Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Fellowship of the Traveling Lure-Stories & photos

I love it, CoachB! Great story and great photos! Like the others have mentioned, it looks like the lures were a total success for you and your girls and that's perhaps the biggest thing this whole event has meant to me - it's about family, our personal families and the family that we call Pond Boss! Like you, I really loved the Viking Spoon - that sucker would just about empty the line off my reel flying as far as it did when I'd cast! And it ended up being the most productive lure for me - I think on the day it started working, I caught like5 or 6 LMB on it.

I've been away from the forum for awhile as I've got through a pretty busy period with work, but it's great to come back and see all of the posts under this thread! Like Jeff said, I was worried that interest was dying out, but it's great to see my impression was wrong.

As for getting signed up again, I'd love to keep helping coordinate and keeping the schedule updated, so if anyone wants to jump in the rotation, for the first time or again, just let me know and I'll get you in and get the lures headed your way when it's time! Heck, I might even take another shot at them!

hmmm...this thread is 28 pages on my setup....how can anyone think interest is lacking? I just wish I had a place to fish the lures where I know I would enjoy them. I'd sign up then. In the meantime I'm truly enjoying reading about all the fun!

Rex,

I don't know if you are back to work yet, but even if you aren't, I believe every Pond Boss pond owner you know would let you fish their ponds. How about a Traveling Rainman & PB Lures -- no Muskrats Allowed Revival Tour? And then a picture of Rex and Pond Owner for every stop. You could easily wind your way from Eastern VA/MD across the upper and middle of the country to Eldorado County, southward, through AZ, TX, LA, MS, and back home -- with a few other stops in between!

I'll be the first one to offer you and a guest a two night - three day stay at the Catmandoo Resort, Pond, Asylum, Home for Wayward Critters, and Road Kill Kitchen! I'll even throw in a famous Catmandoo fish fry if you catch the fish with the PB lures.

Ken

P.S. Even if you don't catch anything with the lures, I'll throw in the fish fry.

If this should happen, maybe you and I could gang up with the lures because our schedules are so crazy right now. If we did it at your ponds, maybe we could even entice Sunil to sneak across the border to Almost Heaven -- I believe both of his home and pond are closer to your ponds than Lynda and I are to your ponds. And just in case Sunil has too much fun, who better to represent him than you?

It all sounds like a great time to me. And, what about Rex?

Plus, now that Todd knows all the secrets of a Catmandoo fish fry, we could do a double-good fish fry!

What have we got to lose?

Ken

If I get some notice, I can come to one of your places, or you can all come to my place. Let me know.

I'll send you guys a PM tomorrow after I talk to Lynda.

Ken,

That would be a blast! To date I have only gotten to fish/visit at a few stops at the ends of runs. I've fished with the fish-catching-magician himself, Condello and stayed at the Conderosa a few times, Experianced and fished one of the most diverse and productive lakes in the world, Lake Norris owned by the Herman family (what an incredible family), broken bread, ate my first YP and been doctored up by Dr. Perca aka Bill Cody (what a super nice guy!!!) and last November I got to catch my first HSB at Sunil's gorgeous slice of heaven (of course we all know what a Freak caring guy Sunil is!)

As for work, I'm back in the game baby! n8ly wants to fill the truck with fishies in a couple weeks. I've got a couple local pond stocking orders too...not a lot, but work! Condello needs some RES and I am due for my bi-annual visit.

Maybe I can put together a big trout run for the fall and wind my way in your direction....Who knows I might even be able to head to NC and get a load of trout to take to Greg Grimes on the way home...well only 600 miles out of the way...hehehe

Well, I just scheduled James Holt into time slots 20 and 21 since he didn't get to do much fishing at all this first go-round. I am definitely going to get back on the schedule, so, Ken, let's make something fun like what you suggested happen. Whether it's here or at Sunil's place, I'm in!

Before I schedule in another date, do you have any time that is better than another time? I know that's generally a pretty stupid question because you pretty much have no time, but let me know. Sunil, same for you if you'd like to join the get-together. Of course, I think anyone else who would want to come would be most welcome, too, so keep an eye on the dates we end up with!

Todd -- yes our schedule is crazier than normal (naw, it is just plan crazy -- there ain't no normal!).

We'll give you a call, we'll send you an email after we re-evaluate our so-called schedule -- or just give us a call at your convenience. We expect to be comatose and at home most of the day on Labor Day.

