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Someone tell the story that goes with these pics. It is one our Pond Boss family should be extremely proud about. Yes everyone of you helped in its achievement. More later after your replies.

I don't know the whole story but here is the story about my hat in the picture

It’s really all about the cap…. the fish made it possible.
I don’t know where to start so I guess I’ll start at the beginning.

It all started about 2002, when I sent an email to Bob Lusk, at the “old black and white “ forum, asking how to correct the FIRST mistake I made on our pond venture.
I was surprised with his prompt response that corrected the problem.
I was hooked on Pond Boss.

OK, I guess the fish in the picture kind of expresses my appreciation of the failure and successes, but about the cap.

Sometime back in 2004 if I remember correctly, Theo Gallus suggested a contest to name a fly that I had recommended to someone on the board.
I took the bait and he set the hook…!

The prize was to be a couple or so of the homemade flies I tie, and I was to select the winner.
I didn’t want to do that, so I asked my wife to select the winning name for the fly.

Dozens of clever and original names were submitted and a difficult decision was made.
Lady G’s $Gill was the winner, submitted by Eric West.

Thanks to Theo’s “bright” idea, I felt compelled to tie a fly for each PB’er that submitted a name. That project kept me occupied for the next few weeks!

Fast forward to the 2006 PondBoss Conference.
I wanted to make some type of contribution to all the PB’ers that had helped me along the way, so I volunteered to “demo” some of the more popular pond flies that I tie.
Any money raised was to be contributed to the South Dakota State University Research Endowment fund, in honor of Jesse W. West.

The fly tying “demo” project was modestly successful, and Dr. Dave Willis sent me the cap – which not only is my favorite fishing cap, but my luckiest.

George Glazener

Ye Full Story as Beknownst to me:

Once upon a time the Great Lord of all Pondmeisters, King Lusk, decreed that there should be a grand gathering of all the members of the Pond Kingdom. And so it came to be that they gathered in the Great Hall of Camelot, er, Agincourt, errrr, Arlington – nigh quite all but yet a great many of the Lords and Ladies, Knights and Squires and Pages, Wizards and Sorcerors and Alchemists, Counts and Dukes and Marquisesesss of Ponddom. And it was good. Really, really, good.

Now in the days before this great gathering, Sir Eric, one of the wisest and noblest of King Lusk's knights had bequeathed a fund to advance the study and knowledge of pondmeistering, amongst the Jackrabbit folk. These Jackrabbits live in the North of Ponddom, in a land contrarily known as "South Dakota", and study the arts and sciences of pondmeistering under the tutelage of the great wizard Dr. Dave. It was in this land (as well as others), long ago, that Sir Eric's dear departed Father had instilled in his Son a love for the outdoors in general and the world beneath the waves in specific, so it was fitting that Sir Eric endow a fund to advance the scholarship of ponds amongst the Jackrabbits of SDSU.

When good King Lusk caught word of the pond study endowment, he queried the great Jackrabbit wizard ("What you talkin' about, Willis?") re the opportunity of raising funds among the assembled members of Ponddom whilst they were in the Great Hall of Arlington, via a method he dubbed a "silent auction." The wizard Dr. Dave allowed as this might be a good idea, and so it was.

Verily, when the folk of Ponddom waiting eagerly for the assembly at Arlington were informed of the silent auction, they responded by bringing all manner of things to be auctioned off. Trinkets and baubles, nay, these items were of great value and varied nature – pumpers of aeration and players of mp3s, casters of monofilament and throwers of fish feed pellets, lures of bass and posters of life-sized John Wayne, and hats – oh, a great many hats!

In the accompanying photos thou canst observe some of the participants in the Grand Auction. The Senior Wizard, Glazendorf the Grey, tied many a fly which was then auctioned off. Indeed, he exceeded the output of flies that couldst be expected of a mere mortal man, I believe through the use of a spell knownst only as "ibuprofen." Glazendorf can be seen wearing one of the many SDSU hats that were available to pondmeisters at the Great Hall, in exchange for a nominal donation to the Jackrabbit Pond Study fund.

The great knight, Sir Ray of B.A.S.S. (seen above with King Lusk's own Princess Debbie), attended the Grand Assembly and both donated and bid on many items for the auction. He also wowed the Lords and Ladies, especially the Ladies, of the assembly with many a tall tale of his quests in search of the great dragon "Largemouth." Perhaps the finest item Sir Ray donated was the tri-bladed sword with which he first captured enough of the "Largemouth" dragons to wrest victory in a tournament. Perhaps the finest item Sir Ray won in the auction and took home from the auction was the portrait shown above in the photo, of a grand knight in a great struggle with a Largemouth dragon in the waters of Mississippi. It has never been afore mentioned, but you humble narrator has always felt that the knight thus portrayed might be Sir Eric's father.

