www.campinpeace.com
askmh108@earthlink.net
Camping with an option of Fishing
Fish are far smarter than most people suspect, the older the fish, the smarter they can become. One thing almost no pond owner considers is the health of the water and the nutrients required for healthy fish bones. It is actually very similar to raising crops, health farm animals and fish are no different—as well as raising healthy children. Ponds require plenty of natural decaying wood for minerals, as well as blocks of mineral salts, sulfur and magnesium. Pond owners that ignore the health of their ponds will often notice fish with crooked spines. The same applies to all mammals that are lacking essential nutrients.
Prior to the “smart” phones, fishing was very popular in my area; when the smart phones became affordable for all, almost over night, fishing, almost became a thing of the past. the smart phones have changed life. Few people fish the lakes and streams anymore and if they try, their phones will not leave them alone. Many still try camping or getting away from the cities, but their phones often consume their time. For the ones that are traveling through and want to spend a night camping or relax and do some fishing, the boys offer a unique, your own private pond that you can park or camper or pitch a tent or stay in an Amish built single room cabin.
May 8th 2021
Videos
Notice the boys are “much” younger in these old videos!
(The fish stocked 23 years ago were not videoed)
We catch crappies on large bass lures, for those that use live bait “minnows”, their greatest problem is keeping their minnows alive. Those that sale minnows keep them in cold water, so once sold, then start dying quickly. Adult Crappies can have a HUGE MOUTH and they can eat anything they can grab onto. When using artificial baits, the more radical and jerky the bait, the more it drives “big” crappies crazy. Those that like live minnows, nothing beat the golden color carp. They grow fast and most of all, they tolerate warm water and they are tough. It actually takes many years for carp to grow 20+ pounds, something like 1# a year. All predator fish grow huge on carp minnows.
Crappies / Bluegills / Large Mouth-Small Mouth Bass / Catfish / Perch / Pike and even larger Carp go crazy for Carp minnows
This bass is about 2 month old and is eating a carp minnow over 1/2 it’s own size! I have caught large mouth bass that have a whole Shad in their stomach with the tail hung out and they still took a rubber night crawler or bass lure. 40 years ago I collected several schools of bass fry and put in a large tank. in time, 1 bass eat the thousands of other bass and was about 4 inches long. I raised him in an aquarium and the bass ate all the minnows I could buy in a 30 mile radius from my house. The bass would eat “whole” extra large “HARD” Shell Crawfish; sure, they like soft crawls, but a 1 # bass will easily eat a lobster size crawfish. If it will start in their mouth, they will dissolve it in their stomach and swallow over time.
30 years ago I put 20 bass in a large 1500 gallon tank, they were all 2+ pounds each, within 2 weeks, 1 bass was alive—-Bass will kill their competition, “if” it can not get away from them. Once Bass “understand” humans fishing for them—the super large females are never easy too catch. A bass, like the super large mouth Shoveled catfish, can eat a fish 1/3rd their own size. A big catfish loves to eat a 5# bass or a 10# channel catfish; or for that matter, they love muskrats.
All the Predator Fish love Blugills.
Big Crappie will bite every bass lure
Now May 1st is the time for Bucket Mouths
May 15th / Large Mouth Bass laid their eggs
Those with out a camper, may want to choose the Cabin Option and “Camp In Peace”
This Cabin is located on Pond “C”
Camping in Peace with your pet dog, the entire 45 areas is fenced with cattle panels and each cabin fenced in with cattle panels with pet dogs in mind.
The ponds date back 28 years with Pond A being the first Pond built
All Ponds are connected with pipes that gravity feed to the next pond
A Deep Well – 100 gallon per minute pump, insures the hot dry weather of July is not a problem
Pond A was 2 years old and had no fish, it had so many frogs that the grass around the pond moved with thousands of frogs. I put in a few buckets of large mouth bass fry and 2 years later the pond was full of 2 # size bass. To this date, no one has bass fished this pond beyond a few cast and the bass just considered food for catfish. The ponds were built with large catfish as the goal. Along with bass, all species were added as food for catfish, including pike, saugeye, carp, shad, channel cats, bluegill, crappie, etc. for food for large flat head catfish. (Their should be monster size bass in these ponds)
Pond “A”
Pond A was like most ponds early on, lots of moss and algae; great for fish, but not for fishing. Not liking chemicals, I solved the problem with channel catfish, if you have enough channel cats, they will eat the moss. Once I added carp, between the carp and channel cats, Pond A is normally moss free and they eat the grass when it is mowed and blown into the pond edges. Pond A has the largest amount of huge catfish, they surely eat allot of fish, yet there always seems to be plentiful small fish, thanks to the carp supplying millions of minnows. The Predator fish have all the food they want and are not easily caught.
A walk around view
Beside the house, this is the deepest part, 16 feet deep
The left side, is very shallow and leads to the main pond
This large deck connects the 2 smaller ponds
This bridge connects the 2 small ponds to the main pond
Looking left while on the bridge
Looking to the middle
The the right
Looking back at the pond by the house
A large “live – bait” tank
100 gallon a minute deep-well water. This well flows through all the ponds.
