Blue Raider Bob

EPIC !!!! Sounds like a dream day on the water!

Thanks Katie! We both have our own ponds but yours is a LAKE!!! A 100 acre waterbody in Maine may be considered a POND to you guys, but its a downright Huron to us moisture deficient hill folk! I love that you have it though and can share the six pound bass.........I'm not jealous......

Dude ! That's a half pound a day! I will always admire people with discipline! Unlike me. I'll loose five only to celebrate at Las Fiestas! And, you did it over the holidays! Way to go!

Fished Nickajack, the next lake upriver Sunday before last. Ran into an angler pre-fishing for a High School Tournament and he said that he had "heard" the A-Rigs were killing them. The water was still in the low 50's so the next few warming trends should have a very positive impact on all the TVA lakes. I caught four but the wind drove me away.

Dang! Hate to hear your trip was unsuccessful. I went yesterday and was skunked as well. At least you and your buddy got to go. That means something.

Yes it is. I naively thought it would be easier in the beginning. After so many years of digging with my tractor and pond scoop, I thought I'd relax in a bankside chair and enjoy the harvest of my efforts. While I do the relax thing, there is also the unending anxiety, and frustration. I would still do it again as it gives me so much pleasure. Glad to share the journey, and really glad so many of my BR friends show an interest. The knowledge obtained from the almost daily visits excites me and has unlocked a hidden, mysterious path that I otherwise would not have travelled.

Thanks Alex! A little history about the pond clarity......when new, the pond was regularly fertilized with a product called Bass Buster from my local CO-OP. This created beneficial algae blooms which colored the water green and provided an 18" clarity using my Secchi disk. When the water cooled in the winter, the bloom disappeared and the water became tap water clear. The fertilization began the next year ect. After a few years the water was so fertile that harmful algae became a problem so fertilization ceased.. The filamentous and Chara algae took over the pond during the warm months and have continued to plague me since. Still, when the water cools in the winter, the clarity becomes tap-water clear. The issue now is to remove the nutrient rich water so the algae can be controlled. I have attempted to reduce the fish population, and reduced the feed offered. Also I have added dozens of nutrient absorbing plants to the pond such as Pickerel Weed, (Thanks Katie)! Even with this I am already starting to see Chara cover the pond bottom in 45 deg. water. The Chara will grow to the surface and ruin the pond aesthetically, but support a nursery and haven for the fry. Copper algae control products work well but copper does not dissolve so it is a forever metal that I prefer not to use. With that said, I enjoy the clear water this time of year because I can observe behaviors. Later in the year, I can only get glimpses of my pets but I can get in there with them! The BG become somewhat fearless and wait for me to handfeed them the cutworms found on the Lotus leaves.

I'm going to get you a trolling motor handle whether you use it or not!

Just an observation from Super Bowl Sunday. I went to the Stones River Sunday morning and froze my fingers. Got skunked and only fished for an hour or so, but I did manage to net a couple dozen small Shad for the pond. Here is what I observed. When the Shad are released, the healthy ones scatter, only to regroup in small pelagic schools. The weaker Shad swim weakly with no intended direction, often on their backs. The extremely weak Shad swim weakly to the pond bottom and unintentionally bury themselves into the bottom vegetation. The largemouth become super aggressive when the shad are discovered and don't mind at all coming right up to the bank where I am standing to feed. The clear water allows me to observe everything. What I have always wondered, until now, is how bass remove and consume prey that inhabit the pond bottom. Here is how it goes. The LM will notice movement, move in for inspection, hover over movement, creep close, then inhale movement, vegetation, leaf debris, sticks, everything! The LM will then slowly back off, and gradually work the debris away and separate debris from prey. This takes several seconds to complete. I do not know how prey is retained while debris is expelled but I witnessed it several times Sunday. When satisfied, the LM will slowly search the targeted area then move on. Don't know if this info may help those that like to Texas Rig, or Carolina Rig, but maybe somehow it will.

