Mattlures

That fish is egg laden. It is a condition where the fish was unable to drop its eggs. It could be fatal, Here is a picture of another bass that has the same condition and looks to be about the same size http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/rob_belloni/bass/6_95.jpg.html

That fish looks to be egg laden. It seems to be unable to release its eggs and that what they look like. I have seen a couple fish like that and they were all spots.

its easy to find them durring the summer. Fish at night,late night and fish shallow. They move up and hunt at night

Followers just happen sometimes. There are a lot of theorys why but they are just theorys. There is no absolute answer. Sometimes the little tricks work but they usualy nip it or bump it or hit it and spit it in one motion. My theory is there is a flaw in the presentation. This could be your niose, your shadow, your cast, your line, and yes it could be the bait. Maybe your working a trout bait or bluegill bait in a way that is unnatural or something just doesnt look right. It is also possible that you did enough things right that you made a non eating fish become interested but not quite enough to eat it. Trust me none of us have the follower thing all figured out. It just happens. If you do enough thing right and do it when they are eating you will get bit. My best advise to you is realy concentrate on your first cast to each spot. This is your best chance. Ech time the fish sees the bait go by the less chance there is of getting bit. Also followers are better then nothing. It means you or your bait have done something right. maybe not enough but your on the right track. You may have just aproached the spot from the wrong angle. Take note where you see the big fish. Swimbaits are possibly the best tool for reveiling where the big bass are

If you only take out fish 2lbs and smaller you will be good. Unless the pond is tiny you will not remove all the small bass. Some will still make it past the 2lb mark and grow bigger. You see, once a bass gets around 1lb it is no longer prey to the big bass. It becomes competition. All those little bass are eating up all the small forage that will also grow into big bass food like baby gills and shinners etc. You want your prey to be healthy and have large populations and evything else will follow. Growing big bass is a simple thing. Besides genetics and climate (which you have) they simply need lots of food and little competition. The big ones will get bigger. Dont worry about removing an entire year class of fish because the small ones will not stay small. You will have some from each year that get past YOUR slot limit and make it to join the other big bass. If you want to see imediate results you can also stock your lake with more prey. Adults are better because they can start reproducing right away. Put some tilapia,crawdads,bluegill,shinners, minnows etc in there. Avoid other predators like catfish and crappie. I do not have a degree or anything like that but I have managed a couple private ponds that were extremely sucsesful. However the property eventualy have a huge flood come through and it whiped out the big dam and washed out the ponds. That was depressing. Also this site has some great pond management articles that will echo what I am saying.

Big to me is defined by how I am fishing and my expectations. If I am dropshotting and catch a 5lber, that is big. If I am sight fishing I wont even cast at a 5lber unless I have coverd a ton of water and basicaly give up and go catch the 5lber. If I am swimbaiting and get a 5 it is small. 10lbs and up is big when I am targeting big fish. If a 10 is my biggest of the year then its not very big. My goal is a 20

Your on a role and sticking them good. I do suggest keeping all the fish 2lbs and under. You may not see imediate results but those big fish will get bigger. It is possible that your fish are topping out right around that 9-10lb mark. If you can remove enough little guys your big ones will put on some girth. Congrats on another nice fish

Take Glenn out to dinner and take him on a guided trip for some big FL bass and maybe some tarpon etc and maybe he will get you a pass. Maybe

As the others have stated its not the rods fault. It is the angle at which the rod is at,as the weight of the fish is coming down. What you did is called "Highsticking". On the ocean charter boats "bouncing" a fish is common practice as the fish are kept. You learn how to do it without it breaking your rod. If you do it to the side and lower your rod tip as the fish is coming down, your rod will be fine. I do not recomend this for fish that will be released but it is very effective

I was suprised when I looked at the pictures. Normaly calicos look smaller but these looked huge so I knew it would be hard to tell. he he

ha ha yes they are calico bass. Verry cool fish. My pb LMB is 17.2 these fish do not get that big. I think the world record is 14lbs. I have only been fishing for calicos about 15 times, so my PB is not that impresive yet but I have just figured out where the big ones are and how to catch them. The top fish went 6 and the bottom went 5. (Iknow they look bigger thats why I did the guessing post )Those are big calicos but not huge a 10 lber is like a 15lb lmb my little 6lber is about equal to an 8-9 lb lmb. I will get bigger! Funny you guys thought they were sick LMB ha ha ;D

those are 2 different bass 4Bizz so you gotta guess twice

These are two different bass, guess how much they weigh? "Hint" they were weighed on a rocking boat with the scale fluctuating a little so we settled on the middle of the numbers.

