Clay Pigeon Shoot For Aaron Schock

I just wanted to let everyone know there is a clay pigeon shoot Sunday, August 15, 2010 in support of Congressman Aaron Schock at Oak Ridge Sportsmans Club.

Sign up and event information is below. Aaron's mom used to teach me and my siblings piano lessons a long long time ago. We used to play crow kay in the yard while waiting for everyone to get done with their lesson. That just doesnt look right- crokae, crokay, crowque oh well. Anyhow I grew up with Aaron but haven't seen too much of him lately. The shooting event will be fun.

I shot at the Midwest Food Bank clay pigeon event last week and have another shooting event coming up this friday. All at the same place in Mackinaw, so I should be practiced up for this event in August, but more importantly practiced up for the dove season opener in September. Here is a pic of the course:

YOU ARE INVITED TO MACKINAW, ILLINOIS
FOR A SPORTING CLAY SHOOT

IN SUPPORT OF
CONGRESSMAN
AARON SCHOCK
18th District, Illinois

SUNDAY AUGUST 15, 2010
4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
(dinner will be provided)

OAKRIDGE SPORTMAN’S CLUB
Weishaupt Road Mackinaw, Illinois

The Sporting Clay Shoot will be followed by
a dinner reception at the Sportsman’s Club.

CONTRIBUTION LEVELS:
PAC Sponsor: $1,000
Platinum Sponsor: $500
(Includes Shooting, Dinner and Sponsor Signage posted at event.)
Shooter & Dinner Ticket: $175
Dinner Ticket: $100

If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact
Tania Hoerr at (309) 693-9393 or tania@aaronschock.com.

Big Fish and Big Deer

I actually don't have that many words to write at the moment. I think I did pick a fitting title though- Big Fish and Big Deer.

This deer is from one of my clients properties in fulton county. He just got it back from a taxidermist this weekend. It was 221 inches and some of his relatives are still hanging out on the farm (the deer's relatives, not the clients).

We are putting in some trail cams, deer stands, and strategic fall food plots to help his relatives (the clients' this time) get some more deer like that one!

Chef Todd catered a dinner for me at Otter Creek Preserve Saturday night. He cooked Blueberry Bluecheese Elk burgers and tomato something salad. It was delicious. We were showing some clients around the farm for the evening. Otter Creek is perhaps one of the nicest recreational farms in Illinois. Here are some pics:



These lakes will produce state record muskies and I have never ever said this before about any lake, but these lakes will eventually produce state record largemouth and even have an outside shot at the state record smallmouth bass as well. I have worked on this 147 acre lake since it was a puddle and we are on pace to produce double digit bass here in central Illinois! I have never intensively managed a lake to this degree.

Moving on, Chef Todd also catered a dinner for me Sunday evening for 40 friends and family of my parents. He cooked sweet chili glaze chicken, barbecue pork chops, bacon wrapped stuffed chicken tenders, and all the fixins. Folks if you havent caught on yet, the man can cook! Get ahold of me if your interested in having a great meal of any kind catered by the chef. I will be his booking agent and only loan him to others when he has some free time.

He took some of the kids fishing on the dock after dinner and made sure they all caught fish. He then caught some nice fish of his own. Here is the biggest bluegill and biggest smallmouth bass he has caught from my lake to date: (not lake records, but Chef records).

Hot Crappie Fishing and Deer Season Stuff

Sunset at the lake on Saturday evening:

Well, I can't believe its Wednesday already! Been a very eventful last 5 days to say the least. Saturday Chef Todd and I took some people fishing and cooked up a fish fry feast in the evening. Sunday we had a whole bunch of friends out to the lake for a cookout. Monday I diagnosed pond problems in the office from Montana to Texas to Maine and pretty much every state in between. Then I headed out for an electrofishing survey and some deer management stuff monday evening. Tuesday I finished up some lake management reports, caught up on emails and phone calls, and then headed out for a consultation near Trivoli. Wednesday I diagnosed several fish kills, had my back and body worked on, looked at a lot to potentially build my future house on, and headed out to a large property to work on some deer, quail, and waterfowl management stuff. When I got home tonight I played Wii fit with Mae and Noah and then fell asleep on the couch for awhile. Now here I am wide awake and early tomorrow morning consultation just a few hours away. Here are some stories and pics:

Saturday morning I got all my fishing gear ready, hooked up a couple fishing boats, and met up with Chef Todd with enough food for an army, and we headed out. Our agenda for the day was to take some clients and their friends fishing and then cook them up a feast. It was sunny and 92 degrees outside, but surprisingly the fish were biting and we managed to stay cool enough to have a great time fishing.