289 V8? Dang that is Beautiful!

Interesting how many anglers are also musicians......in my case, bad ones......but interesting all the same. I'll never have a D-18, but I can sure appreciate one! I'm not at all surprised that so many anglers are mechanics, after all, we've been outdoors and working on our rigs our lifetimes.

I would do exactly what you mention. Fish the Cypress trees along the creek bank. The fish are moving shallower. I caught a few Sunday from 9' in to 6'. Nothing deeper and nothing shallower. The water clarity will pull the bass closer to the Cypress trees along with the warmer water IMHO. Spinner baits pulled slowly past the Cypress knees worked for me in stained Arkansas water in the past.

Here are the color locators. Seem to be different brand names but basically the same. Might have to explain these to our younger generations of anglers. You see, the idea was to drop the transducer into the water to a certain depth, and the locator analog needle would point to the color that was most visible, thereby giving the angler the best color to use. If I'm wrong on this, please correct. Anyway, these two pieces came in my auction grab bag. Mere curiosity pieces at this point.

I believe that! Those bass could use Ozempic! 😁 But seriously, It amazes me that in a lake with such a huge shad population, it is even possible to catch any. Why would they go for anything that is not a shad? The shad are there for the easy taking. I mean "easy", because I have observed the bass in my pond pursue shad, and there is no question that once a bass decides, game over! The bass run down the shad in a blink of an eye, and none ever escape. This goes for creek minnows, and any other fish dropped in the pond.

You would have loved this auction....actually, everyone on this site would have loved this auction. there were a dozen boxes with lures and lots of stuff that were not visible in the boxes that came as a surprise. I have one Pflueger fly reel, two brand new Color Locator never used, and various other ancient items. I will take pictures of the color locators if I can think of it. They are a curiosity piece now. And, as I've mentioned, there were bags and bags of ball head jigs. In addition to the boxes, there were a dozen crammed full tackle boxes with everything imaginable. I'm beginning to think this fellow either molded jig heads and sold them, or had a stake in a tackle store because there was enough to fill a store. Beside the vintage Hellbenders, and jitterbugs, there were dozens of old Shad Raps, Bombers, and misc crankbaits galore. There were spools and spools of line but that line must have been twenty years old. Anyway, it was a fun adventure in Bowling Green Kentucky on a cold day. I took the back roads and really enjoyed the southern Kentucky scenery after a strong dusting of snow. Beautiful countryside.

There was something peculiar about this bass. The coloration was different than the others. The clear water usually causes the LM to have well defined dark green areas on their sides, but this one did not. I thought maybe spot, but there were no tongue patches. Definitely was not a smallie, but the mouth was not as large as a largie this size would usually have. Perplexed about this one.

I wanted too but the bidding quickly left my pay grade. Several of the lots with old lures surpassed 100.00 with a couple over 150.00. I was giddy to get mine for 45.00 until I looked at Ebay. Fortunately, my lot also came with about 500 ballhead jigs ranging from 1/32 to 1/4. Also I downright stole the boat, so all's good!

I installed my new carb kits, fuel pump, and water pump, (Real Pain on an Evinrude), and am going to try to crank her Saturday. It is in real good shape. The estate sale was for a fellow angler who had to go to assisted living. Don't think the boat has been on the water for years. Batteries were toast and dated 2012. License was good till 2015. I sure hope the ol'e boy caught lots of fish in his lifetime, and is comforted by the knowledge that I will try to catch lots more!

First Fat Bass of February! Well, not actually. I caught three before this one and one after, but she was the fattest! Water temp started at 42 deg. but rose to 48 deg. by late afternoon. Unfortunately, so did the wind. By very early afternoon it was whitecapping and my day was done. Managed four fat ones at Nickajack and really pumped about what the future holds! Wanted to bring her back to my pond for some new genetics but she went belly up in the livewell, and with a couple hours to fish, and over an hour drive home, I reluctantly let her go. I'm not risking killing one just for my hobby. She didn't belly up when I put her back. She found a new gear and was GONE!

