Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Now come on people !

Only three fish entered on the the Private Pond Record Fish site! You folks in the south should be catching some decent fish by now. Of course maybe the drought has had an impact, and if that is the case I feel for you.

Still waiting for Todd Overton's application for his big catfish! Todd are you listening?

But my goodness only three fish on the website and that is pathetic!

Here's the link again:

http://www.ligtel.com/~jjbaird/pprf/pprf.htm

You'll be hearing from me eventually!

CB1 :

I agree. I intend to try soon to catch a big RES and enter it even if it is not a record. Just have not been fishing enough but working instead.

I shall endeavor to get a picture of myself with a 9" Golden Shiner this year, ASAP, Cecil.

Cut me some slack Cecil! I figure it will take me at least till the end of spring before I catch the pond Boss record Bass for your site.

Sorry Cecil,

My record holding trout pond is frozen over at the moment, and we just got another 2 feet of snow yesterday. My entry probably wont come until the end of may at best when my kids get out of school.

Do you have any rainbow trout in your ponds over 5lbs? If not, my kids may just have that spot locked in.

- Jighead

Jighead,

No worries. I don't raise rainbows anymore. Just browns and brooks.

Cecil can we lower the size and weight requirements for an entry level fish? I am fairly sure that none of the fish in my pond would quilify even if I caught them all.

NOPE!

Cecil, sometime in the last year I read a thread in a general fishing forum about a kid (midteens IIRC) who caught the new state-record Green Sunfish, a 0.99 pounder. I'm pretty sure it was in a midwestern state, maybe here in Ohio.

Comments on this thread were running about 70% that the kid's record shouldn't be allowed, because he caught the GSF in a private farm pond. Guys were claiming that they could grow a GSF that big in an aquarium (my thought was "Go ahead and do it") and most big, public water fishermen felt that if they couldn't catch it because it was in private waters, it shouldn't be the basis for a public record (my thought was "Get your own pond!").

Now this strain of thought probably doesn't surprise you, given your big YP experience that lead you to start the private pond record website. I'm bringing it up to contrast it with my personal sentiments on trophy fish as a pond owner.

I don't really care about having a record. I don't hunt for trophy deer, neither do I fish for trophy fish. If I would happen to get a trophy from either activity, that'd be nice and I'd probably have it mounted, but I hunt and fish primarily for enjoyment and much more secondarily for food.

Furthermore, as a pond owner, I believe it is at least as hard to grow a record class fish in a private pond as it is to catch it in public water - maybe more so. And I think I would be prouder of having grown such a fish than for having caught it.

I think perhaps the reason the private pond record site doesn't have more entries is because many more people at this website feel the way I do than in the population at the website where a 0.99 pound private pond GSF was considered off-limits for a record. That difference may bode well, poorly, or no difference for us here, but I think it exists.

That being said, I think I have a good chance of qualifying for your site with a Golden Shiner or a Grass Carp.

Theo,

Well to each his own, but I have to disagree with you on the difficulty of producing trophy fish in private ponds. If anything there are advantages to private ponds vs. wild fisheries as in optimum feeding, and being able to control several factors that can't be done in public waters. One of those factors is you can control harvest to allow fish to live to trophy proportions.

Ten of our Indiana state records are out of private ponds including a 3 lb. 4 oz. bluegill. Of course that fish was a hybrid, but my state is to backwards to put the bluegill and hybrid bluegill in separate categories. I would bet anything that was a pellet fed fish too. Never mind my state has separate categories for tiger muskies, tiger trout, and saugeye. Not only are they backwards they can't even be consistent.

Actually my initial post was more of a joshing king of thing. I have no doubt once warmer weather kicks in I will get entries.

CB1:

Will you accept that I am more impressed by the fact that you can grow those fish than by the fact that someone caught them? And BTW, I am quite impressed with both feats, as I haven't done either myself.

Theo,

Actually I am also more impressed by the production of a large fish than I am of the actual catching. In fact that is really what the site is all about. That is why the pond owners name is part of the entry. I'm expecting more times than not that the pond owner will also be the angler.

See: http://www.ligtel.com/~jjbaird/pprf/pics.htm

I don't see it as a modesty thing. I see it as a fun way to record our achievements as pond meisters and have a fun kind of rivalry contest. If you don't want to call attention to yourself then don't enter. It's as simple as that.

Actually part of the reason I want to see more entries is to make my two entries a minority and take attention AWAY from myself.

Theo,
I took your post to mean in terms of acheivement the grower of a record fish has put forth much more effort & possibily skill than the catcher of a record fish.
I very definintely agree. Good post!

So am I reading here that some folks think my idea of having a website where we can brag about big fish out of our ponds is wrong? Or am I just imagining this?

"Cecil does the word modesty mean anything to you...?"

Certification of scales, with witness weighing of fish and in some cases line tests, is required by TP&W for state records, as well a IGFA for international records.

IMO, without certification, other records are only for bragging rights, which may be a lot of fun.

George Glazener

Cecil, your idea for a private pond record book is visionary; the idea is ahead of it's time.

Hopefully this summer, many of us will submit entries to you for a chance at the big money!

You are paying $1 Million per winner of each fish category, right???!

Of course.

I think the web site is a great idea. I really enjoy seeing the fish. However, I believe 99% of us are casual pond owners who will never raise and catch a record size fish of any size or species. An awful lot of us don't live on the land where we have ponds. Thus, we can't do the intense management that record fish necessitate. I can wish to my hearts content but have neither the talent, time or commitment.

Keep it up. I enjoy it.

Cecil, I don't think your website is wrong. I either missed or forgot that it features the pond owner - having that misconception rectified, I do not wish to be perceived as having any criticism of it, merely a theory on why there aren't more entries yet.

Good point but a good digital scale with the weight visible and displayed in the picture is a close second, and that is what we require if you don't have a certified scale. It has to be one or the other.

In remote areas of the country like Texas getting to a certified scale can be very difficult to do. And I don't know about you guys, but many times my biggest fish are taken just before dark in the summer close to or after the local grocery store closes. (Usually close at 9 p.M. around here). And add to that I am being told by anglers that some grocery stores refuse to weigh fish due to health department restrictions.

Dave,

I think you are not giving yourself enough credit. You may just end up like me and be pleasantly surprised by the size of the fish you have in the pond. I've found there are always fish in the pond that are bigger than you think.

Additionally, other than feeding fish, I'm not sure how much intensive management is really needed. The only thing I really do is plant fish and feed them. Is that really any different then the typical pond owner?

AWm c'mon now Cecil. I've been following your posts for over 5 years (previous website included) and you have consistently raised whoppers. Yep, that's a lot different than whatever qualifies as a typical pond owner.

Your modesty is becoming but misplaced.

I plan on giving Theo a run for his money on the Golden Shiner record. I just bought some Rangen 45% 3/32" feed at their mill in Angleton. I will mix it with the Game Fish Chow, which, by the way, they also produce. I saw pallets of it in their warehouse and an employee confirmed that they make it.