On 12/30/2022 at 10:18 AM, ol'crickety said:

 

You make a good point, Darth. 

 

Heck, yeah, a 250-acre lake would be paradise. I'd love to feed fish too, like Blue Raider Bob, but once I started feeding them, I wonder if I would still want to catch them. 

 

 

You would not want to start catching them because you would have built a bond/trust relationship. I enjoy watching/studying them but I do not want to catch them. They are my buddies now!

Just now, Blue Raider Bob said:

You would not want to start catching them because you would have built a bond/trust relationship. I enjoy watching/studying them but I do not want to catch them. They are my buddies now!

 

If I owned a pond, I'd be their buddy too. At the big Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, they built a tunnel that the salmon use to pass beyond the dam. HUGE salmon swim through it and every time one did, I'd squeal and run alongside it, as excited as if I catching them. I'm the same way at Bass Pro Shops, with their aquariums. And I wonder why others don't get excited. 

 

#weonlygettolivesolongsoenjoytheride!

I'm there! Right outside my door is "Lake Lucy", named after my daughters dog. It is not very big but it's mine and I built it myself. I get to study it almost daily for all four seasons each year. I learn new things constantly and that's what make me happy! Also I am centrally located in Tennessee so I can fish numerous rivers and lakes year round.

3 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

I'm there! Right outside my door is "Lake Lucy", named after my daughters dog. It is not very big but it's mine and I built it myself. I get to study it almost daily for all four seasons each year. I learn new things constantly and that's what make me happy! Also I am centrally located in Tennessee so I can fish numerous rivers and lakes year round.

Living the dream Bob!  Those fish feeders and Aquamax produce some massive fish.

 

What does that awesome solar panel in the background power?

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

 

If I owned a pond, I'd be their buddy too. At the big Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, they built a tunnel that the salmon use to pass beyond the dam. HUGE salmon swim through it and every time one did, I'd squeal and run alongside it, as excited as if I catching them. I'm the same way at Bass Pro Shops, with their aquariums. And I wonder why others don't get excited. 

 

#weonlygettolivesolongsoenjoytheride!

I would say that most do get excited at BPS aquariums. They just try to act "cool" and uninterested. Behind the blank expression is a tortured, exploding, inner tantrum,&@(!&^@!!!

Katy, you and I would scream "d**n, that's a big-un"! And be quietly led out of the store.

My wife doesn't go to aquariums with me anymore. 

4 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Living the dream Bob!  Those fish feeders and Aquamax produce some massive fish.

 

What does that awesome solar panel in the background power?

It powers a solar well pump located directly under the panel frame. I knew water quality would be an issue so I had the well dug shortly after installing the liner. I turn it off in the winter so the pipes don't freeze, but it runs all summer long bringing limestone groundwater from 60' deep and tumbling over rocks into the pond. I'll try to find an outlet picture my daughter took when our pet goose lived here.

7 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

I would say that most do get excited at BPS aquariums. They just try to act "cool" and uninterested. Behind the blank expression is a tortured, exploding, inner tantrum,&@(!&^@!!!

Katy, you and I would scream "d**n, that's a big-un"! And be quietly led out of the store.

My wife doesn't go to aquariums with me anymore. 

It powers a solar well pump located directly under the panel frame. I knew water quality would be an issue so I had the well dug shortly after installing the liner. I turn it off in the winter so the pipes don't freeze, but it runs all summer long bringing limestone groundwater from 60' deep and tumbling over rocks into the pond. I'll try to find an outlet picture my daughter took when our pet goose lived here.

Man that's awesome, with the feeder, and aeration your pond is gonna have some big fish in it!

 

Do you follow the PondBoss, if not you should check him out.   Has some awesome info for guys like yourself.  

I'll most likely be where I am at right now, which is Florida near the coast. I'd need to be near both fresh and saltwater because I fish both. My only problem is having two places here, one on the east coast of Florida and one on the west coast of Florida. So it'll be a coin toss between them, I reckon.  

