Hog Basser

Check out the pond boss forums for one thing, they have experts available to answer your questions. I wouldn't do too much without checking the legality and if you don't own the pond, make sure you have permission to do anything first. There are also tons of great articles in the lake management section of this site. Go read them and you will learn a lot about pond/lake management....many of them written by the administrator of pond boss. The typical answer for managing ponds for larger bass is to remove 25-35 lbs. of 10-14 inch bass per surface acre per year. This takes out the most voracious eaters in the group and leaves more forage for the survivors to get larger. Once fish are stunted, it is less likely they will grow much larger, so it may take some time for the younger fish to grow and become the large ones you're looking for. However, there should be a few overachievers in there that have thrived in the meantime.

5 lbs.

More advice: Get involved with Ducks Unlimited if they have a chapter in your area. If nothing else, you will meet other hunters at their annual banquet and auction. There's a ton of info out there, but nothing replaces the experience. When hunting public lands, make sure you check local regulations to see if it is okay to hunt there and if there are any special regulations to that specific area. If you really want to get some good experience before embarking on your own, see if there are any guides near you and go with a guide for your first time or two. I don't know if it exists where you are, but if not, maybe take a trip to a place that does commercial guided hunting like Stuttgart, AR. Get a group of friends together (even if they aren't serious, they will still have fun) and book a hunt. Most outfits in Stuttgart will provide food, lodging, transportation to/from hunting spots and game processing as part of their fee. You just need to show up with the proper gear. If this is an option, PM me and I will recommend a few.

Yeah, sorry for hijacking the thread @HeavyDluxe, guess I'm just getting excited for duck season to roll around!

We usually finish hunting around 8:30 or 9 (earlier on the good mornings), go back and have a big breakfast at the lodge, then have the whole afternoon to fish and watch football. We hunt too many different blinds to leave everything there. Some of our decoy spreads stay out, but we like to pick most up after each hunt.

In my spot, I have to load all my gear in one boat, cross the bayou, unload the gear and load it on a Ranger. Then unload again in a smaller jon boat after a quick ride, cross another small lake and unload again. I'm usually taking decoys, a dog (which makes it really tough), gun, shells, blind bag and other hunters in small boats. No room for the fishing stuff. Plus, I'm too busy shooting ducks to pick up a rod n reel anyway!

Ha, that's excellent! As a matter of fact I can, I just can't lug all my hunting and fishing gear out at the same time so I have to go back in the afternoon to hit the fish!

Ha, I don't make the claim, but I sure believe it after hunting there my entire life. I've had many an amazing morning where we couldn't keep the ducks out of our hole. And there's nothing like hunting flooded green timber!

So above are my previous stats and I'll list stats from this last weekend below and then look at combined totals. We only recorded 52 of our fish from the weekend to add to the stats. Some of the larger ones didn't make it to the books and none of the ones below 10 inches made it in. So for last weekend, my average Wr* value is 91.02 - things are looking up! Average weight - 1.5 lbs. - getting better too! Total weight - 78 lbs. on 52 fish recorded Best Wr* value - 115.07 on a 14 inch 1.68 pounder Total Bass over 100 Wr* value - 9 Total Bass with 90 or better Wr* - 30 Best Fish - 18.5 inch 3.97 lbs. with a Wr* value of 109.37 Fish below 80 Wr* - 7 Worst Fish - Worst Wr* was 64.64 on a 20 inch 3.03 pounder ______________________________________________________________________________ Combined total Wr* average - 88.31, which is really good and getting better! That's on 153 recorded bass with a total combined weight of 204.27 lbs. and average weight of 1.34 lbs. I'm going to keep compiling stats to make sure we keep heading in the right direction, but I like what I see so far and I'm seeing better chances of growing some serious DD bass and I have a hunch there's a few in there I just haven't found yet. Average length is 13.9 inches. Another lake pic from the dam side.

Yep. It's a wide angle lens I had to use to get them all in. Here's another angle.

A few more pics of the weekend. First, the haul on the first day. I'll have to wait for others since these are so big. The dock with the re-lift pump running.

