Hello Pond Boss Family it's been a while. Sorry been busy with life and such and have not had a lot of time as of late. I wanted to show of this HSB I caught this weekend though it's the biggest fish out of my pond to date. 8 pounds 24 inches. A few fun facts.

1. Caught her on a 3 inche bluegill.
2. She did have eggs her!
3. This is my first gen fish put in pond in 2012.

Man did she put up a fight wow!! It was a good thing I had my actual bass fishing equipment or I may have been in trouble with this one!! Anyhow thought I would share the pic. Hope everyone is doing well!!

What a beast!! Good thing you were fishing for BG! She would have wrecked your gear!

Very nice. She would have turned your favorite crappie reel into a smoking ruin!

Wow.......Nice one!

Thanks guys oh yeah my bluegill or crappie gear would have been in pieces in my hands...lol

Fantastic RC and congratulations!!!! You are making me want to stock some of those critters!! My lmb are too hard to catch.

Congrats RC! Sure is nice to see all the effort invested paying off!!

Congratulations

That HSB sure looks chunky! Nice one!

Nice fish! I’d sure like to know what my HSB look like. Ha!
Someday I’ll catch one.

That is one nice fish RC!!!!!!

Very, very impressive! That is a beautiful HSB!

Thanks everyone I fear i put a few to many of them in my pond as some of my LMB are starting to suffer. I am seeing a little more big head small body out of my bigger LMB so I fear my HSB are winning the battle. So I am starting to keep everyone I catch now and put in the freezer!! Flame I have the same issue with my LMB sometimes they can be hard to catch for sure. I put a live BG on my hook one day after Dave Davidson told me to try it with a bobber about 2 feet up from the hook and I caught a LMB in like 5 minutes. One thing I have noticed is that these fish see and eat a certain bait day after day after day after day and if you can mimic that or use the real thing your fishing will be much better that's for sure! I also have good luck with the Senko for my LMB.

Nice fish RC!

Consider culling the underperforming LMB, too. They won't really ever catch up to where they should be. Better to take them out in hopes the younger ones will have a better shot.

Agreed, Bocomo - and start working on your forage base by increasing dense, shallow cover for BG recruitment.

That HSB is looking good, 104 WR. Good work and congrats.

I don't know about tearing up the gear. A guy caught a near 60 pound striper in the White River near here on 12 pound test, and I believe, a Zebco 33 reel. The river was low that day, and the fish was confined to a single long pool without major obstructions or snags, below the Beaver Reservoir dam.

RC, you give me hope for the HSB at my BOW! Congratulations!

Thanks guys and Bocomo I am starting to keep them bass out as well as you suggested. I already see small 4 inch bass in my pond so I know I have new ones coming up as well. It's hard to keep the 4 pound LMB tho and not throw him back, but I've come to the conclusion I am going to have to so I can get back on track. I do have a couple of areas that could use more cover I will be looking into that as well.

Anthropic your HSB will be great!! What I can say is this. When they were smaller like 15 inches I could catch them on beetle spins and small meps, but now nothing seems to work but the real deal bluegill. Either way when they hook up it's a BLAST!!!

RC

Great fish RC. How old?

RC....how do you rig up the live bluegill and what size hook (and style of hook) are you using? I am guessing something that gives the BG the ability to swim around a lot. I would be interested to know. Sounds kind of like fishing with shiners on a bobber in Florida (from what i have read). thanks. BM61.

Man, I hear you on this one. Taking out the skinny big ones is one of the hardest things I've had to do at my pond. I really have to grit my teeth and close my eyes before I toss them behind the dam.

I'm not RC but I fish like this a lot. I use a circle hook under the dorsal fin or up through the jaw. No weight, no bobber. If you haven't used circle hooks before, check out a Youtube video on them before you head out -- you have to resist the urge to set the hook. Just let them run and let the line tighten.

RC's dandy HSB of 24" was stocked in 2012 which makes it 7 yrs old going on 8 years old in 2019. Keep us advised as the the growing of your hybrid striped bass. Here is RC's great bit of wisdom for catching any fish ""One thing I have noticed is that these fish see and eat a certain bait (type of food) day after day after day after day and if you can mimic that or use the real thing your fishing will be much better that's for sure!""

Excellent advice - especially when live bait fishing for your pond trophies. I’ve witnessed too many gut hooked monsters live lining nose hooked GSH or BG. Yes, some of them were my fault!

Yup that's exactly how I rig mine!! I sometimes use a bobber but a lot of times just chunk the bluegill out and kinda keep a very little tight line on him so you can see him kinda struggle and the fish cant resist. lol I always keep my button pressed as well so when the fish does take it he can go, go, go, I count to about 5 and set the hook. In my pond being only an acre I cant let them run to long lol or they will be all up into something. Good luck guys. I'll be trying again this weekend I'll let you know if I get anymore!

RC

Yup that's exactly how I rig mine!! I sometimes use a bobber but a lot of times just chunk the bluegill out and kinda keep a very little tight line on him so you can see him kinda struggle and the fish cant resist. lol Good luck guys. I'll be trying again this weekend I'll let you know if I get anymore!

RC

Thanks Bill yeah I have to generations in my pond. 2012 and 2014 the older ones are 7 plus pounds now and the 2 gens are like 4 to 5 pounds. Both sets of fish were put in, in April. If I catch a 2nd gen I will weigh and measure it also and let you all know what it is.

RC

Just watched this video - now I'm thinking about how to catch some tiny bg's, lol . Never tried to catch small ones before!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLs30N_1tnQ