Friday Funday

What's your passion?
Well if you're at my site, it might be fishing.

If you've stopped here before you already know I've been passionate about fishing from four years old till now. And if I die with a fishing pole in my hand, I'll be happy. 

So let me tell you about today's fishing trip.

I arrived at one of my favorite ponds just before daybreak, and from the first cast it was "Fish On"!
First cast, first fish, just the way I like it, and it was a nice 16" bass so I invited him to supper, and in the bucket he went.

The fish were biting so well I only covered a small section of this large pond. When they slowed down in one spot I'd just move my casting distance down the bank and keep catching.

Finally I walked to the dam thru the tall weeds. At one spot I counted 15 casts and caught 14 fish, talk about some serious catching, man was that fun! 

Then the wind shifted, and they slowed down... A bunch. By this time I've bucketed over a dozen so I work my way back.

At the corner of the dam I cast along the bank, wham! Big bite! I reel it in, drag singing It's pretty tune and land a huge 12" bluegill. Now that was fun.

Thanks for visiting folks, now get out there and have your own great fishing trip this fall.

Jon

Survival Fishing

Simplicity.... I love it! This pic shows the most basic way to build a trigger snare. With a knife or cutting instrument everything needed to make this is likely right near the water (pond).

The hardest part to this snare is the trigger, but with a bit of simple carving it's easily done. 

Your bait is as varied as your imagination, dig a worm, flip over a rock, catch a grasshopper, anything that fish eat will work.

It's best not to be in a survival situation, but if it happens "be prepared" burn this image into your mind... It may save your life

😀🎣jono

Stormy Saturday

I'm a die-hard fisherman, as long as they're biting I'll keep at it. I also love fishing in storms and have had some awesome fishing trips just before and during thunderstorms. Today Saturday 4-25-15 I knew when I stepped outside this morning that it would be a good fishing day.

So I grabbed my trusty Android, messaged my brother and we met at a favorite fishing hole.

A beautiful old country pond that's about 6 acres in area and full of bass, crappie, and big perch.

When I get there he's already fishing, so I get my gear and head to the water.

The fish are hitting lite due to a cold front moving in but we dealt with that. Finally about half way around the pond I toss a couple or big perch in my bucket and continue around the bank.

The wind is blowing hard but we manage to set the hook on many large perch and bass, no crappie today but I'm OK with that.

Here's the biggest bass that day, a bit over 3 lbs with the others in the 2 lb range, perfect eating size. Yum! Fresh spring time bass for supper.

Fishing Missouri Creeks and Ponds

Hi Folks,

Creek fishing is something that I grew up doing. From about 8 years old I began roaming the area surrounding my childhood home, there was a creek behind our house just down the hill. As a boy I'd grab my rod and reel and walk down to the water to fish and play in the creek.

Catching bass, perch and catfish just about anytime during the year was my kinda fun. Bullfrogs, crawdads, minnows, turtles, lizards, and most any water creatures were my quarry and fun as a kid. Children now days make pets of those critters, for me they were everywhere I looked.

So for me creek and pond fishing are second nature, how I 'cut my teeth' so to speak. When it comes to reading the water, well I learned that as a boy, and haven't forgotten how. When I fish a new pond, as happens every year, if they're biting I'll find them and catch them .

A couple weeks ago I went to a local creek. This time of year it's not wading weather, for me anyway and this section I fished has limited access. The fish just weren't biting there, but I was watching a school of bass from 2-6 LBs swimming around. This about drove me nuts since they saw me too and just wouldn't bite.

Oh well... I moved on to a pond that was close by, fished for a while and finally started catching fish. Normally at this pond the crappie were snapping at my jig, this day however they ignored everything I threw their way.

I walked around to the farthest side which is really shallow and started getting strikes, caught some bluegill and tossed them back. That's a good sign at least, for the first 45 minutes I didn't even get a strike. Tossing my jig/bobber combo out, nearly across the pond something attacks my bobber.. A Bass!!

No hookset though so I keep casting. For the next half hour I catch some bass and perch, one of the bass is 3 and a half pounds and 2 are about 2 LBs which gives me fresh fish dinner. Anyone who's had fresh fish from the water, to the skillet, to the plate, knows just what I mean. That's all I really wanted anyway so I'm happy. <(;HF+<

Spring Time Mamma Bass

Back in May 2011, a buddy of mine and I hit my favorite lake, fishing for a good mess of crappie
This little lake is well taken care of, the owner manicures about 2/3 of it. The rest has trees growing thickly next to the waters edge.

