You did have a great day Ant!! I will do what mowing and weedeating I can do on the wet ground today . Thanksgiving I am getting a real treat. My son will be home with my 4 year old grandson this year. I have the opportunity to watch him catch his first fish!!!! I am soooo excited. First time in 13 years that I will have a true big family Thanksgiving!! There will be 4 grandkids all together this year.
Dear Alcohol, We had a deal where you would make me funnier, smarter, and a better dancer... I saw the video... We need to talk.
The grandson and I spent a little time on the pond earlier today, drowning cold worms under a bobber. Took a little while to find the right depth but when we got to six foot, we caught three fish in a matter of just a few minutes. One 4.5" bluegill, one 12" BH and one 6" GSF. By then he'd lost interest but had a good time kicking up grasshoppers. Still a good time, tho!
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
I watched an Osprey circle the pond yesterday afternoon. It was a first time sighting for me at the pond. Guessing he is/was feeding on the slow moving Tp. Hoping he was not feeding on the lmb/hsb or the nice sized cnbg. Ponds are amazing when it comes to all the birds and animals that show up every year.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Measured the ice on the pond this morning at 1 inch, our temps have been fairly cold early this year, down to 12 last night and not going above 28 today. So it is a great day to enjoy Thanks Giving and the family and the three football games!! Happy Thanks Giving to all!
half-acre pond, LMB, HBG, BG, GSH and CC ....goal is to have fun fishing. And I subscribe!
This was actually yesterday and the day before. Been doing some end of the season transferring of RES fingerlings from my forage pond to the main pond. Some pictures below.
Was surprised that CC are still coming up for feed. Water at 44 degrees on the surface. It takes a bit for the fish to show up and I can tell they are a bit sluggish, but even at the cold temps on a warm sunny day they act hungry. The BG I expect but was surprised to see the CC. I do not feed a lot in these cold water temperatures. Only on warm sunny days and I only feed about a third of what I would feed in the spring or fall. Will cut the feed off completely in the next week. Have only been feeding lightly two or three times a week when the fish act hungry.
Today I opened up the December issue of Pond Boss Magazine to find my wife's CC dip recipe in the back on page 66. I had totally forgotten Bob was going to do that.
The few CC I have left are very slow to come up the last several times I have fed, and I am well south of "Snrub". I have been feeding less and only on the warmer afternoons. We cleaned and ate six of the larger BG a couple of weeks ago, and they were still full of undigested pellets from the day before, so I slowed way down on the quantity and frequency of feeding. The water has become very clear in the older pond, and I can sometimes see a CC swimming very very slowly on the bottom, not even stirring up silt.
I have not seen any of the larger CC come up for feed in this cold water. Only the ones about a foot long. Sunny and nice out today. Supposed to get up to 66 degrees so the BG for sure will be out and about. May even do a little fishing.
Its warmed up pretty nicely today and when I got back from the airport, I noticed quite a bit of activity in the pond, so I threw a few handfuls of pellets. They weren't ravenous by any means, but did have several gills and GSF rise to the occassion.
Last edited by Mike Whatley; 11/24/1803:54 PM.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
Was really nice outside here today. Long sleeve shirt nice mid day.
Fish fed modestly and I fished a while. In the amount of time it took me to catch five fish I could have caught 30 in spring or fall. But at least I did not get skunked.
It was a nice day, guessing around 70. I started with getting my Polaris 900 out of the woods. The steering stopped working leaving me stranded the other day. I'm not sure if I will attempt to repair it or have it repaired. After all that, I went to repair the timer on one of my TH feeders. I was not able to fix it so I will be ordering a new timer. While I was at the feeder I had feed the fish and they were very active, hadn't been feed for about a week. I watched the pond and the fish were very active with the aquamax mvp that was thrown from the other feeders. I watched the hsb feed on the TFS, lots and lots of TFS in the pond and the hsb were all over them all around the pond. There may have been a few lmb feeding on them as well. Well, that activity made me grab a fishing rod and on the first cast I caught an hsb that was fat and sassy, guessing it was in the 3.5lb range. Caught it on a white sparkly tube jig while dragging it on the bottom. So, I decided to change up and grabbed another rod with a drop shot and a plastic worm. Caught a nice Florida lmb, guessing it was in or around 4lbs. Looked really healthy but I was surprised that the lmb was not so fat. I know its weight is over on the RW charts but still, I expected to see a fat belly but instead I saw a fish that was healthy but not fat. Now I am thinking about what I might do to increase the weight on these 4 lb Florida bass. I not quite ready to thin the herd so to speak because the last 3 I have caught looked like this one. I caught two last August/September. I did check the RW on those and they were in the 100% + range. So where to go from here?
Last edited by TGW1; 11/25/1807:10 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Love this time of year....really the next 6 months when the Texas heat is in time-out. Had some friends out last night for Hebrew National's and beer brats on the grill. Good times...
Also decided this weekend to sell our Deere skid steer that sits 95% of the time and use the money for a mini-pontoon boat and/or a electric side by side.
Looks awesome Zep! If you get an electric SxS I'd love to hear your review!
Thanks wbuffetjr. I actually bought a tricked out "hunting golf cart" but quickly realized I had made a mistake. It was loud/creaky and rode extremely rough. I returned it for a 90% refund.
After some investigation I found out hunting golf carts are still golf carts made for smooth terrain golf courses.
So I am considering the Textron Prowler EV-IS which is a real ATV type frame. I like electric because I want super quiet to better sneak up on wildlife to watch and I'm hardly ever on mine long enough to drain the battery. I'll let ya know....