Before we headed out to the Big lake in the boats we were all fishing off the covered dock when one of the ladies hooked into a nice channel catfish on some catfish bait. She was realing it in when the catfish got itself snagged in a brush pile about 15 feet deep on the bottom. I could feel the catfish on the line but it was all wrapped up in the tree.

Here was my moment- the kind of moment when you can accomplish something that will stick in the minds of city folk for quite awhile. I jumped in the water, swam out to right above the tree, took a deep breathe and swam down to the bottom of the lake to meet up with the catfish. He was wrapped up alright, and not happy. I knew there was no way I was coming up without that catfish so I cornered him into the tree, dug my fingers into his gills with all my might, broke the lines wrapped in the limbs, and headed for the surface giving this beast a bear hug. I knew the moment I swam down there was no way in the world I was coming back up breathing without that catfish.

I made it back up with the beast and I felt like one of those crazy guys on tv doing stupid stuff in the wild that most people would never even think about doing even during survival situations. The only kicker was that I had a live audience with no room for error or any signs of weakness. Anyhow that was my moment, and it was alot of fun. We ate that fish for dinner.

We then headed out to the lake for some crappie fishing. Chef Todd took out a couple ladies, I took out 4 ladies, and there were two other boats of guys. We all caught lots of fish, but there was one boat with 4 ladies who caught a good majority of the fish, and especially all the fish fo dinna. Brook absolutely hates it when I talk or write about anything good that I do or accomplish or brag or boast about, but this is my fishing blog and by golly I am gonna very biasedly tell the story like it is! For her sake I wont name any names of the amazing fishing guide or of the 4 ladies.


Here are some more pics from the fishing trip. The northerns actually are reproducing in this 31 acre lake. Northerns havent been stocked since 2002 and these two fish were yearlings hatched in the spring of 2009:

We let the guys take a few pics with our fish:

Here is what the fish looked like about an hour later. This fish was with his school in the morning and hanging out with Chef Todd in the afternoon:

We cooked up some bruschetta and grilled some stuffed bacon wrapped prawns for appetizers.

We also fried up some crappies, mixed up some salads, grilled some sweet corn and chicken, and grilled peaches with ice cream for dessert. Lots of fun! I was too tired to drive all the way home at 11 pm when we finished so I stopped in at Norris for a few hours of sleep. The sun really zaps the energy out of me.

Sunday we had about 25 friends up to the lake for a cookout and lots of swimming. Very fun, I was too tired to fish so I dont have any pictures. I only take pics of fish, food, or deer stuff. If we can integrate kids and friends and such into those pics even the more better. I guess I could of taken pics of the mozzerella burgers or sweet chili glaze chicken.......

Monday here are some pics from the electrofishing survey. This 6 acre lake is stacked up with lots of 2.75 lb largemouth bass. Not many smaller and none bigger, interesting.... Brought the kids out to take some pics of the catch.

Then we went around to check all the food plots, trail cameras, and new deer stands. This has been a very fun property to work on and come deer hunting season will be even more fun for the owners! Spring plots of beans and biologic are doing good, trail cameras are picking up lots of deer patterns, and fall plots will be going in in a few weeks, and new deer stand and box blind locations are going to pay off big time!