We were fishing the tree lined side, adding a few decent crappie into our buckets, when I walk down to the shallower end. There's nearly 2 doz. keepers in the bucket, mainly crappie with a couple of decent bass.

I cast next to a log sticking out in the water, something slams my jig, and the fight is on!!

With 4lb test line on, ya don't horse the biguns, ya play em and wear em down. My little ultralite rod is bent almost double, my reel's singing a pretty song to me, real music to my ears.

I play this fish over 10 minutes, finally I see it, what a fish, it's Big ole Mamma Bass, what a pretty sight to behold. She's starting to tire so I work her over to the bank, reach down and lift her up into the air.

Would ya look at the belly on that girl, what a lunker. I holler at T,"Look at this Baby" he looks over and his jaw drops.

Well after he put his jaw back in place, he says "That's gotta be at least 7lbs maybe more with that belly" I agree with him, but don't have weigh scales with me. I don't care really since I plan on turning her loose soon anyway. Now here's the kicker folks.

I walk over, ease her into the bucket, hey I want to admire her for a bit OK.

I walk back to where I was, about 30 ft from my bucket and resume fishing. A couple minutes later, my buddy walks over to add another crappie to our catch, he calls me over there. I look in the bucket, Oh no she's gone, so is most of our catch.

Big ole Mamma Bass, well I guess she had a mission. Laying that bellyful of eggs, and she wasn't about to let me stop her. So we caught another mess of crappie to replace the ones she took home with her, had a lot of fun doing it too.

Now that's been 4 years ago, I think it's about time to catch another big'un from that lake, I believe I'm ready too.

Thanks for visiting folks

Jon

Childhood Fishing Ponds Revisited

Hi Fishing Friends

I made a trip back to my hometown this last May 2014. My sis Lois had some business to take care of there, and asked me to ride along. So we loaded our gear, and 'hit the road'.

We get to Fulton, she gets her business dealt with, and off we go, to my old favorite clay pit. When we get there, we grab our rods and tackle, walk about an eighth of a mile thru the brush and scrub and approach the water. This pit is a pale blue/green, and about 40 feet deep.

I scan the water along the edge, looking for bass, and all I see are perch. For the first half hour or so, we catch a few bluegill and shellcrackers. Finally Lois hangs into a decent bass, and lands a 2 LBer, good enough to keep so she puts it on a stringer.

By then it's time for me to move, so I work my way on around the shore to 'the spot'. It's pretty overgrown since hardly anyone fishes this hole anymore.  Fighting, thorns, briars, and thick brush, I finally clear a place well enough to fish at.

Now you may ask, is it worth it?

Well my first few casts weren't. That third cast though - wham! That bass hit hard, then it took off running for cover. I lowered my rod tip, reeled some line in, and horsed him away from the brush. Oh man, I love it when a big ole bass starts 'tail dancing', shaking his head the whole time. Sorry bud not getting away this time, I reeled him into shore to my waiting hand. As I lifted him from the water, I could tell he was nice 5 pounder, sweet!!

First one for me on the stringer, and I'm not a bit disappointed in my ole fishing hole.  The next few casts I catch some perch and smaller bass, from about one to three pounds, add a couple more to my keepers, and man am I having a blast.

#2 H&W Claypit This is also where I learned how to swim.<(;HF+<

I work my way around the bank a bit, to a slightly less overgrown place, then make a few more casts. The darn perch keep hitting my jig. I make a long cast, quickly a perch gets
hooked. As I'm reeling in, A BIG bass attacks the perch I hooked. Oh baby, Fish On!!

This bass dives deep, I can't even turn him, no control at all. And then, SNAP!!! Grumbling as I reel in my line to retie a new jig on, oh well, plenty more bass in this pit. Pretty disappointing though, I didn't even get to see that one, it had to be a monster bass.

Still all in all, no disappointment in the fishing trip, I had just as much fun here, as when I was a boy, to me that's what counts.

We kept 8 nice bass that day, between 2 & 5 lbs, I sure do 'love them pits'. I'll be back next spring to catch that huge bass, we have a score to settle. :-)

Well folks thanks for visiting. It's the beginning of March now, in about a month, I'm heading back to that old pit, look out monster here I come!! (((-: j

Pond Fishing Love

Hi Fishing Friends

So you love pond fishing too, well YOU are in the right place. Here at my little site we can share that passion!!

My fishinglove bond
Began in a pond
My passion is plain to see
Scroll down my wall
Come one, come all
What pondfishing means to me.

Catfishing in the Extreme

Hi Fishing Friends

Pursuing catfish on a regular basis can be an extreme sport. On  Sunday Oct. 19th that's what I did.