Zep I am with you 100%! I would love to have an electric SxS for many reasons. The benefit of silence for hunting is top of the list. Now with the ability to charge one off the solar it makes them even more enticing. What makes you choose the Textron over the Ranger?
Last edited by wbuffetjr; 11/25/1801:04 PM.
Keep This Forum Viable, Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
I haven't really decided what brand. I think the Textron is cheaper than the Polaris Ranger..and a dealer I like close-by carries the Textron...but I am open-minded on brand. One thing I really like about the Textron is the 2 man unit has a back area for cargo or you can flip up the cargo area and there are two additional seats there. Mine would mainly just have two riders, but it would be nice to have the option of adding two additional passengers when needed without buying the big "crew" models.
A friend told me to look at the electric Intimidator line as well.(see below)
Electric Textron: 2 Man with cargo that has optional flip up seat for extra passenger:
It was a nice day, guessing around 70. I started with getting my Polaris 900 out of the woods. The steering stopped working leaving me stranded the other day. I'm not sure if I will attempt to repair it or have it repaired. After all that, I went to repair the timer on one of my TH feeders. I was not able to fix it so I will be ordering a new timer. While I was at the feeder I had feed the fish and they were very active, hadn't been feed for about a week. I watched the pond and the fish were very active with the aquamax mvp that was thrown from the other feeders. I watched the hsb feed on the TFS, lots and lots of TFS in the pond and the hsb were all over them all around the pond. There may have been a few lmb feeding on them as well. Well, that activity made me grab a fishing rod and on the first cast I caught an hsb that was fat and sassy, guessing it was in the 3.5lb range. Caught it on a white sparkly tube jig while dragging it on the bottom. So, I decided to change up and grabbed another rod with a drop shot and a plastic worm. Caught a nice Florida lmb, guessing it was in or around 4lbs. Looked really healthy but I was surprised that the lmb was not so fat. I know its weight is over on the RW charts but still, I expected to see a fat belly but instead I saw a fish that was healthy but not fat. Now I am thinking about what I might do to increase the weight on these 4 lb Florida bass. I not quite ready to thin the herd so to speak because the last 3 I have caught looked like this one. I caught two last August/September. I did check the RW on those and they were in the 100% + range. So where to go from here?
Tracy, what has been your experience with TFS? How many did you stock? They are recommended for my BOW, as my LMB are only about 90% RW until they hit 14 or 15 inches.
Do TFS spawn on wood? Weeds? I have some fairly deep water near the dam, around 20 feet, so maybe they'd survive a normal winter.
Frank, I understand the TFS spawn on vegetation but my pond has very little vegetation. I did add some Christmas trees and some Cedars along the shoreline making 9 brush piles in 1 to 3' of water. A place where I could get some survival of the cnbg fry. But I am guessing the TFS used them for spawning as well. I can most always find them around the brush piles during the fall. Spawning I think. I added TFS the first time in late November 4 yrs ago. I added around 300 4 to 5" at that time. I then added 10,000 2 to 3" size the following spring. For what ever reason the TFS have really liked my pond and I have always had a lot of them in my pond. A side note, I seem to always have low numbers of 2 to 3" cnbg every time I e shocked the pond in the spring. But the TFS seem to make up for it, in that size, in the forage numbers. As per Todd Overton's comments to me after the first or second e survey. I was sure I lost my TFS last winter because of 42 degree water temps I had in last years long cold winter. Guess they found warmer water in my 12' depths. I found survival with 3 to 5" caught during a sein I did last June. Surprise, Suprise Surprise
Last edited by TGW1; 11/26/1807:45 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Well, Tracy, whatever you are doing to feed your LMB has been a huge success, and that includes the TFS. I do have some plants now, though not nearly as much brush as you. Sounds like it is worth a try.
Over the Thanksgiving week, while I was off, I took some time to build another fish attractor using left over 3/4" pex tubing, about 15 # of readymix concrete and a cat litter bucket cut down to about 12". After letting it set up most of the week, yesterday I dropped it into about a 7 foot depth adjacent to the main feeding and spawning area. The top of the structure should be around 5 feet under. Now it's a waiting game to see if they'll use it.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
John, I went through that type of drought last year at my place. This year lots of water. Every year is different at my place. Hope u get some much needed rain.
Frank, I don't know about what size TFS survives our winters. My seining in early June shows different sizes of TFS in the net. inch and a half to 5 or 6" sizes. They seem to spawn often at the pond. Yesterday afternoon I was at one of the feeders when I saw a school of TFS about a foot or so under the surface and they looked to be in the 3 to 4" range. The say they do not eat fish food but I always see TFS around the feeders at feeding times. I don't see them eat it but why else would they be there when the feeders go off? I figured they might be eating the feeder dust that gets thrown out when the feeder goes off. Hay! I am no expert that for sure.
Frank, what are your Tp doing? you still seeing them? I have not seen any since a month ago when I saw some 3" ones sunning in some shallows. Concerned my Tp may have been food for the lmb at stocking time since they were in the 6" size at the time I stocked them. I think some made it but I may need to stock the harder to find larger size when stocking next year. My water temps were 58 yesterday at 1 to 4'
Last edited by TGW1; 11/27/1810:06 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
You did have a great day Ant!! I will do what mowing and weedeating I can do on the wet ground today . Thanksgiving I am getting a real treat. My son will be home with my 4 year old grandson this year. I have the opportunity to watch him catch his first fish!!!! I am soooo excited. First time in 13 years that I will have a true big family Thanksgiving!! There will be 4 grandkids all together this year.
James, it really is nice to share the pond & fish with grandkids. How was your Thanksgiving?