Special Fishing Offer Northeastern Indiana

[taxi1]

First of all, for those of you that don't know, I hatch, rear and harvest trophy size fish of several species that I sell and ship whole frozen to taxidermists all over the country. I have a pond that I need to harvest three unblemished bluegills a minimum of 10 inches in length via hook and line for a taxidermist in Minnesota that wants to mount them for the World Taxidermy Championships. I have a floating measuring board so checking the length is easy to do.


Unfortunately I'm tied up with fish rearing duties, as in setting up indoor tanks and preparing to get trout eggs next week, and of course I'm a full-time fish taxidermist with some deadlines to meet. 

I'm looking for a 1 to 3 people to come out and catch them for me. I have a pier that goes all the way across the pond so it's just like ice fishing, but off the pier. I prefer you fish off the pier. However you can use open water gear. And if you're really heavy I'd prefer you not come, as I had a really heavy guy go through the pier once. 

However there is one big catch: (No pun intended) Except for the 3 bluegills that you simply put in a bucket for me, all other fish have to go back into the pond. But... you will be catching and releasing bluegill and perch of sizes you will rarely see on any of the public lakes. Bluegill that look like they are on steroids (not hybrids) up to 1 lb. 8 oz and yellow perch in the 13 to 15 inch range. This pond produced a yellow perch of over 16 inches and 5 ounces over the state record several years back.

And one more thing, you'll have to crimp the barbs down on your hooks. And I prefer you come when I'm here which is almost all the time! Best fishing is in the evening when I feed them in the summer and on cloudy days. Forget about bright sunny days as the water is so clear it seems to shut them off.

If you're interested give me a call at (260) 894-9055.

16 1/4 inch 2 lb. 13 oz. Yellow Perch



10 inch plus bluegill bottom of a five gallon bucket

[taxi1]

A 2 lb. yellow perch from the pond mounted by Brian Watson Niles Michigan.



A bluegill mounted by a taxidermist in ? caught out of the pond



National Champion Brook Trout out of the trout pond mounted by Mickey Bowman Lawton, Oklahoma



National Champion Brown Trout out of the trout pond mounted by Frank Kotula, Wilks Barre, PA

[matzilla]

What a great opportunity!

[river_scum]

if im free that day I would love to get back over your way.  do you have a day in mind or is it up in the air.  didn't have a bunch of time to BS with ya last time.

[Seamonkey84]

Man if I was in your area I’d jump all over that offer. Best of luck, I always enjoy reading about your ponds

[tater140]

When are you thinking?  I may be available this evening, i'm not too far away from you in Columbia City.

[tater140]

I was trying to line up a friend of mine’s son to come along.  I think he would have enjoyed it.  I take him fishing from time to time. Found out he is on the basketball team, And has a game tonight. So i guess tonight wouldnt work. It will be a cool opportunity for someone, sure nice of ya Taxi to let someone experience catching a few of those fish.

[taxi1]

Guys I'm wide open, but if I were you I'd pick a day with no or little wind, and no rain or snow.

Pond is open but did freeze over for a few days last week. But if it does freeze over, but not safe to get on the ice, you just fish off the pier. Like I said the pier goes all the way across the pond. Makes fishing easy and you can cast anywhere on the pond from the pier. Many of the fish hang just off the bottom in the deepest area of the pond which is right off the pier.
 

[taxi1]

When are you thinking?  I may be available this evening, i'm not too far away from you in Columbia City.

Didn't check back in time to see this post. Been working on the trout tank all evening. Any evening is fine -- even today Thanksgiving.

[taxi1]

River_ Scum and Piggyn were here today and I now have 2 out of three of the bluegills I need.  They released lots of yellow perch in the 13 inch range.

Pictures to come soon.

[matfalk]

Thats awesome. Glad you could honestly offer someone the chance at a trophy that probably isnt going to happen on normal indiana waters.

[Daybreak]

Cool!  Can't wait to see the pictures.

[Hexagenia51]

Taxi1 supper nice offer, if I wasn't still deer hunting I'd stop back over. Thanks for the opportunity to help with your trout the other day, those are some beautiful fish! Later Hex

[taxi1]

Here's one picture. More coming.

Not the biggest perch in the pond but still a nice one. They caught and released numerous others including bluegills.



I may have someone out here today but the wind is howling.

[taxi1]

Taxi1 supper nice offer, if I wasn't still deer hunting I'd stop back over. Thanks for the opportunity to help with your trout the other day, those are some beautiful fish! Later Hex

Yep you and others really helped me out! About 145 trout in the freezer ready to sell and about 50 or so left in the pond for next fall that will be in the 20 to 23 inch range. And I'll add about 300 more brooks, browns, and tigers in the spring. Will be hatching the eggs in a week or two in the basement.