Eric, in all fairness, those videos are several years old. I though it was incredibly awesome that my manmade pond could attract such exotic animals such as otters. They were living under my dock in the space between deckboards and floor joists. I have a octagon viewing hole in the middle of my floor that the otters would use to access their lairs, as well as the dock surface. Not only Otters, but I've had two Beavers stop by for a day, and you guys know about the Muskrat invasion. The piles of bluegill scales on the dock were upsetting, but I thought that's a small price to pay for this relationship. Attitude changed when I started finding bass skulls on the dock and bank. Then my dog brought the jaws of my 5-3 Largemouth up to the house and my soul collapsed. Something had to be done. I had to pull up the deckboards to frame in all the access points to the former living spaces, which were covered with scales and heads. Now the otters have to live somewhere else. This is only a problem during the wet months of the year when the creek is flowing. They spend the dry months at the Stones River.

BR friends, this is my place in Tennessee. Swamp Girl was kind enough to post because I am too inept. Thanks Katie!

They have no definite entry point. There is over 300' of pond bank facing the wet weather creek and they enter and exit anywhere they want. Trapping Muskrats was easy. All you do is put trap in front of burrow entrance, but trapping these dudes is impossible. The body parts can show up around the entire perimeter. They use the whole thing for their needs. The only plus is they do not actually live here anymore. I blocked the egress under the dock where they used to use the space between joists and floatation panels. Now they migrate to the pond so I never see them anymore. Just their presence is noted. You are exactly right, they are killing my pets. These are the same bass that would nearly take Cicadas from my hands last summer. I have made a small dam so I could have an area that keeps water year round. The bottom of this small pond is made with liner remnants from the large pond. It is lined in rock and there is always a fish population from the farm pond washouts up stream. Unfortunately, there is no way to move the stream from my property. It enters my place from a culvert under the road I'm on.

We all sound like that Alex. Anybody says different is lying. 🤣

The ice has melted on the pond except for the southern edge shaded by trees. Unfortunately the Otters have returned. ☹️ They travel via a wet weather creek that borders my pond. The creek runs from farmland and farm ponds south of my property, and terminates into the Middle Fork Stones River about two miles north of my property. This is an annual winter event. I never see them after the wet weather creek ceases to flow in late spring. Yesterday I was able to walk the pond bank and dock but came upon distressing sights. There were two bass jaws on the bank, piles of scales on the dock, and body parts in the water beside the dock. It/they are quickly depleting my pond. I sat on the dock until 9:30 last night bundled up and hopeful. No one showed. I have no idea what time they arrive, but its probably way after shut-eye. Where is TnRiver46 when you need him? Probably up there on Rocky Top with the mountain boys hooking bass! 🙂

Followed this estate Auction and ended up buying a 16' Alumacraft Maverick at a terrific price, but here's where the Senior Moment came in. There were a couple dozen lots of fishing supplies. This guy really loved his fishing, but more than that, he LOVED the Bait Monkey. There were boxes and boxes of vintage lures still in the package. I mean Hellbenders, and Jitterbugs still in the original boxes. At least a dozen tackle boxes spilling over and gobs of rods and reels. Some of the lots went for over 100.00. Anyway, one of the lots showed a Shimano Bantam B-Mag 1000 still in plastic. Well the "Bantam" got me unhinged and I started biding on it. Bid it up to 45.00 and won! I was high-fiving myself and slappin' my back! Giggling just like a juvenile, doing the Fargo Strut and laughing insanely. Got home, checked it out on E-Bay, and you can get one for 30.00 plus shipping! 😶 What! Dang! I spent 45.00 for a 30.00 reel? Well, I can't undo the celebration, but I can have fun with it and share the humor! Unfortunately, I told my wife, and with her memory, I will hear about this forever! Anyone else have a senior moment at an auction?