Ken

Ken, I grabbed a slot on the calendar in a few weeks, I think, so maybe take a look and compare against your calendar. Since it's a little way out, you can probably just let your new boss know that you're going to be tied up some that week and that you'll need to be freed up from any work burdens so you can participate in an international piscatorial undertaking. In fact, you'll need to let her know that you're seeking Foundation funds from the company's charitable arm to ensure that the financial obligations of this undertaking are sufficient met. Let her know we'll be very happy to erect a banner in recognition of the company's sponsorship. (In case you're wondering, I've heard somewhere that Sunil may like beer. Lots of it. Enough that we may need a global company to foot the bill! )

Here are my results of my week with the lures.

I started off with pretty bad luck as my second cast with the Viking spoon resulted in a snag. I wasn't going to lose the thing even if I had to go in after it, but luckily, after about 20 might minutes of working it I was able to retrieve the spoon. A couple casts later resulted in this monster:

This was a 6" 1.5oz LMB.

I took a few more casts with the spoon, but didn't have any luck. I decided to switch over to the jointed rapala. Well, the 20 minutes I spent trying to unsnag the spoon must have taken it's toll on my line, because the first cast with the rapala broke the line and sent the rapala flying about 50 out. Thank goodness it floats, and made for an easy retrieve. I respooled my line, and caught this 6" 2oz GSF:


I caught another small LMB with the rapala and that was it for the first day.

I gave things another shot today, and decided to give George's lure a try. The first fish caught was this 13" 1lb 2oz SMB:



I fished the lure for another 20 minutes with no strikes, and then to my surprise, I caught my first walleye ever out of my pond. And, a nice one at that:



This guy was 19.5" and 2lbs 3oz! It's hard to believe he was stocked 2 years ago and was just 5" long.

Well, atleast things finished up better than they started. The lures will now be on their way over to the PondBoss Christmas tree.

Great stuff, Chris! That is indeed a fine looking walleye! Did he go back, or is he destined to be a dinner guest?

That's really nice growth in just a couple of years, and that smallie is a really pretty looking fish, too!

Congrats on the results - nice way to spend your birthday!

Great looking fish Chris, the walleye especially. Must have been fun fighting the smallie and walleye after landing the little ones the day prior. Congrats and a happy birthday as well.

Good job, and Happy Birthday

Thanks guys, the walleye put up a very good fight. I thought he was a smallie, but he would not come to the surface during the fight, so I was unsure of the species since I thought my walleyes didn't make it.

And, Todd, I ended up throwing him back. I'm curious to see how their growth continues in the pond situation.

that jointed rap is a sunfish killer! cracks me up to see the size fish that try to hit that.

Great report. I'm awaiting photos of fish caught from Pond Frog and I'll post his story here as well.

Outstanding growth on that walleye.

This is Pond Frog's report. I edited it a little hopefully to PF's liking. Any words that I inserted appear in blue. Part 1:


Hello JHAP;

Well two parts here, one, my forwarding of box in a timely manner and my contributions to the box.

Hello Pond Boss Fellowship, this is Pond Frog, being forwarded by my buddy JHAP. I had received the esteemed box and had not seen so much tissue since Otter got the Junior High School girl upstairs in Animal House. That has all been removed. Everything that was in there previously has been repackaged in some leftover ziploc bags. Not drug bags but bags from jewelry.com. Then, I added lots of new stuff with no more stuffing taking up the bulk of the room.

New lure additions:



Here are my contributions. Starting from left hand corner. Special GSF lunker hooks for those monster stunted GSF we always hear so much about. 3 size #26 hooks. For emergency use only, like when those world record GSF are hitting. In all my 45+ years of fishing, these are the smallest hooks I have ever seen.

Next, Magic rainbow trout bait. Kind of like Jack's magic beans but I did not have to trade a cow for this, it was during a trout contest. It does work.

A Pond Frog. I rehook these weedless. One of the better ones I have fished off the lily pads.

To the left are 5 shad darts I made. Nice big gold hooks. Double dipped both body paint and heads. Right by them are mini shad darts for panfish, a silver and a gold.

To the right are woolly buggers. A black body and a tan body. These work on a lot of fish, but nail trout if you are near a hatch.

To the far right are 12 different plastics for the little darts. Mostly split tail, every color I had. Under them are curly tail grubs for the bigger darts.

There is a green slip on bobber, and a nice double blade blue and silver spinner with brass beads, this is good for crappy and bluegill, bass and trout. The jigs are awesome for crappie.

The next few guys that get the box feel free to take a dart, just leave one at the very end.

Here is the box with all of the new Frog adds, fit nice. I'll write up my fish tales and send photos along in part two. The box should arrive before the allotted slot.