[Seamonkey84]

Aren’t you afraid those bigger trout will eat your spring hatchings?

[taxi1]

Aren’t you afraid those bigger trout will eat your spring hatchings?

Very good question! No, because the smaller ones will be put into a circular floating net pen this spring in the pond to protect them from the bigger fish. Once as many of the bigger fish as possible will be harvested next fall they will be released into the pond. Will probably not get all of the bigger trout out, but smaller trout will be 11 to 14 inches by then, which should be O.K.

The net pen will be 25 feet in diameter and 8 feet deep.

[river_scum]

was good fun playing with your fat fish. lol  I caught one gill that looked to need weight watchers in a bad way. lol  don't know how many perch we caught but way more than a dozen and most were 12" - 13-3/4".  and as you can see they are much beefier than a 12 in the wild.   


thanks again for the hospitality Cecil.  it was great talking fish with ya too!

[taxi1]

was good fun playing with your fat fish. lol  I caught one gill that looked to need weight watchers in a bad way. lol  don't know how many perch we caught but way more than a dozen and most were 12" - 13-3/4".  and as you can see they are much beefier than a 12 in the wild.   


thanks again for the hospitality Cecil.  it was great talking fish with ya too!

Likewise! Wait until this spring when the bigger perch will be biting and some of the egg laden female will top 2 lbs.

[Seamonkey84]

Likewise! Wait until this spring when the bigger perch will be biting and some of the egg lade female will top 2 lbs.

That’s a record breaker in my state lol.

[taxi1]

That’s a record breaker in my state lol.

Well one of mine beat the state record by 5 oz. before I started hatching and rearing fish.  Caught her ice fishing. 2 lb. 13 oz and 16 /4 inches.

At that time I had one pond. I was doing nothing any different than a typical pond owner other than feeding the fish. State said can't enter her even though I followed all the rules as my pond fish were on a "feeding program." No big deal for me as she's my "Unofficial State Record." 

If feeding is all it takes to produce a state record why haven't I caught another state record yellow perch 13 years later?

[FishOn2018]

Good Morning!

I am a new guy here and your offer has absolutely caught my attention! I live in Dekalb county and would love to discuss further with you on the offer, if it is still available. I am free most of the time as well. Look forward to speaking with you hopefully.

Ben

[taxi1]

More pictures from the other day.

River_Scum with a short but fat one.



Piggyn with a yellow perch.

[taxi1]

Good Morning!

I am a new guy here and your offer has absolutely caught my attention! I live in Dekalb county and would love to discuss further with you on the offer, if it is still available. I am free most of the time as well. Look forward to speaking with you hopefully.

Ben

Hi Ben,

I'm headed out there today to get one more that I need for an order. I'll let you know if I don't get it. Otherwise I give the fish a break until I have an order except for the trout where we harvest once a year hook and line.

[taxi1]

Ben just give me a call when you want to come out. We should still should have half decent days now and then. Tomorrow doesn't look like one though. Windy days are not good here as I have an 800 acre farm field adjacent to me.

260-894-9055

I caught 10 yellow perch up to about 13 1/2 inches in only a half an hour before dark but no bluegills. Wanted to get out earlier in the day but still prepping for trout eggs on Tuesday.

[FishOn2018]

Good morning!

It looks like you had some luck in getting a couple! I will give you a ring possibly a bit later today after I get some running around done. I agree that the wind would be no fun this time of the year as well.

Ben

[river_scum]

have fun ben.  we had to put several on the board, to see if they made the 10" cut, while we were there. we used green jigs with beemoths under slip floats.




 

[taxi1]

have fun ben.  we had to put several on the board, to see if they made the 10" cut, while we were there. we used green jigs with beemoths under slip floats.

Tim,

I couldn't keep the yellow perch off the hook with just a piece of Stubby Steve on a small lead head jig. I was fishing a little shallower than you were back on the wooden part of the pier. I released about 10 yellow perch in the mid 13's with just a couple smaller in 20 minutes to a half an hour before it got too dark. Not one bluegill though.

[river_scum]

I noticed I was catching more perch to the south west edge of the pond.  id drag it out from shore till float stood up.  most of the biggest gills came from east of pier in middle. seemed to be the nersery in the north west corner. I wondered about a beetle spin to target the biggest ones.  didn't figure you wanted cranks with trebles fished in there, but they would target the hogs good too, I would think.

those stubby steve deals are awesome in there.  I have yet to try them anywhere else. I would cut them in fourths to use even.  they are like 4 bucks a pack on line.

[Thermo]

I’m in South Bend. I would like to take a peek at your setup at the least if that’s something you’d entertain. Never seen something like what you got going, shoot didn’t know something like this was so close to me. Let me know, I can bring a warm dish for the inconvenience