Turkey and Mushroom Hunting Report

Well it is April 25th and here is the only local mushroom hunting report I have seen so far:



Also for me turkey season has come and gone....I just couldnt justify taking off during busy season to go sit in the rain or mud. Oh well, I have heard mixed reports so far from all my turkey hunting buddies and clients.

Chuck Hart just got back from Ice fishing up in Wisconsin still:


Speaking of ice up north, my yellow perch and forage minnow producers are still have 2' of ice on their hatchery ponds...unbelievable, all we can do is wait for it to finally thaw out up there....

Speaking of hatchery ponds and fish, this week we delivered tens of thousands of hybrid bluegill and regular bluegill to lakes and ponds across the state! Also we stocked lots of big largemouth bass and albino catfish...Look how happy Jared is to be stocking fish:


Oh yeah we also delivered lots of fish food as well. Our warehouse was completely full double stacked pallets, but now we are down to just a couple pallets left.... The best way to give your fish a little jumpstart before, during, and after spawning season is by feeding them some Aquamax fish food. Aquamax is a complete diet that includes many essential vitamins and minerals for your fishes to thrive. This is a big key to produce lots of extra forage for your predators to gobble up all year long....


Normally I like to get my fish structure out on the ice, but since we were robbed of safe ice this winter, we have been placing our stack of 300 christmas trees every chance we get. Boy does it take alot longer to do on the open water, but despite the extra effort it is so worth it.....every year I add a new fishing reef or two to our lake....


If you look closely in the pic you can see my deer hunting tower. It sits on a 12' stand....This winter I will post this picture along with the future picture of me (or one of my kids) next to a freshly harvested whitetail deer...The spoon river bottom ground floods (not usually this bad), but it also is home to perhaps the greatest population of deer in the midwest....


Sunday we sandbagged at the fishing park in East Peoria, but once the levee breached we lost the battle very quickly. Once the flood waters recede we are gonna need some help getting this place whooped back into shape for the fast approaching fishing season!


Here is another big fish from a client. This lake is big, and the fish are getting BIG as well...the next couple years at this lake are going to produce some amazing fish....


Earlier this week on Facebook I was made fun of in this pic for looking so young....Baby Nate, etc...But anyhow, I didnt catch this fish, my wife did back 8 or 9 years ago. To this day I still havent caught a bigger fish than her.....but I will, even if it takes another 30 years....


Speaking of Facebook, the guys started up a Herman Brothers facebook account, check it out and add it to your friend list feed.. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Herman-Brothers-Lake-and-Land-Management/184591361592681
Ever since this pic popped up I have been day dreaming of fishing in Alaska.....Alaska, some day I will be back!!!

So anyhow I couldnt sleep this morning, my mind kicked on a little early...I have to be in St. Louis tomorrow, then from there a little getaway in Branson with Brook, then designing some trout ponds out of a large set of springs in Springfield, Missouri for Dr. Quinn (not the medicine woman). Then Monday morning at 5 am I head out to Cedar Rapids to install some aeration, plan some food plots, meet with BandB farm store about speaking at their big pond and lake seminar this summer, and then have some consultations lined up for the trip back on Tuesday....

But speaking of B and B farm store, we also will be setting up our Herman Brothers Lake and Pond Management supply rack there! Over the last 5 years we have created our own line of lake and pond supplies and are just now starting to get them into farm and ranch type stores along with some sporting good/outdoor stores!!! In about 2 weeks we will have our resource center up and rolling locally at Presley's Outdoors in Bartonville. You will be able to walk in to Presley's and buy our HB lake dye, pond bacteria, algaecides, shoreline herbicides, and lakeweed herbicides, and even FISH for your pond. Yep, northern pike, muskie, perch, bass, bluegill, crappie, smallmouth, the whole nine yards...The fish won't be in the store live, but rather there will be a pickup day there this fall!!

So anyhow, now the sun is peaking through and its time for work!