Graveled banks / mowed
Pond “A” has some lights and several water / electric areas
Where you see trash cans, there is fish food inside. There are no trash cans for trash! The motto is:
Take “Nothing”
Leave “Nothing”
Looking back towards house / barn
Long Deck
Pond “A” is the best pond when seeking to fish for large Carp, some Channel Catfish and the Largest Catfish. This pond normally has no moss, because there are allot of fish, but they have not been fished much for the past 12+ years, they are extremely smart. The big carp are the easiest to catch, but even they tell the others and each “next” fish is harder to catch than the last.The Bass were stocked 26 years ago and never fished for; 99.9% of the bass have never- ever been caught, they can be seen when spawning, they are there, they just do not bite easily. Your “best” odds of catching a 60+ pound catfish is in this pond, they are not impossible to catch, but close to it. They have all the food they could want, thanks to the carp. I see baby channel cats, bluegills, small bass—so I am certain the huge catfish live on smaller catfish and they will eat a 5 pound, even a 10 pound channel cat. Muskrats will not live where there are 50+ pound catfish, the fish will eat them.
Pond “B”
Pond “B” was built 23 years ago, specifically as a shovel head (flat head) catfish pay lake. Graveled banks and full graveled drive around for all night fishing from vehicles. The large left-side is 16 feet deep and the right side 10 feet deep. The deep end has a sand bar with a large row of clay tiles that the catfish can reproduce in. Stocked with all species and plentiful bass and crappies. Has an optional 1 room amish built wood cabin.
Looking left, from the deep end
looking right
Across from the Cabin
Same spot, zoomed in
From the main driveway
Same view, zoomed in
Pond “B” has Huge Catfish, the water is more clear than Pond “A”, so the Bass and Crappie are easy to catch! The Catfish are extremely hard to catch, Pond “A” and “B” have the 60+ pound catfish; they eat all types of fish, especially the channel cats and smaller shoveled cats. These Ponds have perch, pike, saugeye, but they are never seen or caught. Ponds “A” and “B” you could spend weeks trying to catch a monster catfish, or you could catch one on any bass lure you have–you never know and if your line is cut like a pair of scissors, then you know one of the huge pike cut you off. Pond “B” has no lights other than the cabin. ponds have 1 porta jon each. Pond “B” has no water hydrants. Pond “B” has lots of Bass and lots of Crappie, but no one catches the huge female bass, the 1-2# male bass are easily caught. My guess is that 98% of the bass that are over 2#, have never- ever been caught; all the ponds surely have monster bass that have all the food they could possibly want. Pond “B” was built with a drain in the bottom, but has never been drained.
Pond “C”
Is approx. 12 years old and started as a corn field / farm and purchased to make the “ultimate” catfish lake.
Pond “A” flows into Pond “B” and Pond “B” flows into Pond “C”. Crappie and Bass minnows travel the piping. The top Pond “A” gravity feeds gardens 1/4 mile away and the water is at least 12 feet higher than the road out front. Pond water is natural fertilizer for gardens and yearly, I put mineral blocks in Pond “A” so the salts flow through all the ponds for better bone health for the fish. The main body of water is 22 feet deep in the middle, that dirt was used to make the front dam. The additional smaller pond is 16 feet deep and all that dirt was required to make the back dam. The support ponds around the main pond have a purpose and can have large bass and crappie. Pond “C” is not a normal pond, it was built with no expense spared to create a one of a kind pond.
Healthy ponds starts with water Quality, this pipe runs under the driveway from Pond “B”, minnows travel from Pond “A” and “B” to Pond “C”. Also, there is a 12 inch underground drain pipe coming from over 1,000 areas of run off water. This water all must travel through PRE-CLEANSE ponds.
The first Pre-Cleanse pond has several feet of water so water plants aid in the capture of any impurities. These include flowering wild water iris, wild peppermint, cattails and all the normal water plants and grasses.
The shallow Pre-Cleanse Pond flows through a pipe into two- small; deep holding ponds. These holding ponds would have all species of fish in them.
Pond “C” has plentiful water hydrants, lights and electric so the pond can easily be fished all night. The lights can be turned off as desired.
You will notice many wood piles and trees along the banks, Pond “C” is designed to fish from decks or boats. The banks are permitted to be thick with cattails as natural water purification and maximum cover for bass.
I like using old pontoon boats as floating docks
Tube fishing is the “perfect” way to fish for monster bass, the best is after midnight with largest Colorado Blade – all Black Spinners or black “scented” rubber worms. For those that do not like having their legs in a tube, the next step is a larger float with electric motor. I personally like pontoons best.
This is a “unique”, on-water cabin with upper viewing deck
Has a large holding pen that can hold fish all summer and harvest in the fall if desired
Complete with floating ride on jet ski dock
Fun on the Water 2 (first time ever)
1 year old Pond Raised Smallmouth Bass are so aggressive they will bite most anything!
The large mouth Bluegills are very agressive!
Back in the 1980’s the Bass Magnet came in endless color combinations and at least 3 sizes, many modern day lures have a similar action. The crappies like a large variety of large bass lures. The “Scented” rubber minnow also drives them and bass crazy, most often on the “drop” and if they do not pick it up on the drop, try “jerking” the rubber baits or floating rapella type lures very “radical”. Sometimes if you throw a floating bait such as the Bass Magnet or anything that floats and just leave it there and they will get mad and hit it.
This is the last pond and water from Pond “A” / “B” / “C” flows into this pond, it is loaded with big Crappies and Bass.
When coming to Camp / Fish a simplistic “Disclaimer” that basically says you agree that you can drown / die and accept that you are responsible for your self and family / friends and must be signed, with your picture taken. If you hurt yourself or for any reason die, your picture and signed paper is proof you agreed to take all responsibility. No one is permitted to enter the property with out their signed disclaimer on file.
Examples
Front Gate
Paved Driveway
Pontoons stripped down, floor rubberized!
Makes for the best bass / crappie fishing while relaxing!