South Florida for fishing all year long, lots of locations, big bass, your ability to find isolated spots, and most important a thriving population of Peacock Bass, the pit bulls of the freshwater fishing world.  They are all over south Florida, and with global warming their getting bigger, and more numerous!

The Big-O for me. Okachobee without a doubt.

St Lawrence but I need an out for winter

I've got a long way to go until retirement, so I can't say for sure. But since I fish from the bank or my kayak and I don't plan on getting a motorized boat, I'd like to retire somewhere with easy access to smaller, uncrowded water. I'd also love to be able to scratch the fishing itch year-round, which would mean moving south or trying to score a summer home. Time will tell!

Sturgeon Bay. Forget the fishing entirely and its still an amazing area.

On 1/6/2023 at 9:44 AM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Man that's awesome, with the feeder, and aeration your pond is gonna have some big fish in it!

 

Do you follow the PondBoss, if not you should check him out.   Has some awesome info for guys like yourself.  

Couldn't find the picture my daughter took so I took one this weekend. The well pipe runs underground and under the rocks. It flows over the big flat rock into the pond. It is dead of winter so everything looks/is dead. It is quite a sight in the summer. We had a Canadian goose that dislocated her wing on some power lines nearby and couldn't leave when her flock left. She stayed here over two years. She would flap her wings and the lame one gradually got better to the point I think it snapped back in socket. She returned a month or so later with a boyfriend and raised a gosling. The three of them eventually left but returned every few weeks. They left again last fall and have not returned. I called her "Crash", but my wife thought that "blue-collar" of me so she named he Gigi. Well Gigi got pretty tame after awhile because she got fed grain when my daughter fed her goats. Still hoping she shows back up.

My daughters picture showed Gigi standing on the rock with water flowing over her feet and lots of water lilies in the pond. Epic picture!

Just for useless info the pond water has a Ph of 8.7 and the well water has a Ph of 7.7,

this is caused by the ponds overabundance of algae which removes carbon dioxide and increases alkalinity. The more alkalinity, the more algae growth. Vicious cycle. Need less algae and more organisms that create carbon dioxide.

3 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Couldn't find the picture my daughter took so I took one this weekend. The well pipe runs underground and under the rocks. It flows over the big flat rock into the pond. It is dead of winter so everything looks/is dead. It is quite a sight in the summer. We had a Canadian goose that dislocated her wing on some power lines nearby and couldn't leave when her flock left. She stayed here over two years. She would flap her wings and the lame one gradually got better to the point I think it snapped back in socket. She returned a month or so later with a boyfriend and raised a gosling. The three of them eventually left but returned every few weeks. They left again last fall and have not returned. I called her "Crash", but my wife thought that "blue-collar" of me so she named he Gigi. Well Gigi got pretty tame after awhile because she got fed grain when my daughter fed her goats. Still hoping she shows back up.

My daughters picture showed Gigi standing on the rock with water flowing over her feet and lots of water lilies in the pond. Epic picture!

Just for useless info the pond water has a Ph of 8.7 and the well water has a Ph of 7.7,

this is caused by the ponds overabundance of algae which removes carbon dioxide and increases alkalinity. The more alkalinity, the more algae growth. Vicious cycle. Need less algae and more organisms that create carbon dioxide.

That's awesome Bob, and I sure hope Gigi/Crash returns.

 

Had the same deal as a kid growing up.   A Canadian Goose was wounded and never was able to fly fully again, so my fishing mentor basically had a pet Goose for about a decade it seemed.   Her name was Annie.    Such a sweet animal, she loved humans.     Many of great memory sitting on the dock catfishing with Annie. 

I don't know if this is odd but I'm not really looking forward retirement.. 

13 minutes ago, Gera said:

I don't know if this is odd but I'm not really looking forward retirement.. 

you mean when the pharmacy takes all the money you saved over the last 30-40 years???

12 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

you mean when the pharmacy takes all the money you saved over the last 30-40 years???

yeah! that's tackle warehouse's job. 

4 hours ago, Gera said:

yeah! that's tackle warehouse's job. 

Durn skippy