April Fools, Fishing, and Aeration

Thursday April 1st I was at a consultation out in Henry Illinois looking at food plot and deer stand locations for a client when my phone started vibrating in my pocket like crazy. Seriously like 8 consecutive phone calls and 3 text messages in about 20 minutes. Enough to cause suspicion after a few minutes and when I checked the first text it said to let him know more details about where to pick up the lawnboy lawnmower. I knew something was up when the second text said the same thing. Turns out Justin put up an ad on craigslist that I had a free lawnmower for an April fools joke. Ha ha, very funny. The best was all the phone calls Michelle got for her free baby bumbo seat and my mom's free bedroom set.......

Anyhow after getting the management plan put in place for the Henry properties fish and deer, I headed to Southern Illinois with a mini van load full of 1000 feet of weighted tubing, a Vertex Air 3 aeration system, 3 double diffusers, a Texas Hunter fish feeder, a bojo buglight, my 3 kids, wife, and our luggage for the night. Every square inch of that van was utilized. When we got there it was like one of those clown vehicles at the circus, we just kept piling out.

I have become good friends with some clients down in Brownstown who graciously put me and my family up in their guest house when they heard I was going to be working in the area. That little getaway with the family was awesome! Connie always cooks a feast and Fred always has several awesome forest and fish projects going on to check out. Here are some pics from fishing thursday night: (insert pics once Fred emails them over)

Friday morning I headed out early to install the aeration system and fish feeders. My client is a professional bass fisherman who built the coolest 3 acre fishing pond possible. Two years ago I spoke at a regional Pond Boss seminar in the area and met Aaron back then. He has kept in touch and I have been following and helping with the progress of his pond since then. Every inch of that pond is set up to be perfect habitat for the fish he wants to raise. He stocked the baitfish and bluegills last year as the pond was filling and this year he will be adding largemouth and smallmouth fingerlings! The pond is completely full to the brim with fatheads, tadpoles, frogs, and insects. His feeding program is focusing on creating even more and bigger forage for his bass to devour once stocked. Here are some pics from the day:

Friday afternoon I headed over to BuckStop Archery in Brownstown to get fitted for a new bow, and shoot some targets. That place is pretty stinkin sweet and well worth the trip for any Illinois bowhunter. On my way back from BuckStop, my dad calls me up and said it was too windy to fish from the boat at home, but some of my friends who were out fishing from the bank caught a nice northern pike, some rainbow trout, largemouth bass, and a couple huge hybrid striped bass. Here are a couple camera phone pics from their windy fishing trip:

Then back at Fred and Connie's we did a little evening fishing trip before heading for home: (insert pics once Fred emails them over)

Saturday morning at the butt crack of dawn I helped my brother spread mulch around the house he has been fixing up all winter.

It is a luxury 3,000 square foot ranch with 1000 feet of the basement finished off too. It is located off of Knoxville in Deerbrook subdivision. My family owns and operates Noah Herman Sons Builders and one of my siblings is always fixing up or building and then selling a house at any given time.

Here is my brother Chad's listing with some pics of the house: Quail House

Here is my sister Michelle's house for sale: Pine Tree House

While I am at it, here is my parent's house for sale: Rt 91 House

This is the coolest house for sale near Grand Prairie ever. It has full court basketball and a 3 acre pond that I have stocked with huge yellow perch, walleye, big tiger muskie, and a few other bonus fish as well. I have been doing some crazy fish stocking combinations in this pond for the last 15 years and it definitely is one of the most fun 3 acre ponds you could ever fish in.

Anyhow when we finished mulching the yard, we headed out to set some bathroom countertops at our bathroom addition project at the lake. We finished up with about 45 minutes to spare before everyone had to head into town for various evening activities. Plenty of time to jump in the boat and fling some lures at some fish. After our 45 minutes were up, we were still halfway across the lake and just having a good time catching all kinds of different species of fish. We caught several trout, found a huge school of crappies up shallow, found a small school of walleyes out deep, some scattered largemouth bass, a small hybrid striped bass and even a feisty northern pike hit a number 4 mepps spinner.

Now Brook and the kids are asleep, our dinner guests have gone home, taped NCAA basketball games are playing in the background and I'm just sitting here reflecting on all the millions of other stuff happening that this blog doesnt get to portray. Thousands of hours of background, behind the scenes work and research is the stuff that doesnt get written about, but is what is necessary to make a living playing with fish. Anyhow, I am gonna do my absolute best to completely shut my mind off for Easter Sunday and just spend some relaxing time with family while reflecting on why this holiday is. We will head to church in the morning, then over to Alexanders to cook some lunch with Brook's family and finish off the evening finding easter eggs and eating dinner over at my parents place.