Been awhile since I've been back to the pond. Gathered up a few good fishing buddies and my nephews this past weekend and headed out. My nephews live a little closer than me, so they usually drive in and meet us. This time, I had the opportunity to watch the older one play HS Football on the way down, so the younger one hopped in with us after the game and the older one came the next day after practice. This time was different because we are pumping water into the lake from the bayou. The re-lift is right by our dock, so we barely left the dock because there was a feeding frenzy going on with all the new water being pumped in. Right off the bat, one of my buddies caught a 4 lber and we hammered them all weekend. As stated above, we keep everything in the 10-15 inch range to keep the fishery from getting overcrowded...well this is the first time we caught more over 15 inches than under. Nothing huge, but a lot of good looking fish. I think we totaled about 125 on the weekend, all bass. Kept 45 in the keeper range. First time down there for one of my buddies and he absolutely annihilated us all in numbers and size using a Crickhopper almost exclusively (guess what I'm buying next trip to Academy). I tried the lily pads again this time and couldn't get any production out of them. It was sure hard to leave that dock where the water was pumping in though, so probably didn't give them a good enough try. All in all a great weekend, until this happened. We wrapped up fishing and I was packing everything up and putting some extra poles away in the cabin. Well, one of the poles fell over and the mini rat-l-trap on it snagged the bedspread. While I was trying to free the front treble hook from the bedspread, the back treble broke from the hook keeper on the rod and the two remaining hooks on it slingshotted into my thumb and middle finger. To further my frustration, my thumb and middle finger were on opposite sides of the pole I was holding, so I was trapped, stuck to the bed and around the rod. So there I am, holding a rod with my free hand, bending over stuck to the bed with my other. Thinking the hooks weren't that deep, I started trying to pull them out, let's just say that was a mistake! The trebles on this thing were so small, they were deeper than I thought and well past the barbs. Finally, someone walks past the door and I say "I need a little help in here, I'm stuck to the bed right now". Well, this is the older man that takes care of the place and he goes and gets his snips. We cut the line on the lure and carefully pull the rod out to remove it from the equation. He then proceeds to cut the treble off on the thumb side and let me tell you, that tiny barb inside there made it feel like he was cutting off a chunk of my skin. He started to go after the larger piece of the treble still connected to my middle finger, which was still connected to the bed. At this point, I grabbed the snips because I didn't want to go through that again. I finally managed to cut the hook free from the lure and decided to go in to the hospital. As long as there was no movement in the hook pieces in my fingers, there wasn't any pain, but the piece left in my thumb was so small, there wasn't a good way to get it out without cutting my thumb open a little, so no option other than the emergency room on a Sunday. This is a small town in Arkansas, so there isn't much weekend staff at the hospital. The doctor is obviously on loan for the weekend from their sister hospital in Little Rock because she is asking where everything is. My saving grace is that the nurse on duty is a fisherman and has to walk the doc through the specifics of what to look for removing the smaller piece from my thumb. Then we get to the larger piece and he uses his fisherman's technique to get that out. You make a loop with some stout fishing line and cinch it down around the hook and slide it up through there against the barb. It fills the gap and then a quick POP and the hook comes flying out. This technique keeps the barb from ripping out more flesh and pops it right out. The kicker is, he said if it wasn't for the little piece in my thumb, he said he would have just told me to go out to the parking lot and he would have removed it out there for free! But I did have to get a tetanus shot, an antibiotic shot and an anti-inflammatory to be safe. I told them I had no pain, but they wrote me a prescription for pain meds anyway (wonder why so many are hooked on them!). To top it off, my buddies made me a little present when I got back. I get in my car to back it up to the house for loading and guess what I see hanging on my rear view mirror? Yep, that d**n rat-l-trap! I never have had any luck with rat-l-traps in the past, now I just hate them! I will have more fish pics later when I can download them off my big camera, but here's a few from my phone.

Ha, Bowfin are called Grinnell here in Arkansas.

More time than I have with two toddlers at home and a full work schedule. I maybe get 4-5 full fishing weekends a year at this point, but I throw in various day trips to help with the addiction.

Good job! Now you're hooked! Many more fish to come!

It depends on the growing season available to them, which is determined by location and climate. Some bass can grow very quickly early on, adding 2-3 lbs. in a year with a good amount of forage and a long growing season in warmer climate. In cooler climates, it can take quite a bit longer. At 3-4 years old in great conditions, some bass can hit the 7-8 lbs. mark, it may take 7-8 years in a cooler climate. Anyway, you get the picture. 10 lbs. in the south could be a 5 year old fish, in the north a 10 yr old fish. That's why they're so much rarer up north.

Good story and a good lookin' fish!

If you get into it, get ready to spend a lot of money. I've been waterfowl hunting my entire life in the duck hunting capitol of the world (Stuttgart, Arkansas). They can be difficult at times, but if you scout out the day before like the previous poster said, you can set up a small group of decoys early the next morning before sun up and have a decent shot. There is so much to learn, it would be difficult to go through it all. Sorry, I don't know any books because I've learned from mentors my whole life. I can give a few tips though. 1. Make sure you have the right equipment for your hunt - a good pair of insulated waters goes a long way on a cold morning in the water. Having good thermal under layers helps a lot too. 2. Make sure you have the right shotgun and shells. A 12 gauge that can handle at least 3" shells and a good basic shell is the Winchester Drylok 3" 4's (although some people like to use 2's or bigger). 3. Safety, Safety, Safety - I've never hunted from a kayak, but I have from boats and inner tubes. Falling in cold water is a lot different from falling in during the warmer fishing months, try to be as careful as possible. We typically use at least a jon boat when going out to a hunting hole. It is always preferable to hunt with a friend, the buddy system has saved many a life in the woods. Hypothermia is no joke. 4. A good basic decoy setup pattern is two groups, one on either side of your hole, with space in the middle for the ducks to land. Once you get this down, you can work on more advanced setups and movement decoys. 5. Calling - less is more, all you really need is to work on a good feed call and a short quack to get their attention, then just shut up and let them come in. Of course, this depends on which type of duck you are targeting. 6. Local laws - read them and know them well. Most states require a State Duck Stamp, Federal Migratory Bird Stamp, a license and a "HIP" card. The HIP is a free card you fill out that gives them survey information on your previous years harvest (even if it is zero, most states require it to be filled out and proof that you filled it out to be carried with you).

I've seen a few similar pics on this forum, wonder what will pop up? Lol, nice ultra dink! Oh and I think you set the hook a little too hard.

I may try it this coming weekend. I have a few places in mind it may work well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of AG stuff, just not super-confident in this particular line of rods. I was trying to pop a hung lure off a log and it snapped at the thickest part. I've put way more pressure on other rods with similar specs without a problem. I'll continue to fish this one until it breaks, then switching to a different rod. Going to the pond this weekend, so will probably be heading out to get the backup in the next few days. Just figured out the poster who broke 3 of them @GORDOmay want to chime in with his Veritas experience.

Stay away from Veritas rods. I liked mine until this happened. I bought another one thinking it was just operator error, but another poster on here told me he broke three of them. I'm buying a replacement stick to have on hand for when my new one breaks.

Awesome, one fish makes it all worthwhile! Love his name too, I'm sure it's not fishing related.

Worms, nightcrawler to be exact. Bluegill all day long or as long as my kids will fish with those.