Thanks for the update Steve.  I am glad to see the club is investing in improving these fisheries via stocking of baitfish and fertilization.  One area that appears to me to be somewhat neglected is the addition of a club boat at those properties that don’t have one.  I am not thinking about anything fancy, a 14’ johnboat that can hold two people semi-comfortably is sufficient.  It would open up many of these lakes.  I know for me the first criteria I look at when considering a place to go is the availability of a boat. 

Keep up the good work

Sandy

Steve,

I have fished this location a number of times over the years and I agree it is a great location. Is something being done about keeping vegetation from taking over this summer?

Very good lake - I fished it (05/06) in the evening with my son - caught a bunch of nice bass and big crappie - If it is windy, this lake is brutal on small boats.  Tank is full and water stained and perfect.  Sexy shads, Rtraps and 8” worms were all working.  Glad to know about the stocking - I would have taken a few bass home yesterday - I didn’t see your post until this morning

Sandy/Jim/Mark,

Thank you for your interest and questions. Let me address your concerns.

Boats

When we bought the business in January we sent out surveys to our current members and much to our surprise we received a whopping 44% response rate. We thank those members who responded, receiving that type of response was very helpful and encouraging. In that survey we asked about the importance of boats and 79% of the respodents said that it was not an issue as they had there own boats. This was a huge suprise to me, as I thought that this would have been a much larger issue. In fact this may have been the biggest suprise of the whole survey. However, that does not mean that we will not be re-evaluating the possibility of adding boats and or upgrading boats to existing sites. In simply means that the vast majority of our members felt it was a non issue. Approx 75% of our properties do offer a boat (admittedly some our pretty crummy boats). So hopefully, you are able to find a property that offers a boat. Our two newest properties; JerMar and SW Lake have nice boats.

Vegatation issue at Ferris Triple J

One of the biggest reasons for fertilizing a lake is to cloud the water which reduces the amount of sunlight and makes it more difficult for plant life to grow as vigorous in water. Secondly, Tilapia is a fish that absoutely loves filamentous algaea (that is the green slimmy stuff). So, once again we have hit this lake with both Tilapia and Fertilizer to reduce the amount of vegetation. Unfortuntely, this is a yearly thing and costs about $1500 a year on a 15 acre lake. You have to sell lots of $25.00 trips to pay back the yearly investment. In fact you have to sell 60 trips a year just to payback the cost. These costs do not include time and labor. Obviously, you can do the math and figure what it costs to do the same on a 30 acre or 40 acre lake. Moreover, the costs don’t refelct other lake management costs such as a lake that is overgrown with lilypads, coontail, or milfoil. Tilapia and fertilzer only make a small dent. Treating those lakes chemically to control the issue can cost $100 to $750 an acre depending on what the issue is. The point is that we have to be selective and utlize our resources wisely on the properties where it makes the most since and where we are working in concert with our landowners. This is a huge issue and one we take serious. But, like anything else in life there always is more to it, than you might realize at first glance.  We will be spelling out our managment goals on certain lakes so that you can see the substancial costs that have been invested in our properties. We hope that you will support these lakes with your reservations, harvest reports (where appropriate and more to come on this issue) and fishing reports. These were great questions and ones that I wanted to address. Much more to come on these issues later in the year.

I’ve fished Triple J a few times and have caught a bunch of 1 to 2 pounders.  All were very fat, healthy, and aggressive.  I’m glad the club has fertilized as the slim can get bad in the summer.  Has anyone had trouble with the dog from across the FM road?

While I never received the survey that Steve is referring to, I’m in the same “boat” as Sandy when it comes to lakes with/without boats.  My first question to Brian prior to every reservation is “how is the boat?”  I also agree with Steve that numerous lakes do have boats.  You just have to be flexible with your scheduling.

As for keeping fish, it would be nice to have a list on the website with these lakes.  I know Brian gets tired of me asking “can you tell me again which lakes are harvesting”.

By the way many of the fish I caught at Ferris Triple J were spawning fish.

Ken,
Those 1 to 2 pounders now average 2 to 2.5 lbs, which is a nice size class of fish to catch.
As far as the survey goes, we had some pretty spotty address, e-mails, and phone numbers from many of our members. Consequently, we may not have your current address. Can you call Brian and verify?
We are working on lots of enhancements to the web-site. One of which will include a fish harvest report. Unfortunately, that portion of the web-site will not be ready this season. In the meantime, keep asking Brian which lakes we are harvesting.

Steve Alexander