Rattletrap2

Thanks Roger! Just curious.

I agree! vinegar / water and baking soda will clean most anything.

Oh yeah Bill, the changes didn't prevent me from spending way more money than I should have! LOL

I finally made it over to BPS yesterday after a looong absence. Some strange things I noticed: 1) The two big Largemouth Bass are missing from the tank. Even some of the others looked ill. Too many Carp in there in my opinion. 2) They decided to get rid of their Golf department ( no loss to me! LOL), replace it with a bicycle department, and now that is on it's way out too! 3) There were hardly any boats in stock! There were a few used ones out by the ponds, but hardly any stock of new boats. No trackers really to speak of at all. Is something up with this? 4) There were no ATV's to speak of. A couple of Cub Cadet buggies was all. Just seemed kind of odd to me....and wondered if Roger or anyone had any insight. Thanks!

Very cool! I don't know if we have any turtles like that around this part of the world, but I know I've never seen one. I had a very large snapping turtle laying eggs in the yard last year. I unfortunately did have to re-locate her. Thanks for posting and keep us updated on their progress. Around here, the coons and skunks get the majority of turtle eggs long before they get a chance to hatch!

All time favourite has to be the Man himself...Al Lindner! The videography and presentation of their shows combined with the excellent material are unmatched. Dan Sura and Dave Csanda add to the mix. I do like Scott Martin Challenge (Roland's Son), Urban Outdoor Adventures with Shaun Rickard, Hank Parker's Outdoor Magazine, and of course Ol' Billy Dance . Bill Dance is just a good ol' Boy and very entertaining. He fished stocked ponds and pits and was basically an infomercial, but I always liked him. I have tried to get into watching Dave Mercer, but just can't stand it. Way too much clowning around for me. I liked his live presentations at BPS and other shows, but this new TV show seems too "forced humour" for my liking. The TV spots over the holidays in the blue tux were ridiculas and played way too often as well. Anything but "Spectacular"! Sorrry Dave!

Very nice work! Now, don't do something foolish like disturbing them from that nice, neat, organized black cloth bedding and toss them carelessly into a tackle box...or even worse, actually tie one on and get them wet!!!!!

Pretty much leaves ya speechless, don't it? Absolutely amazing! Thanks for posting that link. I think I will hold back on complaining around here for a bit.

What a terrible shame this news is. I have also met Jim on a few occasions at sports shows and Bass Pro Shops. He is a true gentleman and a legend in this sport. I know he can beat this! I have requested my tickets as well. Brian

Pete, Any update on this?

Fantastic report and pictures. WTG

Very sad indeed. My deepest condolences to all the families involved. What a shame.

Oh yeah, you are done for now! I have only had a chance to fish the river behind our home once this year for 45 minutes one night. My wife asked for a turn and caught the first fish, then went and told the youngest daughter. She came out and took over the rod and caught one for herself. Me?????....none! Moral of this story.....when getting a rod rigged, rig a few spares as well! Oh and CCMT, tell me about the bathroom thing! I too have three daughters and a wife. We moved to a house with one less bathroom, and it's been all downhill since then! I'd have better chances of sharing a tree in the yard with the family dog!

Awesome report Hawk! I did not get out this past week-end, but if I did, the day you fellows had would have been a dream to me. I used to love those small creeks for native rainbows and browns. Thanks for posting!

Very nice report. Congrats on the memory making outing with your Son! He is a lucky lad!

Dave, You and your family are in my thoughts tonight. Keep the faith!

Sorry about the confusion. Yes, the small fish are definitely Large Mouth Bass. The eggs however, are from Yellow Perch. Unlike most other freshwater fish species that stay and guard the nest from predators after the eggs are laid, the Perch simply lay their eggs in these long ribbon like gelatin sacks and abandon them. The wind blew the eggs down into the shallow weedy area. They should hatch by this coming week-end. The surface water temps are already around 64 to 65 deg. F. The incoming spring keeps the main body of water from getting much warmer than about 75 deg. F all summer. These fish share the pond with a total of 8 species that I have counted. Rainbow trout, Rock Bass, Sunfish, Large mouth Bass, Small mouth Bass, Yellow Perch, Suckers, and Two very large Goldfish (Koi). All but the Trout seem to reproduce in great numbers. Each species has several year classes with the exception of the Trout. It is like a huge aquarium!

By al means Gerritt, go for it! I bought one house this way, and also sold one this way to friends of the Family. As you already know, get a Real Estate Lawyer involved and save yourself the Real Estate fees on both ends. Best way to do it. No offense to anyone in the business, but our last transaction was with the an Agent and she did absolutely nothing to earn her fees! Still disgusts me how much She made off the deals.

Okay, Finally got around to trying to post some pics of the Perch eggs and also some very small LargeMouth Bass. These Bass were all stocked at approx. 1" size last June. They are now averaging about 3 - 4" in length. In the one picture, the Bass is between two young Sunfish. I apologize for the photo clarity, but I was trying to zoom in without a tripod and the image tended to blur. There is also some glare off the water.

Mepps, It ain't the tat we are concerned about, or how it will look at 50 years! It's the degradation of the "canvas" under the work of art that we are concerned with! LOL Lew, No fair, you kept wearing them heavy rain coats and stuff overtop to hide every one of them! LOL

I was out walking the pond on the week-end and noticed some strange looking egg mass near the wind blown shore. Did some searching on "Google" and it turns out they are Yellow Perch eggs! Long white ribbons about 1 1/2" to 2" wide and about 30" long. Could be as many as 25,000 eggs! I'll try to get some photo's up shortly if anyone is interested. I had noticed some really big jumbo females (well not like Simcoe Jumbos, but about 10") swimming about in the last few weeks and I guess this is the result. There seems to be an abundance of small fish this year. I guess the last years spawn did really well. I find it fascinating to watch the Sunfish and Rock Bass start their nesting routines in the next few weeks as well. Looks like a good number of LargeMouth made it through the winter as well. I have accounted for the three biggest and a good number of 3 - 4" ones as well.

Hey "Poppy" Brian, Hope you don't mind, but I saved #7. That is a beautiful shot! Thanks for sharing your day!

Mike, That is one very nice looking boat you have there. You have every right to be proud of that set-up! Enjoy!

I wrote to WFN complaining about the infomercials (stupid Line Dancer!) and they wrote back saying that they had to do it to stay on the air. I asked to at least have them show them at 4 am, not during prime time on the week-ends. Sad when you actually pay for this crap!

Yeah, I did mine ( large frame 17 foot boat trailer) with beige Tremclad and it took about a quart or less to do the whole thing. Turned out great and has even held up pretty well the last few years.