Hope this blog finds our dear Pond Boss friends well and in good spirits for the season. As usual, we’ve been up to our elbows trying to get everything done.
So sorry it’s taken me so long to write. Geez, the last blog was mid-October. Seems like every time I sit down to write, I have a deadline for this or a deadline for that. I just finished writing a chapter for an American Fisheries Society textbook for pond management. Professors will use it in college courses, professional pond managers will use this book as a reference and advanced pond managers will have it in their libraries. My chapter is called “Considerations for Building a Pond”. And, on top of that, every time I turn around, it’s time to write the next Pond Boss.
First, my good buddy Paul Willett died Friday, December 11. Paul was 62 years old and I've known him since early 1989. He was instrumental in the construction of LL,2, going to the woods with me every Monday to cut cedar trees and turn them into beautiful boards. His hands touched nearly every cedar piece in our house. He received a liver transplant two years ago, December 23, 2007. About nine months ago, he started having issues with his new liver and then his kidneys. He was on chemo every week and it was difficult for him to get around much. I last saw him in April and could tell he was declining. At that point, he began to withdraw and not return phone calls. I called him about once a month or so just to check on him and could tell he was in agony, wracked with pain all the time. We’ll miss him. He was a good man. I know where he is now and am very happy for him.
God rest Paul Willett.
In October, I traveled to Athens, Texas twice for three days each and to North Carolina for six days.
While in Athens, I had dinner with Norm Miller (l), of Interstate Batteries, Lee Roy Mitchell, founder of Cinemark Theatres and Joe Gibbs, of Joe Gibbs racing (and former coach of the Redskins). Joe told some great stories. Next time we talk, ask me about the inside story of Joe Theismann's broken leg.
While in North Carolina, we had writers from In-Fisherman magazine come to catch giant bluegill. They caught more than two dozen bluegill bigger than two pounds and probably 200 larger than 1½ pounds. It was a fun few days. Jim Gronaw came from Pennsylvania and our buddy Bruce Condello made the trek from Nebraska. They have an assignment titled "In Search of Two Pound Bluegill."
Jim Gronaw with two outstanding bluegill from Richmond Mill Lake, the King Fisher Society.
Here's a giant bluegill Condello caught. It was 2.6 lbs. Outstanding fish! Outstanding fisherman!
Another huge bluegill from Richmond Mill Lake.
I did spend a week in October working on Pond Boss and doing things outside with Cameron, my son that just got back from Iraq. We got the place ready for our family reunion. Then, in November, we spent most of ten days getting ready for the reunion. We did lots of work on the grandkid’s tree house and built a fish cleaning station.
The tree house was made from leftover lumber and cedar slabs we had from cutting trees to make boards for LL,2. Turned out pretty cool. The kids love it.
At the family reunion, one of my cousins brought along a buddy who likes to fish. We probably had 65 people come and half of them went fishing at the catfish pond. The buddy caught about 80 pounds of catfish. Talking about a happy guy! All told, everyone caught and harvested about 200-250 pounds of fish. Those fish needed to come out of that pond.
On Monday after the reunion, I caught a 5:30 a.m. flight and headed back to North Carolina, to meet up with Alan Warren from Alan Warren Outdoors. We spent three days shooting televisions shows with him at the King Fisher Society. The weather was cool and two days were downright cold, in the low 20’s, but we did pretty well with the fish anyway. They were sluggish and didn’t bite well. Also, that trip, I met the owners of a famous golf club in Pinehurst. They spent the night and were featured during part of the television shoot. King Fisher now offers quail hunting, plantation style. They've got some intriguing projects ongoing.
I got back from North Carolina on Friday, November 20 and on Saturday packed up to head to Missouri. Ashley got home from A&M late on Friday and Taylor showed up late Saturday. We loaded up early on Sunday the 22nd and headed to Missouri, where we stayed at Big Cedar until Tuesday afternoon. We went to Big Cedar to talk about the next Pond Boss conference.
While at dinner on Monday night at one of the restaurants at Big Cedar, I saw BassPro founder and owner, Johnny Morris. We sent a bottle of wine to his table and he came over to say hello. Then, he wanted to introduce me to his table. He was having dinner with the recent winner of the U.S. Open, Lucas Glover. Nice guy.
Dinner at the Worman House at Big Cedar.
On Tuesday, we headed to a condo on Table Rock Lake near Branson for the rest of Thanksgiving week. Son-in-law Dennis and daughter Lindsay and their three kiddos joined us late on Wednesday and we had a great Thanksgiving meal together in that big condo. We took the kids to Silver Dollar City on Friday, but watched football most all day on Thursday and some on Friday before we headed out.
Silver Dollar City was charming and a fairy tale land for the kids of all ages. I highly recommend it this time of year.
Then, we headed home on Saturday.
As you can see, almost every day is filled with something.
December has pretty much been the same way, except most of it has been spent around the house, trying to catch up on my writing and doing things to get ready for Christmas.
We're enjoying the grandkids immensely. Everyone should have a few of those little creatures. Ours are a blast.
Debbie has started a new tradition for Christmas. We travel 80 miles to BassPro Shops to take the kids to the Christmas Wonderland. It really is fun...plus we get to see the fish in the aquarium and all the cool outdoor stuff. We even bought a few things...I think that's the main point? Nolan loved driving the remote controlled cars.
BassPro has a little campsite set up and the kids love it.
Debbie, Jentry and Nolan took a spin on the carousel. You couldn't wipe the smile off their faces.
Son Cameron helped finish off the smallmouth bass pond and then we stocked it.
We stocked crawfish along with the smallies. That's grandson Ethan, Nolan and Jentry's big brother, checking out the crawfish.
Smallmouth in Texas....
Fall escaped North Texas quickly, but not before we enjoyed about two weeks of strikingly brilliant fall colors.
Fish on! And, a very Merry Christmas from our family to the rest of our Pond Boss family!
