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Pit Fishing Thread

No, you are spot on. How do your bass look? With that much forage they should be fat and sassy. You are correct in that you need to cull some out. I would buy some bass fry to help with the predation level. Also, your local game warden can point you in the right direction on how to find somebody to help manage your pond. We had the local Farm Bureau folks come out to help with ours on our hunting lease in Texas. Do not know who does it back home in NC

Thanks. Spent several hours out there this weekend. Took about 15 of the crappie, which was good for about 3 nice sized meals. The bass look pretty good to my untrained eye, not monsters or anything. I caught one that was probably 13-14 inches or so, and another that was maybe 10-11 inches. Both could probably stand to be fatter. Could they also be stunted by competition for food from the crappie? Or should they just be fattening up uninhibited? My priority is to get those crappie larger, but I also want the bass healthy as well. Seems like a fine line.

I read up on some of this and it seems the crappie have some years where they just explode in population. I think this must have happened recently. Maybe the mild winter contributed, just guessing. One thing about the pond is that it is only three acres, and only the front end is deep (20-25 feet). The back half is in the 3-5 feet range and along the edges under the brush is where the bass are. Its like fishing on two different ponds.

I'm going to keep fishing it as hard as I can the rest of the summer and also consider getting the bass fry as you suggested. What would be a ballpark estimate for quantity? I'd obvioulsy need to talk to the game warden or another expert in the area and maybe have them come out as well. This farm is in VA, by the way.
 
Thanks. Spent several hours out there this weekend. Took about 15 of the crappie, which was good for about 3 nice sized meals. The bass look pretty good to my untrained eye, not monsters or anything. I caught one that was probably 13-14 inches or so, and another that was maybe 10-11 inches. Both could probably stand to be fatter. Could they also be stunted by competition for food from the crappie? Or should they just be fattening up uninhibited? My priority is to get those crappie larger, but I also want the bass healthy as well. Seems like a fine line.

I read up on some of this and it seems the crappie have some years where they just explode in population. I think this must have happened recently. Maybe the mild winter contributed, just guessing. One thing about the pond is that it is only three acres, and only the front end is deep (20-25 feet). The back half is in the 3-5 feet range and along the edges under the brush is where the bass are. Its like fishing on two different ponds.

I'm going to keep fishing it as hard as I can the rest of the summer and also consider getting the bass fry as you suggested. What would be a ballpark estimate for quantity? I'd obvioulsy need to talk to the game warden or another expert in the area and maybe have them come out as well. This farm is in VA, by the way.

21, I would not even venture a guess on that. Every place is different. I would spend the time to find your local folks to come out and help. Our guy was great and it is a free service. He taught us about stocking in specie layers to ensure eveybody grows to max size, how to maintain vegetation for oxygen, proper forage for the pond, just all kinds of stuff. Buying the right kind and quantity of minnows to get started was something we had overlooked.
You bass should be monsters if there are not alot of them and you have that many stunted pan fish.
Good luck. Sounds like you are going in the exact right direction. I had a blast getting ours set up and we had some of the best fishing I have ever seen in the years afterward.
I do not know if you have cormorants in your area, but if they show up, kill them quickly and often. You will absolutely have to check in with your local warden on what laws pertain to you on this, but these bastards can devastate a pond in no time. We learned this the hard way. Had some fun killing them, though.
 
Hit a low flying cormorant with my line while fishing the potomac on Saturday. Reel started spooling out like crazy and for a while I didn't know what to do. Jerked the line it took the bird down in a puff of dust. Bird was like WTF just happened and took off shortly afterwards.
 
Really depends what you will use it for. I have a Hobie Outback. Excellent boat that is versatile for large lakes and saltwater, including ocean. (The Hobie boats are some of the best for ocean fishing, IMO). Probably not the best choice for fly fishing, which is more of my thing at this point. Some of the newer models that allow you to stand up more easily are particularly interesting to me, although they are not suitable for rougher waters.

You probably know this, but the longer boats will be faster while the shorter boats will be easier to maneuver.

Here is a good thread on fly fishing kayaks http://www.itinerantangler.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?num=1341796310 Every now and then I see some good used kayak deals on a few of the fishing boards I visit.
Not sure. Suggestions?
 
Here's my haul from my gulf stream bottom-fishing trip:

20johsl.jpg
 
If any of you are inclined to fly-fish for wild trout and find yourselves in the Asheville area, shoot me a PM, and we'll get out on some nice wild fish while you're in WNC...Fall is one of the best times of the year, especially for brown trout.
 
Catfishing Lake Wylie this weekend. Next weekend I'm going to take out my new angler kayak.
 
Just spent 4 days in Bozeman, MT. Took a guided float trip twice on the Yellowstone River, fished Willow Creek near 3 Forks one day, and hiked into Yellowstone and spent a day in Hellroaring Creek. Temperature was better, so the fishing was pretty good. Highlights included a 15" cutthroat, 17" rainbow and an 18.5" brown on the Yellowstone (along with a bunch of smaller bows and some really large White Fish). Also caught a bunch of 8-12" cuts in Hellroaring, which was awesome because of how wild that area is, the hike in, the views and the large pools and rocks in the creek made for some fun fights.
 
Went surf fishing this weekend in the Charleston area. We didn't catch anything but a bunch of humans. There were several others surf fishing over a 100 yds stretch of beach; however, easily 20+ nearly walked into our lines (5 poles for 3 people). 2 people clothes lined themselves. I really don't get it and we weren't the first ones that they walked up on that were fishing.
 
That's the one negative of surf fishing. I just don't get how people can be oblivious so I have little tolerance for those who don't have enough respect for others to avoid ruining someone else's fun. There's miles of beach, it's pretty easy to avoid line if you actually pay attention.

I've had people come out onto the beach at around 2 pm (when I've been fishing since daybreak), post up right next to me, and blatantly ignore their small children swimming. When I go over to respectfully ask that they keep an eye on their kids, which shouldn't even be something I have to ask, I've been told it's "time to pack it up, you aren't catching anything". And generally people who do that are gone an hour later. It's so rude and audacious -- nothing will get a rise out of me quicker than people like that, but it's just something you have to deal with.
 
That's the one negative of surf fishing. I just don't get how people can be oblivious so I have little tolerance for those who don't have enough respect for others to avoid ruining someone else's fun. There's miles of beach, it's pretty easy to avoid line if you actually pay attention.

I've had people come out onto the beach at around 2 pm (when I've been fishing since daybreak), post up right next to me, and blatantly ignore their small children swimming. When I go over to respectfully ask that they keep an eye on their kids, which shouldn't even be something I have to ask, I've been told it's "time to pack it up, you aren't catching anything". And generally people who do that are gone an hour later. It's so rude and audacious -- nothing will get a rise out of me quicker than people like that, but it's just something you have to deal with.

We went to a different beach from normal, so it was an adjustment. Normally its just use and the fish at 8am in the morning. I should have known they would be oblivious when I began noticing that half of the women were wearing either burberry or chanel perfume on the beach.
 
NM...will post again when I can get this pic of an 8 pound wild Brown Trout taken on the fly to post like I want...
 
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