.


Unfortunately, I now won't get to go fishing until the weekend. Bummer!

Ken

Ken, the excel file has been updated.

Scotch pine or Frasier fir?

I dunno. I was waiting on Ken for an I.D. so I could update the file and fill in the species blank - I think I have the genus covered.