The All New Portable Trout Pond

Justin and I have been scratching our heads for a few days trying to figure out what kind of portable pond we could make that will hold thousands of gallons of water and allow people to trout fish in it safely during the Elmwood All Outdoors Show this weekend.


Last year we just used an above ground swimming pool we bought on clearance, but it unfortunately didn't hold up to the wear and tear of hundreds of kids fishing. It made it through the event, but not good enough to be able to reset back up again. This year we decided to make a portable yet permanent frame with a heavy duty fish safe pond liner. We will be using the pond again at the end of this month at the Presley's Outdoors Fishing sale weekend with Mike Iacanelli.

Anyhow we built the 14' long 3' tall pond walls out of 2x4's with a double top plate and sheated the inside with 1/2" OSB plywood. We just fastened the walls to each other at the corners onsite and screwed in some metal corner brackets at the top and bottom of each of the 4 corners for extra support.

We also ran heavy duty straps along the ground to help hold the pond walls from bowing to the pressure. We then threw the 25x25 heavy duty Firestone Pond Guard Liner into the pond and filled er up with water with our fingers crossed!

We filled the pond with 2.5 feet of water and surprisingly the walls held solid!!! Cha ching. Now Justin is heading up to the trout hatchery near the Wisconsin border early friday morning and kids will be catching trout (and some big bonus other fish) all day Saturday and Sunday!

Here is sneak peak of the filling process:


I will be at the show all weekend long sitting in the gym at the Herman Brothers booth or at the trout pond or walking around aimlessly spending all the money we earn from selling porcupine attractors and other stuff at our booth. If your out and about make sure to stop by and drop me some extra spending cash or lets just talk about fish or deer or ponds or fish or something.......

Here are some of the highlight pictures from last years trout pond:

If fishing is this good for kids in a portable swimming pool, just imagine what fishing can be like in your pond???

play ball

Spring is in the air! Spring training baseball is under way, fishing expos are in full swing and new episodes of Addictive Fishing are ready to hit the air. Pack up the winter gear and get ready to be sprung!

This weekend, head over to Tampa for the 20th Annual Tampa Tribune Outdoors Expo. Nearly 50 seminars and hundreds of vendors covering fishing, kayaking, hunting, boating, dog training and anything else related to the outdoors make this the largest expo of its kind in the area. The Mogan Man will be where FINS is sold in booth #201, sharing his expert advice and showing off the latest products. If you haven’t made the switch to FINS braided line, have Capt. Blair show you the difference in using FINS situational braided line. The show is so big it runs 3 days! Come see us Friday, Saturday and Sunday – March 4-6 at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

Is Tampa too far to drive from northeast Florida? The FINS Wet A Line Tour continues next weekend as the Florida Sportsman Show comes to Jacksonville. Capt. Blair & Co. will be in the FINS booth March 12-13 at the Morocco Shrine. The Mogan Man will take the main stage @ 1pm to give away his secrets for inshore fishing success. Make plans to attend!

Minn Kota is helping to build your nest egg with cash back on purchases of select trolling motors. Get $100 cash back on Riptide ST & SF models; $50 cash back on Riptide SE, SM & SP models, if you buy a new Minn Kota trolling motor between 2/15/11 and 7/1/11. Visit Minn Kota online for rebate instructions. It’s saving season!

Spring training returns to the Space Coast! The Washington Nationals are warming up in the Florida sun and getting their sluggers prepared for the upcoming season of Major League Baseball. During the month of March, Space Coast Stadium will be home to the Nationals as they rev up against visiting teams like the Mets, Yankees, Marlins, Tigers, Braves and Astros. Wind up for opening day by checking out the full schedule, specials and local accommodations at Florida’s Space Coast online.

Mogan Maniacs get ready to go crazy! The dates have been set… plans have been made… the weather man has been called… Mogan Mania is a go! Mark your calendars and warn your boss, August 5-7 you’ll disappear from the face of the earth and slip into the sanctuary called River Palm Cottages. This fun filled, family oriented fishing weekend is always the highlight of our year and now that we’ve set the date, we can’t wait! Are we there yet?

