MNfisher
04-05-2014, 04:59 PM
Headed over to the Dickson area early this morning to slip in the woods chasing the big ol thanksgiving birds! They were gobbling everywhere! about 30 minutes after legal shooting time, i had 5 hens come across the field to check out my decoy. They were getting right in the face of the decoy and trying to intimidate it. Then I realized one had about a 5" beard, this was clearly a bearded hen....a rarity. I chose to take it, I waited and waited, but they were too bunched up, at one point, i could have taken all 5 with one shot! I had the safety off and was awaiting a clear shot when a gobble about blew my eardrums out! I looked to my right with my eyes and about 50 yards and closing fast was a full strutting tom. The 5 hens saw that and moved off to the wood line and disappeared. I thought forsure the tom would follow the 5 hens, but he was locked on my decoy. It took a few minutes because he started doing his strutting circles about 45 yards out. Finally he committed and came right in. my decoy was set at 13 yards, he was doing circles around it full strut. They say never to shoot a strutting tom because of his head being tucked so low in his feathers. I tried calling 3 different times and waited almost 2 minutes i bet. He never stopped strutting! I was shaking so bad from adrenaline and excitement that I couldnt take it any more, he turned my way and i squeezed off a round and he flipped over at 14 yards! I ran out and confirmed the harvest and started texting my dad, I looked....it was 6:47. Not a bad 47 minutes of hunting! I took a few pics with my good camera and the timer, dressed the bird, registered it, put it in a cooler and grabbed my rods to fish the pond in the woods. I started fishing by 8:30.
I threw flukes, crappie mags and trout mags. I caught 25 bass between 9-11 inches, countless gills, but nothing too big, and tons of crappie. Here is the deal. This pond must have way to much fish in it! Everything but the gills were super skinny! I caught a 15" crappie and a 14 3/4" crappie, both super skinny, thin and had huge heads and tails. But i know it isnt lack of bait because all along the shore there were thousands of 1-2" gills, literally thousands. why arent they eating those fish? Can over population make fish skinny whether there is food or not? Neither of these 15" class fish i bet weighed over a pound. Maaaayyybe a pound, but more than likely less. These should have been close to 2 lb fish!
Any thoughts? I want to approach the land owner about having me put some time in managing it to try get healthier fish and bigger fish.
I threw flukes, crappie mags and trout mags. I caught 25 bass between 9-11 inches, countless gills, but nothing too big, and tons of crappie. Here is the deal. This pond must have way to much fish in it! Everything but the gills were super skinny! I caught a 15" crappie and a 14 3/4" crappie, both super skinny, thin and had huge heads and tails. But i know it isnt lack of bait because all along the shore there were thousands of 1-2" gills, literally thousands. why arent they eating those fish? Can over population make fish skinny whether there is food or not? Neither of these 15" class fish i bet weighed over a pound. Maaaayyybe a pound, but more than likely less. These should have been close to 2 lb fish!
Any thoughts? I want to approach the land owner about having me put some time in managing it to try get healthier fish and bigger fish.