All About Pocket Knives

FRJ wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 2:16 am Thank you doglegg and Ken.

I even managed to catch a little Sunfish there this morning.

Very interesting reel, Joe. First time I see model like this.
What kind of flies do you use for sunfish?

Eustace wrote: ↑Tue Jun 10, 2025 4:42 pm Very interesting reel, Joe. First time I see model like this.
What kind of flies do you use for sunfish?

Thank you, Eustace.
These reels are what we call "automatic" reels. They work off of a spring and retrieve the line at the press of a lever.
Some mount vertically and some mount horizontally.
I am new to using these reels but it's not difficult to learn from them. The problem with these reels is that they are a bit complicated and no one in the past has wanted to open them and clean them so I always need to rid them of sand and oil them. Actually true of most old reels.
For flies, I like to use a small Deer Hair Caddis for sunfish. Deer hair is hollow so it floats easily and is easy for my old eyes to see.

bestgear wrote: ↑Tue Jun 10, 2025 3:06 pm from the last few days, I wish this way the heyday of the postcard business cuz I’d be in biznis

Absolutely astounding!!!!

FRJ wrote: ↑Tue Jun 10, 2025 5:51 pm

Eustace wrote: ↑Tue Jun 10, 2025 4:42 pm Very interesting reel, Joe. First time I see model like this.
What kind of flies do you use for sunfish?

Thank you, Eustace.
These reels are what we call "automatic" reels. They work off of a spring and retrieve the line at the press of a lever.
Some mount vertically and some mount horizontally.
I am new to using these reels but it's not difficult to learn from them. The problem with these reels is that they are a bit complicated and no one in the past has wanted to open them and clean them so I always need to rid them of sand and oil them. Actually true of most old reels.
For flies, I like to use a small Deer Hair Caddis for sunfish. Deer hair is hollow so it floats easily and is easy for my old eyes to see.

Thanks Joe! Very interesting mechanism, but looks heavy.
Here in Bulgaria, I have catched sunfishes with nymphs and little streamers, but never with dry fly. Maybe sunfishes here are different species.

Pond is full - spillway is overflowing.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Wed Jun 18, 2025 3:44 am Pond is full - spillway is overflowing.

Ken

Good looking stock pond!
Do y'all still use the windmill?
Treefarmer

Thanks! The windmill is fully functional, but hasn’t been used to pump water for years - it’s basically just a decoration now. Last spring our granddaughter was catching bass and bream from the pond (around here folks call it a “stock tank”). After June we got basically no rain until this spring. Here’s a picture of it (same view as above) from last October. As you can see nothing is green. So although it’s full now, there are no fish now. There are a couple of turtles and a bunch of frogs. Doesn’t look like it but it’s over 20 feet deep when full.

Ken

Nice looking tank, Ken. We've had a nice spring, with all the rain. Sure makes things green and pretty around here.

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Wed Jun 18, 2025 4:27 am Thanks! The windmill is fully functional, but hasn’t been used to pump water for years - it’s basically just a decoration now. Last spring our granddaughter was catching bass and bream from the pond (around here folks call it a “stock tank”). After June we got basically no rain until this spring. Here’s a picture of it (same view as above) from last October. As you can see nothing is green. So although it’s full now, there are no fish now. There are a couple of turtles and a bunch of frogs. Doesn’t look like it but it’s over 20 feet deep when full.

Ken

We had a new pond dug years ago and didn't have it stocked and it now has many varieties of fish in it, more than the 2 ponds that were stocked.
We've been told there are several ways that fish can be introduced into a newly filled pond in addition to buying fingerings from a hatchery. Wading birds, herons and such may have fish eggs on their legs from another pond. Another possibility is the fact that it sometimes rains fish. Little twisters over water can pickup small fish and deposit them in another body of water.
The largest pond on our place, my dad had stocked with bluegills and bass and now has a bunch of catfish in it too.
Hope you can get back in the fish business for your grands sake?
Treefarmer

My dad built a couple of tanks on our place back in the early 1970s. One he stocked with blue cats and bass. The other he didn't do anything. Shortly after he stocked the one, I went fishing in there and caught maybe 5 or 6 of the bass and carried them on a stringer down the road to the un-stocked tank. Several years later my nephew caught a 7 lb 12 oz bass out of the tank! It was a small tank - you could cast all the way across it easily, and even walk across it - it was never very deep.

