Saturday Fishing Trip with Lee

Woke up at 4:45 am on Saturday morning and was heading out to the lake by 5 am with my father in-law Lee Esslinger. He was in town from Burlington, Iowa to help us move out of our house and we figured we could sneak in a little fishing trip before everyone else woke up!

So less than an hour from slumbering out of an 80 degree cozy bed and we are out on the water greeted by 36 degree air temperatures and no sunlight peaking over the horizon yet. Now this time of year I would much rather be out fishing in the afternoon as the water temps warm up just a bit, but we only had a small window of opportunity and boy did we make the most of it!!!

Lee put on a fishing clinic! His bait of choice was a white/chartruese Bomber A crankbait, slow retrieved from the bank back to the boat.

Golden Trout


Hybrid Bluegill


3.5 lb rainbow trout

Pesky Smallmouth Bass


I had to get in on the action a bit as well, but Lee caught most of the fish and I enjoyed just driving the boat and taking the pics!

17 ounce male bluegill


golden trout

And Here are some pics of the biggest fish of the morning. It was a 24 inch rainbow trout pushing nearly 6 lbs! These fish arent supposed to live around here, but we have several lakes with sustaining populations of trophy rainbow trout!





We stayed out a little longer than we were supposed to, but still made it back into town by about 9:30 am and spent the rest of the day moving boxes and furniture. Its a shame that so many get buck fever this time of year, because the fishing is phenominal!

Porcupine Fish Attractor and Pond Pics

Here are some pictures from Jim Mallory of his new pond and some porcupine spheres. These are the first of many different structures Jim is making for his pond!



Please email any pond, product, and fish pictures over my way to nate@hbpondmanagement.com and we will throw them up online for the world to see!

Big Illinois Buck From Otter Creek!

Otter Creek is an HB Featured Property over near Astoria, Illinois. It is quickly becoming the very best fishing property in the midwest with over 200 acres of trophy fishing lakes and hatchery ponds devoted to Largemouth Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Tiger Muskie, Pure Muskie, Crappie, Albino Catfish, and Hybrid Bluegill. Anyhow it is very hard for me not to talk about the fish when talking about this property, but it is also a very nice hunting property as well!

The wetlands, food plots, and aeration systems hold about 4500 geese and ducks throughout the winter, but still the subject of todays little article is the deer. Here is a picture of a deer harvested by Ryan Pudik last week. The body is so big it makes the antlers look small:


Working on this property is like going on VACATION! Just going around and filling up the feeders on all the lakes takes about 5 hours, especially when you stand with your jaw wide open as you push the test button and watch the fish feed at each station. There I go again, thoughts always drift to the fish when thinking about this property. All of the lakes have been built and stocked within the last few years and I just shiver inside thinking about the fishing potential this place boasts not only presently, but in the future. These fish are still young and have alot of growing up to do!!!

Huge Missouri Buck Down!

My friend Jacob Heimer over near Taylor, Missouri shot Cutter on opening day of the 2009 archery season. They have been watching this deer since 2007, passed on him in 2008, and took him down in 2009! Cutter's rack green scored 170 inches.

New H & R Slug Gun

I am not a diehard deer hunter at this stage of my life, just got too much fish stuff going on to devote time to bowhunting. However, I do really enjoy deer hunting with my brothers and cousins during shotgun season, just like they enjoy fishing with me when the fish are biting. I do all the grunt work/preparation and take them fishing, they do all the grunt work/preparation and take me deer hunting.

Anyhow, after harvesting 11 does and 1 buck over the last 6 seasons borrowing my cousins extra slug gun, I finally went out and bought my very own H&R Ultra Slug Gun Deluxe. I cant be more excited for this season being able to use my very own gun! I will pick it up early next week and start attempting to put holes through cardboard about 100 yards away! We shoot hornady slugs with these guns and they seem to just be an awesome combination!

I wouldn't classify myself as really that great of a shot when it comes to practice shooting at targets, just on a lucky streak while hunting that I hope continues with my gun. Using my cousins gun I havent missed a shot on a deer yet. I know I am doomed now this season since I wrote that, but I think I am a firm enough believer in the H&R / Hornady combination to say how impressed I am with it. I havent had to shoot at a running deer yet, and generally won't take any shot that I am not 100% confident with, but just hope that I haven't jinxed myself for this season by buying a new gun and pulling up my pants abit while saying I havent missed a shot on a deer yet!

Last year I shot my first buck and while it is not the monster trophy deer everyone raves about, it is proudly hanging on my wall at the lake! To make an already too long story even a bit longer, I shot my buck last year opening morning and it scored 140". Then later that evening I was sitting on the ground looking for some does when a monster buck waaay bigger than the one I shot comes walking up the ravine within 15 yards of me, stops and stares me down. He simply stood there frozen for a few seconds, turned around and walked away. Both of my brothers saw that same deer that night, but neither of them could get a clean shot off from their stands, and boy did they want! I am definitely looking forward to this season!!