Todd Royall sent AF a message on FaceBook to let us know how much he likes his new Flats Blue casting rod. Todd says it’s the most comfortable casting rod he’s ever used. Rock on! We like hearing good things about the new rods and Todd went one step further by posting a picture of the rod being used to catch a fat daddy redfish! That’s our Mogan of the Week! Pumping up his Mogan Mania water wings,
BillBird 

Z Fish Report (3/3/11)

With the blue water out past the 50 mile mark, offshore fishing is tough at best. We are catching about an equal amount of striped marlin and sailfish, but we are only averaging about 1 fish per boat per day, with a few boats getting nada. The yellowfin tuna are here, but out in the blue water, as well as the majority of the game fish.


One thing I find interesting is the striped marlin are very small. Mecate, on the Agua Azul, was telling me he released a couple that weighed only about 22 and 25 pounds. This appears to be a whole new migration pattern of juvenile fish developing this last couple of years. Five years ago we rarely caught a striped marlin here.

Jose Pino with a nice jack crevalle

About the only bright spot this week is the abundance of jack crevalle, black skipjack tuna, and sierras inshore. A lot of the captains are talking about huge jacks averaging 20 to 25 pounds near the White Rocks. On light gear or a fly rod, that is a guaranteed 45 minute fight. Most of the fish are being taken on a slow trolled live bait or Rapala.

Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos told me the jacks are all up and down the coast, and his clients, throwing a surface popper, are getting 20 to 30 fish a day.

Ed Kunze
To order a copy of my fishing book about fishing here on the West Coast of Mexico:
http://www.mexperience.com/store/vuitem.php?itemid=13&sc=KUNZE-13

Year 'Rounders

THE HEARTY & DEDICATED

Hang Out & Visit

fish some too

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.. Some of our feather merchants have an open door policy for the winter. Bless 'em all. There's always a warm spot with familiar smells, visions, and good conversation. Occasionally they even fish.
.. Some fish here. Some fish elsewhere. Some do both. We are blessed with instant access to materials, equipment, advice, and hospitality on a year 'round basis. Not bad for a town deep in snow for 5 months of the year and with a resident population of less than 1,000.
.. Of course we're also blessed with more pubs than churches, and they have longer hours and a greater following as well.
.. Should you happen to pass this way when the sun is low and the temperatures lower, stop in and visit with the neighbors. They could use a break too.

.......

.. Parks' Fly Shop has completely redesigned their website. It's completely reorganized with new material and navigation. They promise to use the blog more now than in the past. To update your links click HERE.
.. Blue Ribbon Flies has added a blog to their completely redesigned site  To investigate this site you should start HERE.
.. Jeff Kennedy at Drawing Flies 365 and Jason Borger at Fish Flies & Water are well into the latest project of drawing a fish each Thursday. A prodigious amount of talent is displayed at these two sites.
.. Chi Wulff has been re-resurrected again and is closely following the debacle that is HB 309. Check their recent post HERE.
.. National Parks Traveler has a new format. The escalating amount of information and it's high quality demand at least a once-per-week scan. The contributor list is growing and the topics are diverse and authoritative. Check it out HERE.

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Back Among the Living!

Been deathly ill for what seems like an eternity. Sitting in a chair with my eyes closed just waiting for the days and nights to get over with, too sick to even think, let alone let the magic box think for me.

Anyhow so maybe I'm just a big baby, only had the flu for a couple days, and was waited on hand and foot, but still there were moments I didn't know how I was going to make it.

So anyhow, I am going to live! I lost alot of productive time, but am just about ready to get back into the swing of things (as long as I can hold down my first real meal I ate for dinner)

27/02/11 - Lands End - Mach Lake

Weight –10lb 12oz
Catch – 11 Roach, 4 Bream, 3 Perch, 1 Tench, 1Rudd
Weather – Cold start, showery, chilly wind.
Match – Open – 10th

A really busy week with trips to Cardiff and London which will provide some financial breathing space, which will mean I can get back fishing more regularly and I may able to buy Sue a car albeit a cheap one. Fingers crossed.

After a long week, I wasn’t that bothered about going fishing this weekend, but Mark offered to pick me to fish Lands End and I thought why not, I haven’t been there for ages and to be honest was missing the place.


14 had turned for today’s match, 10 on match and 4 on the 4 corners of speci! There are very few fishery owners like Mike that give you so much room to fish a match. I wasn’t too bothered where I drew, but peg 3 would have been last on the list. Looking at the results from the last 2 matches, it had come close to bottom on both occasions.