6

Here is the post "Sorry to have kept you waiting on the remaining details of the giant Japan Type 2 Hybrid Largemouth Black Bass. It is now 11:30 pm, and I have the official info that will be released in tomorrow's news. Mr. Kurita caught the giant fish as described in my previous posts at Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture Japan. Certified weight 10.12 kilos. Biwako (Biwa Lake) is divided into two large parts--the northern part, which is very clear, rocky and extremely deep, and the southern, or "Nanko"section, which is mostly shallow (less than 30 feet), and surrounded by tulies/reeds. The fish was caught in the Nanko section. The fish was caught on live bait--specifically a Japanese Koi (carp) on a Deps rod using 25 lb. line. One thing to note, and we have all experienced this (or worse!) is that as the fish was netted, with a bass hand landing net, the hook pulled loose! As I mentioned, and will not get into here, it is illegal for most anglers to catch and release bass at Biwako. That said, Mr. Kurita kept the bass in is livewell, as Mr. Okamura of Deps was contacting the Biwa Lake aquarium, and other research institutes. As I mentioned, due to the difficulties of catch and release, as well as transporting live fish laws and regulations, they did not want to release this info until they were in compliance with all regulations (they were). Being an old, tired girl, the fish soon died in the livewell that evening. The fish is now properly frozen to preserve the fish, while documents are being reviewed for and submitted to various record keeping agencies. I just feel fortunate to have been an extremely small link in the info chain, and also fortunate that I could share this will all my friends here on Calfishing."

The fish was caught on live bait and it is less the 1 ounce bigger the Perry's. Not even a full ounce so I think a tie is reasonable when you talking about a 22lb fish. Now 3/4 of an ounce would be a bigger difference on a bluegill.

In Japan, the government and the oldtimes want the bass eradicated. The younger crowd and all fishing companies want to keep the bass. They do practice catch and release, they are just not supossed to.

Just becuase you are not supossed to release the bass doenst mean the anglers dont release them anyways. We have a lake out here with the same rule and none of us keep the bass

I will use Dottie as an example. Dixon is open every day. For 5 years people threw eveything at here. The lake is less then 100 acres. she was only caught durring spawning and the last time she wasnt even caught, she was snagged. She learned, addapted,became more aware of danger etc.. Now put that same fish in a lake that has never been fished and she would have been stupid and easy

Catt I am not saying the bass here are smarter. I believe conditions dictate how easy or difficult they are to catch. When you have deep clear water that is heavily pressured then the fish are naturaly more difficult to catch. Add in that our lakes are tiny comparred to most other lakes and now these fish see lures every single day the lake is open. Catch and release is the norm so these fish have all been caught numerous times. They get harder to catch. They simply make fewer mistakes. Anywhere that has conditions like these will have similar results. The fish arent smarter, they have more negative experiance. Out here the bigger the lake the easier it is to catch fish especialy the small ones. The small lakes have a few monsters but man, they dont screw up often.

I disagree with Catt and George. I dont think its simple or easy. Yes to catch small bass it is and thats why anybody can catch them. Big bass might as well be a different species. Yes they outcompete their smaller kin but they make far fewer mistakes. I would lave for anybody who claims bass are dumb and predictable and easy to come to socal and catch these big bass. Ha ha they would come away with a new perspectice. Thesxe fish have all been caught numerious times and they have LEARNED. Maybe a big ol bass in a non pressured area can be simple or easy but that is not the case out here. Catt you asked Paul if he thinks he has figured out all the intangables? You dont have to. You just need to figure out some of them and dont do anything to screw it up while your fishing for them. You can totaly understand your quarry but make a bad cast and put the fish on alert.

Muddy back in the 80's dads were the big bass bait of choice. In the 90's waterdogs were a popular choice. They have since outlawd dogs. Bluegill would be a goto except they are illegall in most places. Now the artaficials, mainly swimbaits are the best producers. There are still guys getting them on dads but not as many as swimbaits. I believe the biggest reason for this is that live bait is a hassle. Its also slow and borring compared to moving and casting. Dont get me wrong bait is effective. This is how it is out here. I assume in FL the big shinners are still the #1

If I catch a big bass dropshotting, I was lucky. If I catch one on a swimbait then there was no luck. I do not factor luck into anything I do. Does it exist? yes but not for me. If I succeed its becuase I learned how to. If I failed, I was not unlucky, I simply was not good enough that time. Thats when I try to figure out why I failed so I dont make the same mistakes.

Great job DAD. Who know maybe she will fish the classic some day

It aint just the hole. It still takes skill to catch them. Very nice fish you got ther. I would recomend keeping some smaller ones for dinner. Those big fish all look just a little thin with big heads. That 8 looks like it could carry another pound or 2 on that frame. Love the reports!