Agelessone: I'm glad I have never met you. I don't think you would have wanted to say to me in person what you wrote in this thread.
I post photos on here because I'm trying to earn a living, jerk. If you think it's easy to grow bluegill this big, go try to do it yourself. I had a guy just this morning send me a PM on another site, stating that he has a degree in fisheries science and has advised people on their ponds; he was asking me how I get bluegill as big as I do, because he said he seldom sees them that big, private water or otherwise.
I started my small business four years ago because I was not having any luck finding a full-time job and I was doing everything I could to try to find a way to support myself. I recognized that there are thousands of private lakes all across the country that are intensively managed for trophy largemouth, where anglers can pay a guide fee for a day and have a much better chance at catching the bass of a lifetime than they ever would on over-pressured public waters, but that there was only one private water anywhere in the country where anglers could fish for one day and have a legitimate chance at landing a two-pound bluegill, and that place was charging (and still is) exorbitant rates that most people could not afford; I knew that I could grow bluegill as big as theirs, and reasoned that if I got my bluegill as big and charged half or a third of what they charge, I should be able to do some business and make some money.
I don't own any of the ponds I work with. I realize no sane person would put his own money into water he didn't own; I knew it was a gamble, but I thought if I worked hard enough, I could make it work.
I have busted my ass on these ponds for four years now, thousands of hours of work; I have spent money I didn't have to spend, every single dime I make, tens of thousands of dollars over four years, to try to get the fishing to a level that might generate enough business to eek out a living.
As good as the fishing is in my best ponds, without major setbacks, it would be significantly better. My very best pond a year ago produced half a dozen coppernose bluegill over a pound each in three hours of fishing in April - and those fish were only two years old. They had been stocked a year earlier at 6", and had grown four inches and roughly thirteen ounces in one year. They would have been close to two pounds each this year - but the pond had a fish kill in August, and the fish that died were all the big coppernose. Those fish came all the way from Texas, by the way; I convinced the owner of a hatchery there, one of the very few hatcheries in the country selectively breeding coppernose for the best genetics, to meet me in Arkansas so I could get some of his fish. And they were doing fantastically until a combination of the drought and watermeal brought on the kill.
My second-best pond a year ago: an alcoholic who is not thought well of by anyone in town, and who two years ago was kicked out of a twice-monthly gathering of guys I'm a part of, somehow wormed his way into friendship with the owner of this pond last summer, and though initially the owner promised me the man would only be fishing for turtles, a month later he's fishing for my big bluegill. He tells the owner he's releasing them but I can see from the change in the population in the lake that he's been keeping them.
People sneak into the ponds and take out big bluegill that cost major bucks to grow. I find floats, or perhaps a feeder unlatched. If I had money, I would put up a surveillance system.
My business is failing, miserably. I lost thousands last year simply by way of how much I spend on fish food; and as of right now, if business doesn't pick up soon, I'm going to have to give up on the dream, because I'm putting out a lot more than I'm taking in, and I don't have the resources to keep ignoring reality any longer.
I used to fish public water, when I was in high school. Then I realized one day that instead of just settling for what I could get, and fighting over fish that had already been harrassed by fifty other anglers that week before me, I could find a pond or two to work with, and have control over the quality of my fishing. Starting my junior year of college, I managed ponds for ten years and ended up with better fishing than one could ever dream of on public water; then I pursued a career as a writer for twenty-one years, had my life stolen from me via several plagiarisms, and when I couldn't find a salaried job and had the opportunity to work with a few ponds again, decided to start a pond management and guide business.
But by all means, belittle and dismiss what I've accomplished as nothing more than impertinent vanity. And be glad you didn't say it to me in person.
Quote:
Originally Posted by agelesssone
LOL, sorry TK. Feel free to take that posting down. I just have a problem with "private lake" postings that the general population doesn't have access to.
Do like alphahawk and MNfisher do....go fishing and post the PUBLIC lake where you caught them, whether it's 100....or ten
Kinda like fishing shows where Bill Dance is catching 10-12 lb bass in a privately owned lake and the general public isn't allowed.
Akin to raising a 250 scored Pope and Young deer in a private enclosure, then filming the shooting of it and posting it as "open range".
I just call BS....BS.
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caught two days ago
No problem Merv ...<'TK><