I was at a new pond that I fish from time to time and at first the catching was slow. After about an hour and making one round of this fishing hole, I'd only caught a couple of perch. So not being a quitter, I caught me a few grasshoppers and walked around to the old dock.

<(;HF+< (Tip) Now here's a very important 'how to' tip, my friends. Catfish love grasshoppers!!

I set up a catfish rig, with my favorite live bait, and put it out there. I secured my pole on the dock, then picked up my other rod already setup with a crappie jig and started casting. Then the fish start biting, so I toss a couple in my bucket.

Spring fed pond that I caught this Catfish from
 (pic taken- 3-11-15)

Seeing movement out on the surface, like a big catfish swirling, I reel in my cat rig. Recasting it near that splash I secure my rod back down and start catching nice sized perch with my other one.

Making a cast, my jig gets hung in a tree, I break my line and begin to retie. Hearing a noise, I look up. My catfish rod is bent over, hanging by the biggest eyelet on the dock rail.


Quickly dropping my rod I run the 25 feet to my rig. Grabbing my rod, I set the hook and the fight is on. WooHoo it's a bigun' too. With my drag singing to me, (love that song) I walk down off the dock to a good spot on the bank.

It takes a few minutes to bring in my fish, oh man, what a fish it is, a big fat catfish. When I pull it out of the water, flopping around, I know it's well over 10 lbs. Loading everything up, I head to the local bait shop to weigh my huge channel cat.

Now a 10 lb channel is a big fish, I've caught many under 10 lbs. This monster weighed in at 14 lbs with a huge belly on her. Biggest channel that I've caught on a rod & reel. That's some catfishing in the extreme to this ole country boy. :-)

Hoping you have a great day my fishing friends.
Jon

Sunday Save

Hello All Fishers,
        Anyone reading my stories, by now knows that I rarely miss a Sunday fishing trip, this one was no different.
I have many ponds to fish in, so this Sunday I decided to stay close to home. There is a small group of houses just a couple of miles out of town that I hadn't fished in about 4 yrs, since I had permission from one of the owners I thought I'd try there.

It's a little chilly out that morning, but a beautiful day. When I get to the water, and begin fishing, I've been there about 10 minutes, caught 1 -1 1/2 lb bass, And one of the owners comes riding over in his golf cart and starts talking to my fishing partner.

After a couple of minutes, I see her heading to the truck, so I stop fishing & walk 1/2 way back around the large pond to talk to him. I walk up to him, greet him pleasantly, find out what the problem is and assure him that I have permission to fish this pond.

Well he is a new owner there, and we talk for about ten minutes, finally I convince him, find out he & his wife like fish, so I tell him that if I catch some that I'll bring him some.

I go back to the truck, hop in and drive around to the dam side of the pond. Deeper water,less moss, good cover for the crappie to lurk in & a slight wind blowing towards us.

Now I can get back to some serious catching, that's just what I did. I was using a bobber & my favorite SECRET bait, catching bluegills much bigger than my hands, if they make a nice fillet, in the bucket they go.

I ended up with 5 gills & 1 decent crappie, walked back over to the mans house & filleted him a small mess of fish, and you know what, I think I even made a new friend.

Now if that isn't a Sunday Save, I sure don't know what is.In my book any day you can enjoy a beautiful September day, catch a mess of fish, and make a new Friend, is a Great Day.
                                          Thanks folks, God Bless you, and come on back.
                                                                           Jon

New Waters

Hi All Fishers
     
Recently while I was out in the country, I was driving down this gravel road. Looking along both sides of the road for new ponds, as is my habit, I spotted a fine looking pond out in a field.







I drove up to the house, got out, knocked on the door, no answer. No worries I'd come back another time. <(;HF+< (Tip) Here's a little tip when looking for new waters to fish, be persistent and pick a different day of the week to return.

The 1st time I went there was on a Saturday, the next time that I returned it was Sunday, and now they're home. So I knock on the door, the Lady of the house answers, we visit for a few minutes and she directs me over to talk to her husband.

Now most of the Mennonites in my part of Missouri are great people, this man was no exception. We visited for 15 minutes, he gave me permission to fish Both his ponds and I had a great time catching a decent mess of catfish, perch & bass.

Nothing real big, mind you, but maybe next time.I just thought I'd share one of the ways that I find New Waters to fish,hope you learned a little something, until next time.
         Jon


Just a short update here, the top photo is the lake I saw from the road. Stunningly beautiful pond with Bass, Catfish, and perch in it.