At any rate, the assembled folk of ponddom (shown above) gathered a great many pieces of silver via the "silent auction", which was then gifted to the Jackrabbit folk for the study of pondmeistering under the wise visage of the wizard Dr. Dave. And now it seems that this year's endowment hath been spent wisely, being used to assemble great engines of fish tankery. And the wisest of Dr. Dave's current knowledge apprentices, Lady Melissa of Wuellner, can use these great engines to further the knowledge of feeding competition between the Smallmouthed dragon and the Walleyed dragon, brother and cousin of the Largemouth dragon aforementioned, as part of the grand quest to herself become a Senior Wizard such as Dr. Dave. We wish luck to the future Dr. Melissa! Huzzah!

Your humble narrator,
Sir Theo of Jaeger Wald

Theo, good sir: do you have a life you have kept from us??? Perhaps as an entertainer, even a court jester?

Your story leaves nothing to tell!!

Right on, brother!

That post was a thing of beauty.

Thus began

----- " THE LEGENDS OF ICHTHYUSIASTS " -----



Tales of good folk doing great deeds in their quest for knowledge and adventure in the realm of land , water and light. In the words of the great Chronicaler of the Order of St. Pond - Sir Theo of Jaeger Wald.

Send that man a Golden Crown (yellow hat) from the land of jack rabbits !!!

Jaeger Wald, a principality of the Kingdom of Huzunga (best known for the purveying of natural fertilizers) has again sent their Chief Scribe and Chronicler, Sir Theo, amongst the Pondom dwellers. Having girded his loins with the chief export of his Master, he has spun the tale of the history of Sir Eric and that Worthys quest in behalf of succor for the Magician known only as Dr. DW.

Aided by one best known as Old George, the Knights Lusk and Otto, the further enlistment of the mysterious Wyman and an unknown group of traveling Fools known only as Mods; trinkets and baubles were strewn about in the hope of increasing the Treasury of the Magician Dr. DW and his fight against the spreading darkness, TUITION, which was threatening his hamlet. The good folk of Pondom, being pleased with the offerings, showed favor and took away the trinkets and baubles, having sought coin from their purses to trade for the treasures including the likeness of one known only as The Duke.

And Dr. DW was much pleased. Offering incantations, he brought rain to the plains of the area known as Texas.

Thus ends the First Episode of the generosity shown by the dwellers of Pondom in their meeting called Convention.

The Sage of Hurst (also revered as the bullet from Bowie) - the one who brought color and wit to the kingdom chronicle has spoken. Ni did he mention that all ideas about hat started with him (he started the scroll of knights hat which now resides in the hall of The Senior Wizard, Glazendorf the Grey). Nor did he expound on his feats in the tale of the first meeting of Knights in the land of the air giants (DFW airport), or his exploits at the second meeting that of Ichthyusiasts of the East (Atlanta). Yea not a word of his toils on the securing of the Great Hall of Arlington . Least not even a word about King Bowie Knife (his local name) and his Queen securing the Feast of the Bovine at the great meeting. Many stories of cunning and valor abound in the past of the Knight of Hurst but one favorably remembered by this Knight were his encouragement to attend and welcome to the first Knights meeting in the Land of the Air Giants. For it was this gathering that welcomed this humble knight as a part of the Clan of the Pond.

You know, there is only one Theo or Double Ess as some of us know him.

Pond Boss, always there to bring a smile to your face. Too Funny.

Here is a close up of the tanks you guys and gals made possible. Your making PB viable through buying the mag , being involved in this forum , attending the convention , participating in the auction , helping each other and supporting the advertisers and vendors made this possible. Without you it would not have happened. It is the friendships started here that worked this PB family magic.

I guess those walleyes are full, letting the fathead minnow get so close??

There are just no SMB there for them to compete with !!

Everything in good time. Not all tanks even have walleyes yet. Just starting to set up the work. Darn smallies are much "quicker" than walleyes, especially during the day. Not so sure about the light bottom, but with black tanks, we need to the fish against a light background to document behaviors (strikes, etc.).

Update on Melissa's PB sponsored research. In-Fisherman - Jan 2008 has an article titled " Bronzeback Provisions - Deeper Into the Baitfish - Crawfish Paradigm" by Dr. Rob Neumann which is an EXCELLENT discussion of SMB forage and diet dynamics. Melissa's work on SMB food habits and her comments are prominently included early in the article. The findings (of all the article's outstanding contributors) - SMB diet " it depends" is varied and based on what is available by time and location. Craws , fish and bugs all depending on what is available and easy to catch.

PB hits another home run in contributing to practical fisheries knowledge.

I bet there is a Dave Willis connection or two in this article ! -

One of the reasons I subscribed to In-Fisherman this year was to read Dr. Dave's contributions.

Thanks, guys. Dr. Rob Neumann (managing editor at In-Fisherman) got his PhD in fisheries at SDSU! He taught at both U-Conn and Southern Illinois Univ, but In-Fisherman had been calling to him for years! He's a genuinely nice guy, and loves fishing.

We'll make sure Melissa gets to the Pond Boss conference in 2008 so she can present her results to date.

Dave - a bolt of lighting from out of the blue. What about getting Rob acquainted with the PB Family and Forum.

Good thought, Eric. I can assure everyone that Rob knows about Pond Boss. However, I will ask him if he is familiar with the forum.