Anyway, I had come for a days fishing and the peg can occasionally throw up a weight. However, with an increasingly strong wind blowing down the lake into peg 1 I wasn’t optimistic. So decided that targeting the silvers would be the best way forward.

On the all in, a few casters went in at 5m and in front of the platform on peg 2. A few micros & 4mms went in at 11.5m at the bottom of the shelf. I started tight to the far side to see whether I could pickup an early perch, before the wind got too strong. 1st drop in I had a small rudd, but the wind did get too strong, so concentrated at 5m and in front of the peg 2 platform.

After 45min I had only added 1 small roach, before 1½lb tench made an appearance at 5m. Although it was slow, I started to get a few small roach at 5m, but the platform swim only produced 2 perch, including a 2lber.

With 3hrs gone everyone except Anton on peg 21 were struggling for bites. The recent colder snap was having its effect, but fortunately the wind was dropping, so at least I could now fish the far side again. The top of the shelf produced only a couple of fish, plus 1 very decent perch that dropped the hook – again.

I had started feeding 4mm by catapult 14.5m to my left at the bottom of the far shelf, hoping to pull in a couple carp that were boshing on the corner the island, but I think they went in Anton’s direction, however I did pick up 3 decent skimmers on pellet, plus another over my micro pellet swim.

I tried dumping maggot & caster at the bottom of the near shelf, hoping for a late tench or big perch, but nothing.

Other than Anton who won with 100lb, Match Lake fished poorly with the next best weight on the lake of 28lb from the sheltered peg 16. 2nd on the day was Somerset’s rent boy Tom Thick with 50 odd pound, even his dad called him twat – lol.

Mark won the silvers from peg 25 with 19lb of skimmers & f1 on soft pellet.

A disappointing result, from a dodgy peg, but was glad to get back to Lands End.

Dry Fly!!! How many do you need!!!

I see many a post and blog that hammer on about different flys colours shapes size, you name it there are thousands of different patterns that come up every year claiming to have the new killer fly...
Well i am far from any 'expert' in these lines but all i can say is what i have learnt and what i have seen in my fishing situations on the river..

There are two split differences in fishing the dry... you get the lads who just stick on a attractor pattern eg a big sedge and fish everywhere hoping for a trout to smash it through its instinct..

Then there is the lads who will wait for a rise, select the right fly ( match the hatch) and then then catch the trout by its feeding match..

I have found that the lad using the attractor pattern will catch a very good fish from time to time, due to the size of the fly used..
But on the other hand the lad who 'matches the hatch' will catch many more fish over the season
What is the best i dont know but i have done both and use them at different times throughout the season..
I do prefer to match the hatch as you feel as you worked for your goal when it comes off...but this is where i see millions of flys being tied for each and every dry fly, and in my view this is where most fail...

For me i only use 5 flys for all of my season, if someone is in any hatch i find i have it all in these 5!
Every one of my flys i use will match any most hatches but most of all the SIZE matters.. every one of my patterns will have at least 5 different sizes...

I shall be blogging all my flys but for now my no 1 LTD SEDGE....
This is a fly i tied a few years back and its nothing really flash but has worked no end for me and others who have used it on the Derbyshire Wye..
You could say it can be a attractor pattern and yes its superb for that but when the sedge are out i have used no better..Woody has used it and loves it, infact i tied him the emerger and standard pattern and he had unbelievable results on both..some days emerger and others standard...
We used this in Islay on the wild lochs and a very small size 19 was just the job, any bigger and we would not even get a rise to it!
This is where i come back to the size thing....i fished the Wye in Derbyshire and the famous black sedge were coming off in huge hatches, the tricky Grayling were Cooley sipping them down, i could not get the ltd sedge to work on a size 17 until i went down to a 19!! now you might think this is bullshit but the river keeper Jan Hobat saw it happen..Grayling will not hit anything unless it looks like the real thing and you know you are fishing well if you hook Grayling in a hatch..
When tieing this pattern i make sure i build them to the size of the hook, i see many fly tiers do them on a size 19 when really they have tied the build on them like a size 15!! so when they choose a smaller hook they are still fishing the same size!!! Big mistake
Click on the link below for the step by step
Nice one
Glen

http://glenpointon.blogspot.com/2009/07/ltd-sedge-pattern.html