I ran a trotline across it and caught a few 5 lb catfish on it. I ran the trotline sitting on a piece of plywood that was tied to and kept afloat by a truck tire inner tube, and used a 1x6 board for a paddle.

You may be a redneck........

Unk wrote: ↑Fri Jun 20, 2025 2:56 am My dad built a couple of tanks on our place back in the early 1970s. One he stocked with blue cats and bass. The other he didn't do anything. Shortly after he stocked the one, I went fishing in there and caught maybe 5 or 6 of the bass and carried them on a stringer down the road to the un-stocked tank. Several years later my nephew caught a 7 lb 12 oz bass out of the tank! It was a small tank - you could cast all the way across it easily, and even walk across it - it was never very deep.

I ran a trotline across it and caught a few 5 lb catfish on it. I ran the trotline sitting on a piece of plywood that was tied to and kept afloat by a truck tire inner tube, and used a 1x6 board for a paddle.

You may be a redneck........

Good stuff, enjoy learning why and how we became "rednecks"!
Treefarmer

That stock tank in the picture I posted was dug about 35 years ago. We stocked it with fingerling channel catfish and flathead minnows (for the catfish to eat). Our local ag agent recommended we not stock any bass. Because it’s only about 1-1/2 surface acres in size, he said bass would soon eat everything in the pond and would become big-headed with small bodies, because of a lack of sufficient food. We followed his recommendation and supplemented the minnows (which can survive by hiding in shoreline vegetation) with floating catfish food. Within a couple of years we had some nice, eating size catfish.

When the pond went dry last year there were catfish, bass, bream (aka bluegill perch), sunfish, crappie, etc, in the shallow water. The dogs had a big time catching them, and since the fish were easy pickings the birds were thick. Unfortunately the pond went totally dry and of course, the fish all died. A few days later there was just mud and no sign there were ever any fish! Eventually weeds grew in the dirt in the bottom. Late last fall, I even mowed it! Now we start all over again. Not sure I’m going to bother stocking it this time though. Just let nature do it.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Fri Jun 20, 2025 3:33 am Now we start all over again. Not sure I’m going to bother stocking it this time though. Just let nature do it.

Ken

Sounds like you had a nice little 'pond' going. Shame it dried up, though.
I don't think I would stock it either, just let mother nature do as she may. Might take a while, but I'm a believer
that she knows better than we ever will ....
Just one city boy's useless opinion

New holster to use while standing around the grill

Why we wear shoes when we live in the country. This was in the yard under a big oak tree about 2 feet from the patio when I killed it. Not very big as copperheads go, but the bite of one this size is just as bad or worse than a bigger one

Ken

Ken,

Yep, you get used to looking down at the ground as you walk. Especially around dusk. Glad this one didn't get you.

We haven't seen but 1 or 2 in the last couple of years on my place. I think me and my buddy finally thinned out the local population somewhat.

Another friend of mine rides the local golf course in the evenings, just a couple of miles from me. He is getting 7 - 9 of them whenever he goes.

Here's a picture some of y'all might understand: For folks that don't recognize what's going on in the 1st picture: Last summer we had new flooring put in a couple of rooms. One was a bedroom, it had a queen sized Soma water bed in it, the one with cylinders in it. No one was interested in it, none of the local charities wanted beds, so we put the empty tubes in the trash and salvaged some of the wooden frame for the nice boards. There was a part like a box spring that we decided to burn out in the pasture. Burning It revealed a heavy set of springs with a 3/16" steel rods around the perimeter top and bottom. I figured it would make a nice drag for planting small food plots where larger equipment might be difficult maneuver. It worked well but came apart on the way back to the house. So I pulled it around by an old utility trailer and left it. Fast forward about 10 months and I found it with the bush hog (rotary mower). Backed the mower under my chain hoist where we hang Bambi, took the top link off and allowed it to pivot on the lift arms high enough to get under it to safely work on the puzzle. Took about an hour to get the mess off the mower blades.
Treefarmer

Today was the last step in Bulgaria's accession to the eurozone. The European Parliament voted and from January 1st we will be paying with euros. This is what the Bulgarian euro coins will look like.