Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Lusk Otto and Davidson seen in Georgia

We had a GREAT meeting Saturday Feb 4 in Ga at Lake Sovereign. We had 25 pondmeisters attend and had a fantastic session with Bob, Mike, and Dave. A photo of the group can be seen at

http://www.frankpinkston.com/ga_meeting.jpg

I will post more photos as soon as I recover from digesting all the great information!

Frank

WE need smaller group photos so you can list the name of attendees. How did you get Ted Lea from Ohio there? Special trip or was he already in the south? Who traveled the farthest to get to the meeting.

The guy with the American flag hat and sun glasses use to be known as Mike Otto now after this photo he is just called "Super Cool"

Which one is Eric?

Guy in front standing with the gray sweatshirt, Eric is the person to his left. A finer Southern gentleman you will never meet.

Good photo Frank. Looks like it was a great gathering and fun time.

I'd like to put names with all the faces.

Bill Cody

I have a bunch more photos that I will post later that show more detail.

I second and third Duggan's comment about Eric - I sincerely enjoyed meeting Eric and appreciated his patience as he, my wife and I navigated the challenges of the Cherokee county road system (inside joke). He has promised to let me in on his secret sources for the wonderful and informative research he finds for us.

Ted Lea and Cary Martin travelled the longest distance by car - and I guess Lusk et al by air.
Ted and Cary generously donated an AirPod One aeration system as one of the many door prizes. Congratulations to Warren Gilbert who walked away with that!

Phyllis Lea did youman's work as our local hostess at Lake Sovereign. It was a great place for a meeting and we even got so see Grimes run his shocker boat and see Davidson TRY to net shocked fish.

I am still fired up. Let's do it again next weekend!

Frank

A great time was had by all. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

What a blast! LOTS of information was shared, and it was nice to finally put faces with names. I learned so much that I have to go back to bed right now to recover. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy lives to attend.

PS Frank: I think we should at least skip a few weeks until getting together again.


Here are my three favorite photos:


Otto and Eric weigh out the long trip versus the benefits. They decide it was WELL worth it.



Duggan finds a Georgia Giant in his sub sandwich while Jack ponders if he actually ate one too. :p


ALL TIME FAVORITE: Lusk takes a bite out of "pond management" crime



Hope everyone had safe trip home. It was a pleasure meeting each and every one of you.

Deb

I had forgot about Bob showing what a largemouth bass looks like

We have learned so much from Bob Lusk. I, for one, did not know mouths could open that way.

Well this just might be my longest post ever. I cannot express in words what a great time I had. The only change I can suggest for future meetings around the globe is to make it two days. There was so much great info it takes two days to cover it all.

I don’t even know where to start with a recap. It was first great just to see the folks you chat with on the forum. Problem was I did not get to talk to them as much as I would have liked too. It was amazing the passion and knowledge in this room. I will tell you this I have been to 10 or more American Fisheries Society and Lake Society meetings, and I learned more about pond management in 2 hours here than all those meeting combined. Simply amazing!

Something pretty ironic. Remember one of our last talks about 4:45 regarding beavers. Well I missed a call at 4:50 when my guy called and left a message he had just pulled out a beaver from our traps a few hundred yds away at the upper end of the lake. I giant one at that. If I would have caught the call he could have brought it by the clubhouse. He estimates it weighed closed to 80 lbs and Phyllis is getting it mounted. Just had to share that.

The one thing I regret is the fact at the end a few folks wanted to see the shock boat in action. It was great having Davidson up there even to spite the cold wind. BUT When I was finished 30 mins later most everyone was gone. I did not get to say goodbye so here goes:

Deb- shot me an email and we can talk about what you mentioned. Yep folks we had a couple of fun jabs but got along great in public and had a good private conversation as well.

Big Jake- where is your pond? I thought Cuthbert if so I’m heading that way on the 13th. Let me know if you want to meet me. Great to see you.

Randy- give us a holler in the a few months. Look forward to seeing the lake.

Cary- thanks again for stopping by the house and I wish you the best in your business, get me that packet of info.

Ted- sorry I did not get you the attractors, you should have at least grabbed the one in the yard. Great talk!

Jersey- I wish you the best with the pond. Send me an email and I will help find you the pond builder list.

Eric- I said good bye but really a pleasure meeting you. I wanted to ask you a few things but ran out of time. I will pick your brain soon if you don’t mind. Thanks again for dinner.

Rick- let me know if you come to GA and I will join you for a turkey hunt. I might even get you on some good private land if we are lucky. The lake I shocked was in Eden, NC.

Johnny- Man great seeing you again. I spoke with Stan btw. Tell the wife I said hello.