Central Illinois April Flooding Pictures

The two year drought here in Central Illinois has officially ended. All the rain we have been missing decided to come all at once over the last two days and the flooding that is currently happening is by far the worst I have seen here in my 30 years...Here is the main road leading up to my house:



The towns of Edwards, Wyoming, Roanoke, Elmwood, and many others have literally 1000's of homes damaged with basement flooding and backed up sewage.... Streams, Criks, Creeks, Rivers, Ponds, and Lakes are spilling over with many roads damaged, bridges under, overflows clogged, and dams blown out. Here is a pic of the Peoria Speed way:


Absolutely unbelievable and with all the rain up north, the worst is yet to come to the big cities along the river like Peoria, East Peoria, Creve Couer, and Henry...The Illinois River is projected to crest Sunday at over 30' which is the highest level ever recorded...

My schedule for the next couple weeks is all messed up, but in the grand scheme of things that is nothing compared to the devastation many people in the area are enduring...


Every time there is a major flood in the midwest we always head out to help sandbag, clean up, and restore- Taylor, Missouri; Oakville, Iowa; Burlington, Iowa; Biloxi, Mississippi; and several other places. Now it looks like we will be working here locally before, during, and after the flood....

Here are some pics from clients, friends, and facebook. My phone was ringing off the hook with flooding related pond problems. Here is the dam of a 3 acre pond in Kickapoo that couldnt handle the water...


DA Hoerr had lots of water!!


Spoon River Valley is all under water:


This is our hunting property. The river is about 1 mile away down by the far tree line:


The culvert under this road couldnt handle all the water:


Thats quite the front lawn pool:


Wouldnt try going under this bridge near Princeville:


Roanoke Panther creek is raging and rising:


Here are some more pics:






Here is a pic snapped by my friend Bob Quinn a couple days before the Flood:


He also snapped this pic as well:


Yesterday I was supposed to be up in Geneseo installing aeration and feeders with the guys, but I was reminded at the last minute it was Donuts with Dad at Noah's Preschool. No way was Noah gonna be the only one without a dad there...the guys covered for me at Geneseo (in the rain)


So anyhow, this is gonna throw a wrench in my meticulously planned out spring, but oh well, we will get er all done! Just 10 seconds ago my mom texted me and said the Spoon River is now going over the Ellisville bridge and that is not a good thing...about 6 hours ago we snapped this pic as we crossed it. I cant even imagine the amount of water that would be to start coming over that bridge....

Timber Lake Club in Peoria

I really am thankful for the rain, especially coming out of such a long drought, but man does it sure mess up a tight schedule for this spring....

Monday I electrofished 4 lakes in Victoria, IL for a local fishing club. You know whats crazy is the fishing clubs that really want good bass fishing are where I find the best panfishing on the planet...and the fishing clubs that want good panfishing have some of the best bass fishing on the planet...Monday was again the same theme, really really good bass fishing opportunities and most of the members could care less...

Here are some pics from shocking:





Then from there I stopped home, picked up Brook and loaded a full truckload of the nicest trophy largemouth bass imaginable and drove them up to a clients lake in Wilmington, IL. His lake is 20 years old and that truckload of trophy fish we stocked for him was bigger than any bass currently in his lake...

My conversation with Charlie this winter went like this "Nate, Im 83 years old and I dont buy green bananas". Anyhow there is no more messin around, Charlie's 15 acre lake is now thee destination to trophy bass fish in Northern Illinois.

Delivering fish with the most beautiful woman on the planet is definitely a nice change of pace from driving all over the midwest with a bunch of stinky guys...Now that our little ones are getting older I think we will be taking a few more mini road trips together...In two weeks I will be working for a Doctor down in Branson, MO so I just might have to take Brook on that little road trip as well..

So anyhow today I went to Timber Lake Club in Peoria. Yep you read right, there is a recreational fishing, camping, shooting, golfing club right here in Peoria (and it has some open memberships!) Here is their website for more information: http://www.timberlakeclub.com 

I electrofished their main lake and am coming up with a fun management plan for it. Also I am working on a beach renovation plan with of course a focus on the best water quality possible! I actually should be working on their plan instead of writing this blog post, but I'm kinda burned out at the moment. Its only Tuesday and we've already accomplished almost a full weeks worth of work. Its a good thing too, cause it looks like more rain isacomin'.  

I grabbed a quick pic of  the timber lake beach project and one of their bass we shocked up:



Despite the crazy, cold, unstable, windy weather as of late, clients have been out fishing and smokin' big bass and emailing me mouth watering pics almost daily. Here are by far the two most impressive as of late:

Super Fat Muskie and a New Boat

Today was our maiden voyage on our new fishing boat! I have been fishing out of homemade pontoon boats and used jon boats my entire life. Well not anymore!! Y'all already know that I am just flat out different...Odd, weird, unique, not normal, however you want to call it is fine by me. The great thing about not being normal is, well occasionally there is a breath of fresh air or a splash of innovation mixed into the chaos.