Repacked traveling lure case:



This is Pond Frog's report, Part 2:

Fishing with three rods, I had serious problems matching a lure with the equipment I had. Two were set up for live bait for 10lb plus catfish with live bait. My St. Croix was only option but spooled with garbage 8lb spiderline from spiderwire. Stuff is just brutally weak, brand new and breaks more than any other mono I have ever used. I wanted to get one season out of it before it gets unspooled and cast to the circular file. So after snapping off three fish I decided I could not even risk the precious lures with this junk.

Here is the biggest fish of the day. Just over 6 lbs, ate a small lmb, about a 6 incher. This is a single species pond. Then I moved to another pond where I had a boat and always lots of action.



Here is one of my little fatties. This was on beat up rapala. Next to rod handle and over box for some size reference. Much open water here to hope no lure loss.



This was on the darts I made and put in with a plastic curly tail grub. Largest fish I ever caught on this UL set up. St Croix 1 pc 2-4 lb UL Legend Elite 5' 9" ES59ULF and a Quantum Energy E10PTiB reel. Thing hit and ripped, then took me straight down to the weed bottom and got stuck. Zero chance of horsing it out with lame spiderline so I had to wait for it to swim out on it's own. About 8 minutes later it finally did. I kept line taught entire time and almost doubled over, max pressure I thought. Drag also tight as line could handle. Ran again hard when it came out but into a deep hole with no weeds. Finally tired it out and landed. I think I had broke off two larger before this one, so will probably get a larger one next year on this outfit with better 6lb line. This is my max fish per ul odyssey. Included many darts and grubs with forwarded box.



Dusk, pretty much all lmb in this pond I manage good girth, max varied forage. Taken from skinny stunted population to overfed fat crop in about 5 seasons. Now working on average catch size and weight increase. And this was very late in season when they normally thin out. Stopped counting at 25 C and R and daylight ran out, skeeters came in. I hope to take JHAP and DIED to this pond one at a time next Spring when you can catch 50-60 little chunkers in a day.



Lost no lures, added quite a few more and forwarded box in a timely manner. I may do this better next time [next lure tour], just needed better set up for contents or at least better line. Great concept though. Honored to participate.

The Pond Frog.

YES PLEASE!!!!!!

I've never caught a 6lb bass in my life!!!

Those are some monster LMB! Good write up. I'll update the fish list tonight.

That box is getting packed full!

"That box is getting packed full"!

I hope my rock is still in there!

Yeah it's still there . Not quite sure how Bob is gonna hang that one on the Christmas tree for the photo shoot, though

This may be one of the most cool things ever done with the Pond Boss family. I just sat and read through the entire thread. You people are crazy...and amazing.
I've "kinda" followed this event via this thread, but now I get to participate.
I've been excited, knowing the traveling lures were headed this way. Actually, I made a special trip to the post office in Sadler, 9 miles from home, Wednesday, to see if the box was there.
But, alas, it was not to be for Wednesday. Then, yesterday, I was home, here at LL,2, writing the last few things for Nov-Dec PB and my bookkeeper, Diane, rang my number. She needed some receipts, so I stopped what I was doing and ran them to her. Not ten minutes after I got home, Tonya called. Tonya checks the mail, updates the PB database and does much of the tedious, clerical stuff. She knew I would be excited. "There's a box here, the return address is from Chris and I knew you were looking for a special shipment."
I stopped what I was doing and headed into town, for the third time yesterday.
IT HAD ARRIVED! THE TRAVELING LURE BOX!
Wow!
Well...it was almost dark and I had a committment to fulfill and then this morning, I had a meeting and some outdoor work, then had to head to east Texas to look over a ranch for a client. After a quick 350 mile turnaround, I got home about 30 minutes before dark.
My bride, the Queen, was gone for the evening, so I grabbed two rods, tied on a bait and headed to one of the ponds here.
Here's what happened...please forgive the pictures. I'm holding the camera in my left hand, trying to get a good picture. They looked pretty good after I shot them, but you don't really know until they're downloaded.
I'll be back out there tomorrow, using all the other baits to see what can be caught.



I tied this on my 12 pound test baitcaster, tossed it out twice and caught this fish...a little thinner than I like, but a bass, nonetheless.



Then, I tied on this Rap...I love this bait...even though it's only the second one up to bat.



And, on the first cast, this bluegill, about 1.25 pounds, accepted the offer. It swallowed the front hook, all three barbs.



Tomorrow, I'll be home all day...and will get a shot at using most of the other baits...in several ponds here at LL,2.

Okay, here's my deal. I think we need to have a meeting here sometime this winter. We have lots of reasons, but I think it would be cool to have as many of you guys here as we can stand. Let's figure it out.

I will post more photos tomorrow, as the day happens.

Thanks for letting me play.

Great stuff Bob! Can't wait to see round 2!