I took these pictures in Jan. 2015 on a nice day we had this winter. The other pond on the left here was hidden, we didn't see it until we began to cross the dam of the first pond. Didn't catch any fish this time, but we'll see about next time. It's pretty cool though getting 2 new ponds at once, and the best part is having permission to fish at any time, what a great community I live in!! (-: jono

Ponds - What I mean

Hello All,
      
Today I want to start by telling what I mean by "Ponds".
It's a pretty generic term really, so let's clear the waters, so to speak.

This includes, small to large farm ponds, lakes, to lets say 50 acres, all pits such as, clay pits, coal mine pits, rock quarry pits, for a few examples.

Pits are my personal favorites, due to their depth and ability to hold an abundance of  large & diverse fish, most are also harder to access so that fishing pressure usually isn't a factor in catching larger fish.

In addition along large rivers you will find 'scour holes' from flood years that are really interesting because of the size & diversity of the fish there.

Many a trip to these 'scour holes' or  'blue holes' as some folks call them, have netted me 18" Crappie, large Flathead Catfish, and even Spoonbill in the 50 lb range. I know, sounds unbelievable, but still it's true.

I've personally fished these river 'scour holes' for over 20 years now, having many incredible 'catching' trips.

In fact one of my most memorable fishing trips was...(see "Throwback Thursday")

That story is for another time, sorry about that I almost got sidetracked with that Awesome Memory.

River 'scour holes' to me are in a class all by themselves, not ponds, not pits, or lakes either, just some great fishing nonetheless.

One more thing before I wrap this up, any body of water that is less than about 5 ft deep usually isn't worth wetting a line in, yes there are some exceptions, such as spring fed waters, but in dry years fish quickly die without depth to the water.

Thanks for checking out my fun little project here at the "Pond Fishing Club" I have some really cool stuff coming for you all in the near future, Please help me get better by leaving a comment, if you would be so kind.

I promise I'll respond to you as soon as possible, have a Great Day & Happy Fishing.
                                                                       Jon

Passion Ignited - My First Big Fish

Hi Fishing Friends

I thought that I'd tell you a story about a little carrot top boy who began his love of fishing.

When I was about 4 yrs old my family & I went fishing in this pond near our home, it was really an old clay pit , but I didn't care, I just knew we were going fishing, oh boy was I excited,couldn't wait to get there.

"Are we there yet" I asked, Mom told me "almost son, settle down now". We get to the old fishing hole, Zoom, there I go, "I'm ready to fish" I told my Dad, as he was getting the gear from our car.

Finally everyone is set-up, poles in hand, lines in the water, bobbers set to depth, I wait for a bite, & wait, ya all know 4yr olds, ain't built to wait. So I prop my pole up on a  Y shaped stick & start playing with the baby frogs hopping around.

Of course I'm not paying my bobber any attention, lots of frogs to chase, Mom hollers "Jon you got a bite", I run to my pole, grab it up, yank back, and start cranking the reel.

The line is not coming in, I can't see my bobber. So... I clamp my hand tight on my rod, turn tail, & run up the bank.

First thing I thought of & you know what, it worked, cause soon that great BIG fish was flopping on the bank.

Mom hollers out "Jon you can stop now" I turned around, saw that fish & couldn't believe my eyes, it looked like a Whale.

Really folks it was a large mouth bass, near to 5lbs according to my family. I don't recall that part, I just remember it was a BIG fish.

And that is when my love for fishing began, in an old pond.
                                                                                               Jon

Fishing More Peaceful Waters

http://www.wealthyaffiliate.com?a_aid=e2def492

Hello Folks,
         My name's  Jon

I'm just an ole country boy, who was raised in central Mo. with a fishing pole in my hands, from about 4yrs old until now. Just thought I'd start a blog, about my peaceful private pond fishing, and share some of my great fishing trips, with new and old friends alike.

Do you ever get tired of the 'Rat Race"?

Maybe want to do something different with your life?

Is there something that you're passionate about!?

Well for me it's fishing and writing that I'm Passionate about!

Since I've always been an avid reader, the local library being one of my best friends.(-: Researching comes second nature to me.

Now here's the "kicker" I was 'Technically Challenged', could just barely turn a computer on, scared of them, truth to tell.

But I wanted to learn! So I made my mind up to get 'Tech Saavy'.
So I started researching at the library, found the Best Place Online to Learn!

Wealthy Affiliate where I learn all I need to build websites, about online marketing, how to avoid Scams and many other useful things about the "World Wide Web"

Just click my link above and join me there. Take a free look for the 1st 7 days. You'll be happy you did!
                                                          Jon Wright