For the most part when I take folks fishing, we are always cramped in the boat. Everyone wants to squeeze just one more person on...Well, my new boat is definitely out of place up here in the midwest and it is definitely gonna turn heads, but you can definitely squeeze one, two, three, six, or even eight extra people on...she is a 2008 21' extra wide center console carolina skiff dlv bay series with a 8' cobia lookout tower.





Today was the perfect day to get her in the water for the first time... Windy, Cold, and about 6 more people showed up to fish than originally planned. All 9 of us piled in and off we went! Jake scored first with a little hammer handle pike, a couple small smallmouth and largemouth came boatside, and then a nice rainbow trout...Then we hit a school of stripers and every one hooked up a couple times...thats kinda chaotic when you got 9 people fishing....I actually do love the chaos...

Then Caleb brought the biggest striper of the day into the boat on a #4 mepps in 22' of water:


Moving along down the lake into the southwest corner out of the wind, we hook into another big fish...this fish was different though. Stripers peel alot of line, but this one was pulling a little different than usual. Out of the corner of my eye, I knew something was up and it was gonna happen fast so I yelled for the net to be ready well before we would usually need the net for a striper battle... Yep all you diehard muskie fans, I get the excitement of a toothy critter, but a striper half the size will pull 10 times harder and longer than a muskie....Caleb was fighting this beast perfectly!

So anyhow we had one chance with the net before our 8 lb line would be sheared by the muskie teeth and with a big lunge Justin was able to get this beast in the net before the usual 'pink' at the boat...


This next picture is a little graphic, so if you are a diehard muskie nut you might want to cover your eyes. We just had to see what was inside this fish. I had visions of a small rainbow trout or two, I know Justin was thinking maybe a 1/2 dozen yellow perch...maybe some 10" smallmouth bass...you know how you always kinda fear the worst:


Turns out the only thing inside this fish was a bunch of eggs. Now before I get too much flack for killing such a beautiful fish with enormous potential, part of my management plan is to remove all muskies over 28" from this lake. Put em in, use em while they are a good tool and remove em when they arent useful any longer....

So moving on to other things, lots of cool stuff happenin! Ive been teaching Mae and Noah and Drake how to shoot their new red ryder:




Drake is gonna be the worlds best fish farmer some day...its in his blood, he is a workaholic fish addict and proud of it!


I will be filming several fishing shows with Doug Stange April 23-25 that I am super excited for! I can't wait to show off our fish here in Central Illinois to not just you guys, but to the world!!
Here are some of my favorite pics. These are actually all from the same lake...







This week I helped film a little commercial for a new product called the fish bomb. The little snippet will be used in Walmarts on little DVD players next to the product for sale. Also will be on the Outdoor Channel potentially as soon as a week or two:


I also spent a little time with Jared fishing a blue catfish lake we created. They are doing awesome, I can't wait to grow these babies to 40 lbs!!! In a 4 acre pond...


We also threw 10 albino cats into this special lake as well, they too are looking awesome:


Last fish pic of the day. Chris Rock caught this monster bass a couple weeks ago. He has a trophy bass lake on one side of his dam and a trophy bluegill lake on the other. His trophy bass lake is doing awesome, but the bluegills have kinda gotten a little out of control on us on the trophy bluegill side...I guess when you catch a probable top ten Illinois 2013 bass you can overlook the bluegills not quite being trophies.....(that will soon change though).


So anyhow I just signed a super awesome deal with Purina Mills to become their aquatic ambassador for their Aquamax line of fish food! I'm gonna be doing quite a few big speaking engagements educating their dealer network and their dealers clients about their complete line of fish food as well as many other lake and pond management topics such as aeration systems and algae control!

But let me leave you with this thought...To grow a big fish you need to provide that fish with good nutritious food to eat from the moment its born throughout its entire life...the first year of a fishes life can be kinda especially rough out in the wild. One of the best tools for consistently producing trophy fish is to raise those fish in a sanctuary or hatchery pond and then introduce them to the wild with a huge jumpstart in life....