This baby is getting a nice staircase and electricity. It will be overlooking a fall planting of 3 acres of beans and other tasty stuff:

Here is the view looking out of the Texas Hunter double blind:


Here is one of the new cuddeback cameras:

And here is the plot it is overlooking:

Tuesday I went to a pond consultation to one of the coolest places to live on the planet. This guy has a beautiful log cabin with 5 or 6 stall garage overlooking a one acre pond which overlooks 85 acres of intensively managed timber. Pretty much my dream home and land. I was telling Brook that I just came from my dream home and she said "so the pond wrapped around the house" I had to correct myself- almost my dream home. Brad, if you are reading this far down, the only thing your missing is the pond wrapping around the house. Except for that tiny little detail your place is the ultimate.

His garage is full of every kind of wood working tool imaginable. He makes bows, duck and goose calls, turkey calls, coyote calls, knives, inkpens, and other outdoor stuff from wood and antlers and bones from his property. Real cool stuff.

I brought some pond stuff along hoping to trade for some of this stuff. Here is what I came home with that Brook doesnt know about yet. This stuff doesnt pay the bills, but it does help put meat on the table so there you go- justified. I don't have Brad's email address with me tonight, but if for some reason I forget to add it later just give me a holler if your interested in getting a hold of him. He has a huge collection available, but also custom makes anything too.

Today I did a whole bunch of dumb not noteworthy stuff, but this afternoon I went out to a 550 acre farm to start working on a complete deer, quail, and waterfowl management plan. Timber Creek Land Company is helping me design this plan for my client. This property sits in a major goose flyway and there are already lots of deer, and tons of quail running around everywhere. Our goal is just to tweak everything in just a way to bring the people and the animals just a bit closer together. We are strategically planning the food plots, the deer stand locations, trail cameras, goose pits, etc. Land management stuff is pretty neat and lots of fun.

Lots of fish dying right now in Central Illinois. Most of the time the cause of death is suffocation (lack of oxygen) but that can be caused by a variety of different things. I could not for the life of me figure out one fish kill earlier today. I went over everything with the owner and his wife and it just didnt all add up. Finally after a couple phone calls he forgot to mention they applied copper sulfate the day before but didnt think anything about it since they have never had trouble in the past with treatments. There is always some piece of the puzzle that gets tucked under the rug only to be found a bit later. Thursday monring I will try to figure out another one near Metamora.

Pond Hippo, Tough Fishing, Getting Healthy???

Ever watch an infomercial and just want to order stuff because the idea just seems so genius? Sooo many As Seen On TV items out there that I have always dreamed of owning..... Anyhow here is the ultimate infomercial type item for small pond owners with chronic duckweed: The Pond Hippo.

Here is the kicker though, this baby actually works! Its not magic, doesnt solve all your problems, has some limitations, and requires some effort, BUT we successfully used it today for our trial run and were sort of impressed with what this contraption can do. It sucks up duckweed and algae very good and deposits it right into these neat filtration bags. We filled up several bags with 100's of pounds of duckweed and algae in just a few hours today.

For folks who live in coves and are the recipients of all the lakes floating junk this would work perfect to suck up leaves, watermeal, algae, duckweed, etc. Up to 2 inch solids and it also sucks down big tadpoles, frogs, and other unfortunate items who got a little to close to our experiments today.

Also for small ponds with chronic duckweed and watermeal this contraption will work great. We didnt have any help from the wind today so we had to use our duckweed boom to bring the duckweed to the pump, but strategically timed and placed pond hippoes will work awesome! I will be selling them online shortly and also if anyone out there with the right application wants to get their pond hippoed just shoot me an email or give me a call.

Moving on, we had the toughest fishing bite of the year last night. We took 9 high school boys from Morton AC Church and their Bible Class teacher fishing last night and we actually had to work very hard for the few fish we caught.