Wayne- nice to meet you and your “banker” and hope the fertilizer works out.

Troy- start posting more and I need one of those maps back, please.

Otto- So sorry to not say goodbye. I wish you could have gotten in more time because I was soaking it up. Thanks for making the long trip.

David Pendergrass- good to meet you. BTW I just got home from meeting Kevin Krueger at his Dads lake house. When talking about their lake your name came up. Let me know if we can help with those catfish.

Bob- I never got you that food label. It was in my pocket. 44% protein, 18% fat and fish meal listed close to top of ingredients. Made in Andrews, NC. Great to meet you!

JB sorry you did not make it. You would have loved it. Same for you Big-Pond I hope the Superbowl turns out well for you in a couple of hours.

I could hardly sleep last night thanking about all the info we gathered and questions I never got to ask. Some may disagree but think it is a sign of a good meeting when you leave with more questions than answers, that is pond mgmt for you. Thanks everyone!
BTW we did not want to post the names but have everyone guess who is who in the pictures.

We had a great time and I just wish the rest of you could have attended. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Frank , Phyllis and Bill who made all of it possible with their efforts to plan and bring the meeting together and Bob and Mike for their efforts to impart knowledge. Greg for the electroshock survey and Dave for manning the front net. Thanks from all of us who benifited from your efforts.

Greg funny you say that about sleeping last night, I was so fired up about yesterday it took me hours after I got home to be able to settle down and relax. Great day

Here is the group photo.

Well, this was a first for me. I've never taken the plunge to personally meet someone I met on line before.
I had some expectations. But this group blew them away! Wonderful bunch of people! Passionate about ponds!

The professionals there were outstanding!

If your impression of Lusk from his writings here & his books is knowledgeable then you're right. But he's much more! Very pasionate about this business, humble, personable, thoughtful, funny, & commands athority! Rare qualities in one individual!

Otto espouses with decisive intelligent insight into dirt moving dam & pond building & intuitive insight to problem solving of same. It's also obvious he's a hard worker. He also should be commended for his patients in teaching Dave Davidson his letters.

Grimes impresses. Like Otto Greg gives the impression of someone who isn't comfortable just sitting around. He's a hustler in the good sense of the word. You don't get a good feel for his knowledge here in his posts. He has said he does better in person & believe me he does! I was impressed!

Ted Lea knows his business! Just like his posts here indicate he is dedicated to helping pond owners. Through much trial & error & personal testing he knows what works in aeration & what doesn't. You can take his advice to the bank!

Cary Martin like Ted is a great guy! He gave a great presentation on aeration not to mention donating a system for a door prize! Cary is full of information & inovations reguarding aeration!

Deb is a very nice lady & seems sincere & pasionate about learning & using the knowledge you all have poured in that pretty head of hers to do it right in the business. She gave a great presentation on the GG as a nich fish. She has more knowledge than she let's on. Everyone walked away with a GG catalog & a bag of fish food!

It was something to meet everyone! Just a great bunch of guys!

BTW, ewest doesn't just post all that research, he's got that stuff in his head!

Hey Ric, Mike tries hard and means well but he just hasn't really got the experience to further my education. Bless his heart, he tries real hard.

BTW, the guy in the striped hat and shades is Snoopy doing his Joe Cool imitation.

Here are some more photos

Frank

Really want to thank Roy and Phyllis Lea for their hospitality.

I 2nd that Dave! They orginized it well!

BTW that's Dave D 2nd from the left in the third pic. He's sitting beside Otto. They were a hoot togeather!

Dave it's SUPER COOL

Jeez and crackers Frank couldn't you have done a little photoshop editing (slimming me down) before posting those pics. I know I need to drop about 50 plus pounds, but I did not realize I could make a new Chick-Fil-A ad with the cows the company presently uses. Wake up call... HELLO Jenny Craig!

Other than that minor flaw in your camera's malfunction (ha ha), thanks again to you, Phyllis, and Duggan for stepping up to the plate and hitting a homerun with this event.


edit: I am still not sure if Dave was kidding or not when he asked what a shut off valve was on a drain pipe.

As usual, Eric West (Ewest in the comics) kept his mouth mostly shut. But when he did offer something, it was from his wide and deep experience plus was well said. He is much more than a researcher and pretty face.

He is the one that is 5th from the left in the third picture.

Dave :

The folks that came did so to here Bob and Mike not me. You and I had our questions asked and answered at DFW and it was only fair to let the others have a chance. I try to remember a statement that Pres. Johnson is credited with asking one of his staff when he talked to much --" Boy how are you ever going to learn anything if your always talking?".