Where’d Summer Go?

Adios summer, hello fall. Not sure about you, but our north Texas summer weather was a little weird. July and early August teased us with lower than normal temperatures and scattered rainfall to keep us out of a drought. Then, late August, the blow torch hit and didn’t disappear until mid-October. The second week of October, we had a 97-degree Saturday, the following Monday gifted us our first mild frost. The southeastern part of the nation baked in a drought this summer, with a little bit of tropical moisture granted by the Gulf of Mexico.

Do changing seasons affect our ponds? Yes, they do. This fall, as the temperatures have begun to moderate, your pond plants follow a similar pattern as your trees and grass. Shorter days with milder, then colder temperatures trigger plants to give it up, stop growing, and take a rest. Some go dormant, others die back.

Fish go on a feeding frenzy this time of year, innately and instinctively sensing the changes and fulfilling their inherited traits of gorging themselves on abundant foods (if we’ve done our jobs), adding to their lengths, gaining weight through flesh and fat, as the girls are developing eggs for next year’s spawn.

Fall is also time for football, hunting, and the holidays. The holidays at our home are family time. Like many of our readers, our kids have grown up and left the nest. They’ve chosen their courses, and all but one of them have kiddos of their own. As much fun as it is to have Thanksgiving at our house, I must say there’s some irony in the blessing to be treated to that special holiday at one of our grown children’s homes. The irony is that our queen expects everyone to come to our place for Thanksgiving, so what starts out as some anxious discussions with our full-grown kids that now have their own tribes, in-laws, and friends, has led us to a place where we get to enjoy those grandpeeps, not have to do all the cooking, and not necessarily faced with two wheelbarrows full of dirty dishes while everyone else tends to kids, throws a football, or bellies-up on the couch watching football. I’m amused to be on the sidelines for this holiday, looking forward to time with those little ones and as many of the grown ones who choose to attend this fun family event. We can have our home event on Sunday after Thanksgiving. I’m hoping to talk our hosts out of some leftovers. Heck, we’ll bring enough stuff from LL,2 to haul back a cooler full of leftovers.

Speaking of LL,2, we had the first Institute of Higher Pondology. I knew this first group would leave with excellent information, a unique experience, raw thumbs from handling fish, and a deeper love for their stewardship responsibilities. What I didn’t really have my brain wrapped around were the newly-forged friendships. These great folks left our home that Sunday like long lost buddies. We had ten participants for this first event, and it went extremely well. They were entertained, enthralled, educated, and well-fed. For those of you on the fence about attending next spring, give us a call. Better yet, we’ll connect you with someone who came and let them tell you about it.

Once again, this issue of your favorite magazine is loaded to the gills. We’ve got two stories about fall ponds and how they behave, a story about renovating a pond, the final installment on the history of pond management, and a story about how a hatchery pond might support your fishing lake. Eric West went through the literature and compares blue catfish to flatheads. Dan V takes us through his process about responsible wildlife writing after taking a pretty good hit with his thoughts about otters in a past issue. It’s good for you to know what he goes through to bring his knowledge to the public via us. Chris Cornwell has a good story about ice safety. It’s not just for kids. Otto shares real-world experience about a liner, while Dr. Wes Neal shares an experience he had with ponds in southeast Asia. Michael Gray digs beneath rocky ground to plug a bathtub of a pond, and the fish professor brings another pace about pond invaders. And, yes, we have all the regular columns as well. Be sure to read Ask the Boss. It’s always entertaining.

Our team at Pond Boss, Inc., thanks you for your patronage, and for being a loyal part of our family. We hope you have the greatest holiday season of all, and that those you love surround you, as you surround them.

Fish on!