We had to catch fish too, because that was what was on the menu for dinner! We squeeked out some hybrid striped bass, some bluegill, and a couple small catfish (enough to eat) but the fish just seemed like their mouths were sewn shut. Even though the fishing was bad we still had a great evening playing in the water and cooking fresh fish and mushrooms for dinner:

The rest of the week was spent working on some cool spawning bed projects. We shot thousands of pounds of pea gravel into strategic spawning areas to help produce lots of baby fish. For those non fish people reading the blog, we basically set up these lakes with several honeymoon suites with soft sheets, scented candles, romantic music, and full blown nurseries all geared for making and raising lots of fish. Here are some pics of the process:

Last bit of exciting news is that I have started a program to get my body and back healthy again. I have worked out a deal with Benningfield Chiropractic (exchanging some tiger muskies and such) to fix my lower back, get me back in shape, and teach me what to eat and what not to eat. Back in 2002 I was extremely active and athletic. Swam a couple miles a week, played volleyball one night a week, basketball one night a week, and worked 50 hours of construction every week. I ate about 10,000 calories a day and weighed 205 lbs. Since then I got married, changed careers, had 3 kids, and haven't excercised or really done any sort of physical activity at all. Instead of swinging a hammer and climbing on roofs I sit behind a desk or in a boat. Instead of playing sports after work, I come home and sit in my chair with 3 kids climbing all over me. Pretty big lifestyle change and now 8 years later I have a bad lower back and weigh 280 lbs.

So Dr. Bob is fixing my back, Dr. Chad is teaching me nutrition, and Amy is my personal trainer. I asked her if it was normal to be out of breath during my initial evaluation??? I think the process of everything is going to take about 10 weeks. I will keep updated as yet another form of accountability on making the lifestyle change. I find out on Monday if Casey's pork tenderloin and white frosted cookies will be on my new diet........

MossBack Fish Rack Fish Attractor

There are some new players emerging in the fish structure world. Porcupine fish attractors have dominated the online fish structure market for years. Larry Harper the inventor of the porcupines is actually a good friend of mine. Anyhow over the last few years there have been several products introduced to the market with much success. Honey Hole Trees, Tall Trees, Catfish Condos, FishHiding, and several other products have come along recently and here is the kicker- they all work. We sell them all on our online store and each of them has their time and place and unique attributes.

Fish just like nice places to live, hunt, hide, and hang out. While the fish structures available on the market today all attract fish, there is a new product available online that is shippable that I personally am taking a liking to and so are many fish. It is called the mossback fish rack, and it attracts lots of fish. The mossback fish rack attractor in my opinion is going to become very popular with not only freshwater fisherman, but with saltwater anglers! The online saltwater fish attractor market is largely untapped and believe me is HUGE business. If you think fish attractors and reefs work good in freshwater, just try one out in saltwater!

I make and install lots of artificial fishing reefs for private lakes and ponds as well as many subdivision and association lakes and ponds too. My theory is that one big reef is way more effective than spreading out individual structures all over the place. I would rather have one big structure than 10 little ones in most cases. I still use alot of full size trees, brush piles, rock piles, reject concrete, etc for fish structures, but I have been using more and more synthetic pvc type structures lately. These synthetic fishing structures are easy to deploy, built to last forever and be somewhat relatively snag free.

Here is more information about the mossbacks. Just keep in mind when placing fish structure that one attractor will hold a handful of fish, two attractors will hold a pile of fish, and 4 attractors will hold a boatload of fish.

The MOSS BACK FISH RACK™ is a long-lasting structure resembling the
natural look of the outdoors while providing great cover for baitfish and all
types of game fish. Algae growth occurs quickly due to the realistic bark like
texture of the Fish Rack. This product not only gives you virtually undetected favorite fishing spots, but it also provides the opportunity for different placement configurations. Extreme ease of assembly allows you to quickly
hang from your dock or place in your favorite lake or pond. You will enjoy greater fishing time and less frustration which can be associated with placing natural cover.

Video how to set up the fish attractor:

MossBack Rack Set Up from melanie adcock on Vimeo.

Video how to deploy the fish attractor

MossBackDeploy from melanie adcock on Vimeo.

Underwater video of the fish attractor:

underwater moss back clips from melanie adcock on Vimeo.

We have Mossback Fish Rack attractors and all the other fish attractors available for sale online at Herman Brothers Fish Structures Page. (mossbacks will be available for online purchase by August 1st) if you would like to purchase some before then, please email nate@hbpondmanagement.com to have them shipped right to you. Note to self- update the blog once the listing is live.