Left the house today; it was glorious.

[MikeMcCasland]

I haven't left the house since early march for longer than ~15 minutes. I can work from home, and have groceries delivered etc., but I couldn't put up with it much longer.

On a whim a buddy and I went out to my families place and did some fishing, minor landscaping work, and let my buddies kids shoot a few rifles.

Caught about ~10-12 LMB per person, so overall a slow day. I think it was a little warm for them, plus we need to get some carp in there to eat up some of those weeds. Even Texas rigging a senko was coming back with crap on it.

God I need matches to start up again.

Figured I'd share some pics.








We made sure to socially distance from the other visitors out there:

 

[jds holler]

Heck, those weeds look great to me. At's where they live.

Looks like a great day. jd

 

[joshb]

Nice! Did you try a Chartreuse spinner bait?
At first, I thought the kid on the gun was shooting snappers.

 

[Rustytigwire]

Our carp ate EVERYTHING. That vegetation is habitat for fish food. Carp BAD.
YMMV. Nice pond!

 

[Damfino]

I haven't left the house since early march for longer than ~15 minutes. I can work from home, and have groceries delivered etc., but I couldn't put up with it much longer.

On a whim a buddy and I went out to my families place and did some fishing, minor landscaping work, and let my buddies kids shoot a few rifles.

Caught about ~10-12 LMB per person, so overall a slow day. I think it was a little warm for them, plus we need to get some carp in there to eat up some of those weeds. Even Texas rigging a senko was coming back with crap on it.

God I need matches to start up again.

Figured I'd share some pics.

View attachment 1174912

View attachment 1174913

View attachment 1174914


We made sure to socially distance from the other visitors out there:
View attachment 1174915

Thanks! I needed that.

 

[MikeMcCasland]

Nice! Did you try a Chartreuse spinner bait?
At first, I thought the kid on the gun was shooting snappers.

I didn't, just because everything I could rig up weedless was coming back with weeds ~1/2 the time.

I was mostly riggin up weightless wacky & Texas-rigged Senkos and other similar plastics on 4/0 offset hooks. Toss it out 30ft, let it hit the bottom, and work it on back, real slow. That normally works exceedingly well on these tanks, but some days are better than others.

Regardless, you'd hook one and they'd immediately dive into that thick weed cover and you'd have to dig them out. Wouldn't have been a big deal, except I was fishing 12lb mono. Even a little 1lb baby felt like a toad in that stuff.

As far as the weeds, yeah I know that's where they live, however there's a LOT of 'living space'...too much. The big tank is ~20ft deep in the middle and you'll get weeds throughout most of it. My dad says a lot of it has to do with the cattle contributing to the nitrogen in there, and it needs a few of those non-breeding carp to eat some of it back; I think he's having TX parks & wildlife come out to inspect/advise before doing anything.

I'm certainly not an expert on pond/land management.

Edit: As far as what that kid was shooting at, there's a ~12" gong target across the tank...about 225 yards from where he was sitting. We don't usually shoot the turtles, nutria are a different story.

 

[300_whisper]

I’m assuming you’re in Texas? You have nutria in Texas? Sounds like an awesome day!

 

[joshb]

One of my favorite techniques for hot weather weedy ponds is cranking a spinnerbait fast near the surface. Make the blade cause ripples on the surface. Usually drives the bass nuts. White or chartreuse. Single or double blade.

 

[jr600yd]

Mike I know how you feel. Being house bound sucks! I made it out to Eagle Nest for a few hours today. Shot some handgun safe queens I forgot I had. Nice day, I feel better now.

 

[Big Mc]

I haven't left the house since early march for longer than ~15 minutes. I can work from home, and have groceries delivered etc., but I couldn't put up with it much longer.

On a whim a buddy and I went out to my families place and did some fishing, minor landscaping work, and let my buddies kids shoot a few rifles.

Caught about ~10-12 LMB per person, so overall a slow day. I think it was a little warm for them, plus we need to get some carp in there to eat up some of those weeds. Even Texas rigging a senko was coming back with crap on it.

God I need matches to start up again.

Figured I'd share some pics.

View attachment 1174912

View attachment 1174913

View attachment 1174914


We made sure to socially distance from the other visitors out there:
View attachment 1174915

Mike you might check with Texas A&M first before you put carp in the tank. Once they are in there you may NEVER get rid of them. A&M has a free service, to help. Just my two cents Tommy Mc A&M class of72.

 

[Shrek]

I lived on an eleven acre pond for awhile and the community got together and put the sterile grass carp in. They worked great but don’t get more than recommend. They’ll get bigger pretty quick and clean out the pond. We ended up catching about half the adults out so they didn’t kill everything. Over about eight years they all disappeared and weeds started to take back over. We bought half as many the second time and when I left about a year later they were knocking the weeds back well.

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

It is GOOD to get out. I have been shooting my Sharps .45-2.6" out at my BLM ground, and the Glock 40 and FNS-9. We have had great weather here, 70+/- last week.

 

[ckrifles]

Everybody talking about carp. Me I like cattle. Nice pics!

 

[Papa Charlie]

Thanks for sharing. I too am getting real tired of being cooped up.

Great looking country there. Wouldn't mind being there right now, despite the temperatures in Texas

 

[jonbearman]

Before you put carp in that pond look into sterilized Grass Carp so they don't take over the entire pond in a few years. Carp eat fish eggs just so you know. They are good and they are bad so be careful and talk to your conservation officer about it.

 

[Dub]

what a great day that looks like it was. know nothing of carp, really don't want to.

 

[littlebuddybr]

Looks like a beautiful place.
Sure wish I were there.

 

[D-4297]

Glad to hear you got out for a break , Mike . Went out the other day for the second time in two months to some BLM desert land and did a second batch of load ladders . Finally got to some decent temps here ( 100F ) and it was a nice afternoon . Loads are comin along nice , and we should all be outta this mess soon . Got a 1,000 yrd scheduled at BA next Sunday . Hope they hold to it ...

 

[338 dude]

Everybody talking about carp. Me I like cattle. Nice pics!

Cattle taste much better than carp