the reel ess

Hey, weren't you going anyway? LOL. I have that friend who pays me with beer. But he always has beer, so I might actually be ahead.

I have another friend who drinks more than he fishes. Once he caught a nice 4 lb bass and stopped to take pics of it and text them to everybody in his phone. Then he say down and drank, I guess assuming it couldn't get any better. I caught one a little bigger at the end of the trip and he was disappointed. I told him he should have fished a little harder and drank a little less and he might have had the big fish. Everything's a competition to him and he can't stand to get bested ant anything.

My THAT FRIEND fishes 5 times a week.He's separated and works nights. But it's pretty cool to have a weekly real time fishing report. He also catches the big fish almost all the time. I can be killing him on numbers or size and he'll clean up right at the landing before we take out. It's not really a competition, but it always is a little as you try to improve every time out. But he would say about me that I'm very patient and will slow down as much as needed to catch fish. I'll throw the whole tackle box and kitchen sink at them. I'll try techniques I've never succeeded with when nothing works.

I rigged a wrench but haven't tried it yet.

Either when nothing will bite or you can't shake them off the hook. My buddy has a pond full of stunted, starving bass and I'll try stupid stuff there. I caught one on a Gummy Worm there just to show him I could.

Before I had the kayak, I kept them in a hatch in the boat. I had to throw a bunch out once because the cover leaked and they ruined, even in the bag. I keep all the reserves in a Tupperware container in the house now.

I bought a Cabela's tackle bag that holds several Plano 3000 series boxes, has a zippered pouch in the top flap and a pouch on each side and a zippered pocket on each end. That'll carry maybe 12-15 bags with no problem. I take it whenever I go. I usually fish from the kayak, so I grab the 3 or so bags I think I'll need and drop them behind the seat. I have the ability to carry 6 rods, so I can usually cover all my bases that way.

That is addressed by Pond Boss as well. But the short answer is you won't keep the small bass under control once they're established. They're hungry and faster than large bass and will chase and gobble up the food. I guess it would help if you did both things at the same time.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=149928#Post149928

I heard from a state fish hatchery operator once that it's nearly impossible to fish a pond out, but it's more likely to pressure the fish so badly they won't bite artificials. But obviously, you don't want all your trophies to disappear. Set a slot size you'll keep. I usually won't keep one weighing more than 3 lbs. But if that's a BIG fish there, make it smaller.

Persecute those small bass, man! They are lacking in food.I have taken 50 from my buddy's pond in a day and it still makes no difference. You might need help to put a dent in that situation. If the bluegill are huge, that won't help the situation. You get a large population of lunker bluegills and they're also competing with the bass for food. people have a mental block about eating bass. No need to, they taste better from a clean pond. If you don't want to eat them, give them away. But, as mentioned before, an expert will know what to do. A lot of guys feed the bluegills so they reproduce more in the summer and make more food. What you really need is fish in all slot sizes. That goes for the bluegills as well. I fish a couple stunted places and one place with big bass. When I clean fish from the stunted places, there's usually nothing in their stomachs. But when I clean those from the latter, there's minnows, shiners and small bluegills in their stomachs. They have a better food supply and even a variety.

I got in touch with an SCDNR fisheries biologist who says it's highly unlikely. Nothing is impossible.

There are times I can't keep em off the stick worm and other times I can't buy a bite with them. How3ever, there are some baits I feel I can almost ALWAYS get a bite on.

Another unlikely, but marginally possible scenario is some kind of weather phenomenon, like when it rains frogs.Presumably, a waterspout can touch down, suck up water, then move along to another pond or peter out over one. Pretty unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_of_animals

Fish eggs aren't fertilized in the belly. They're laid and fertilized at the same time.

Fair statement. There may be no predatory fish in the new ecosystem. There may also be no fish whatsoever to eat.. It would be a tough fist year if all the bass came of age at once and there were no baitfish. I suppose there could be crawfish and that might be enough. But it also adds one more degree of difficulty. I doubt any pond management expert would recommend you stock your pond with only bass. Another thing I think about in this scenario is that I don't hear people saying crappie just appeared in their ponds. It seems to be limited to bass and small sunfish. A combo that usually is intentionally stocked together so the bass have a food source in a pond where there are no baitfish.

What I've caught bass on in '16: Black/blue spinnerbait with Col blade Black/blue T rigged craw Suspending jerkbait Hula Grub Black/blue jig Rat-L-Trap Bubble gum color Trick Worm

I don't doubt that can happen. But it would have to happen with fertilized eggs. They would have to be on the bird's body while in flight and not become damaged by being out of water. Then two of the eggs, of opposite sex, would have to hatch and grow to sexual maturity. Since the statistics show that sometimes fewer than 1% of fish eggs are viable candidates to become adult fish, that's highly unlikely scenario. I mean a bass may lay 5000 to 40,000 eggs, of which as few as 2/10 of a percent can be expected to make it. These would have to eat well and survive the shallows where birds apparently wade to grow to adult size. Eating well would mean there's food. That's a tough pill to swallow.

I know this has probably been covered her before, but I didn't see it in a search. I debated with someone recently whether it's at all likely fish can get distributed by waterfowl. I said you could never rule it out, but 99.9% more likely, if there are fish present someone put them there. he claims anecdotal evidence of ponds that were dug and fish appeared there. I claim anecdotal evidence of places I've fished and seen no sign of any fish. And you can't keep waterfowl out. I also have a friend with a pond that he stocked several species in. Decades later, he only has those species. It seems he would have any and all species if you could not stop this phenomenon. And then there's the possibility of one pond or creek overflowing into another. We had some torrential rains and subsequent flooding in the lower half of SC recently. I feel certain that shared species. They will get washed downstream.

I count a bass that I caught in my buddy's pond as my PB. We weighed it on the lame-o black, unscientific spring scale. It said 6.5 lbs. Could have been 6 or 7. I have caught maybe 6 or 7 fish very near that mark, but none above it. I would trade all those for one 10 lb. bass. But I caught a 10 lb catfish that I guess would be my PB fish. I really don't like catfish so it was just a bigger nothing on the end of my line.

I like the Bandit Flat Maxx in that gold color on the left. http://www.banditlures.com/product/flatmaxx-deep/

I have seen guys putting nice fiberglass boats into swift, rocky water that I was hesitant to put my kayak into, even with a PFD. I have even seen guys trying to get up rocky shoals to get to the swift water for stripers. That's jet drive territory if any.

I'm 45 and I haven't started night bass fishing yet. But I keep saying I will soon.

I bet that boy right there doesn't get much spawning action on the bed.

Go to the local tackle shop and see what they're out of. Then order that online. It will probably be the best color for your area waters. My fav is a watermelon laminate. But that's the Big Bite. I usually used it wacky style. Then a fellow on here recommended I use the Trick Worm for wacky and I haven't looked back. Reason being, I almost always have a t-rigged Trick Worm tied on.