Mattlures

I just love stirring the pot on the greatest angler debates. To me big fish are more impresive than tournament wins but thats just my opinion. Just cause guys like Clunn or KVD win a bunch of T's does not make them better bass fisherman. It makes them better Tournament fisherman. Between Mike and Butch they have caught more bass over 10lbs than all current touring pros combined. I dont have the #s but I am pretty sure of it. I think Butch is around 1000 and Mike is up there also. Mike also has about 60 bass over 15lbs and holds many lake records. Oh and Muddy to partialy answer your question. Mike fishes the Won bass and a few other circuts in so cal and dominates them. He has won a bunch of team tournaments fishing by himself or with his kid. The only guy who can compete with him is his best friend John Kerr and they fish one circut as partners. Of course they have won AOY like 8 years in a row. Its kind of funny. They often beat 2nd place by 8-10lbs. Either of them could compete on the big stage. John Actualy won his first Major he fished in. The US open. John traveled to another state and fished against a ton of big names and beat them all in his first time out. As for the master of small fish (tournament anglers) Clunn is the legendary best and KVD is the current king. Just for the record I do know those Top Tourny guys are monster studs. They deserve the credit they get. I would just like to see a couple of the big Trophy hunters getting their due also.

You guys are cool!

All those anglers on your list are great and are in a class of their own, right below Butch Brown and Mike Long. Actualy Mike L is on step up from Butch so all the guys on the list are 2 steps down. But hey they are the greatest at catching small bass.

for anybody doubting the fish are all diferent you need to look closer. Check all the cuts and nicks in the tail fins and anal fins. If your still not convinced look at any specific body marking like a dark scale or a break in the pattern and compare it to the other fish. Sombody owes Fourbizz an apology

Fourbizz you know you have arived when you have haters. Unfortunatly it comes with the teritory. Just ignore it and dont stop posting. I am inspired by your posts to actualy get out and fish! As a matter of fact I have never actualy weighed out my best 5 fish sack but Its probably around 30lbs. I can get single big fish but rarely do I get more than 1. Now I have a goal to get 40. Also I meant no disrespect to Butch, He is one of my heros too I just know its an honor to be compaired to him and you deserve the compliment.

Dang Congrats guys! Butch Brown who? Fourbizz is the man!

This time of year the carp are spawning and thats what they do. They find what ever type of vegatation and thrash around in and on top of it. They are dificult to catch when they are doing this as they are more interested in breeeding than eating

From what I have read about FL it seems way too many big bass are kept. Out here in CA it is almost a crime to keep a large bass. The guys that know how to catch them always let them go. Ever 15lber that you have seen from CA was caught before when it was 1olbs and it was put back.

It is unfair to the rest of the "ordinary" people. The dont have a chance. They are not blessed with the name MATT. Very nice fish indeed

5lbs

I'm in. I gotta couple over 10 but I aint braggin untill I get my 20. Maybe this year.

619bassman That my be the most incorrect statement ever posted on this board! I know for a fact that alot of people recognize spots from pictures. I do it all the time. Thats why I usualy post a couple weeks after I catch a worthy fish. I also do not preferr the photo shopping but I definatly understand it. I myself like to go find a nice reed patch or something similar and pull right up to it and use it as my background. It just makes a nicer picture

You rig the MF like a texas rigged worm. Mickey recomends bending the hook a little to the left or right. It helps with the hook ups. Yes use the hook it came with. To clear the hole use a paperclip. and I recomend using heavy gear with this bait and setting the hook realy hard. You have a big hunk of rubber and you have to move that hook. I also recomend lubing the MF. The biggest complaint I have heard about this bait is it is dificult to hook fish with. Well use the right equipment and lube the bait and it will definatly increase your hook ups.

WRB you should see those lakes now. San V hardley ever produces anything over 10 and a teen from there is unheard of. Otay still produces good fish but not teens. I think that lake is actualy imroving though. Wholeford still kicks out giants evry once in a while. El Cap is dink city. Its the small lakes like Poway Dixon Jennings Murray that produce big fish. Even Mirramar never produces anything over 10 anymore. Did you ever fish with Murphy? Your styles sound similar.

Come on Randall I am counting on you to get Dan over the hump. I know you can get him a 10!!!

It took me about 20 years of real fishing to get my first. I caught it about 2-3 years after I decided to learn how to catch big bass and actualy target them.

If that 25.1 is still alive it would be over 17 years old. When Mike Long caught it in 01 it was 10 or 12years old ( I cant remember) so in 06 when it weighed 25.1 it would have been 15-17 years old.

d**n FC I am sooo jealous I cant stand it. I seriously want to stop making baits and get back to fishing! Your killing me. Congrats on an absolute monster!

I am not FC but I like your questions and want to answer them. For me its all expectations. If I get invited to a lake that just does not produce hardly any fish over 8lbs I bring worms. I have made up my mind that I am going to target small bass and have fun doing it. If I feel that I have a good oportunity to stick a big bass than I will go after them and I rarley give up. Here is my mind set. If I am drop shotting and I stick a 5lber I am excited. Not jumping or screaming but I am happy. NOW if I am throwing a swimbait and I stick a 5lber. I am disapointed the second I realize its only five lbs. It was not the fish I was looking for. I target big bass 80% of the time but Sometime I will go to a lake specificaly looking to catch a bunch of dinks ecpescialy when somebody tips me in on a wide open dink bite. I will give you a perfect example. Out here in SoCal we have a lake thats all catch and release. All the bass are northern strain so they are realy stupid. You have to buy tickets to fish the lake and the tickets sell out realy fast so its hard to get on. You get a boat and can bring up to 3 other guys. They dont all have to go in the boat, they can fish in tubes also. Ok so the first day all 4 of us caught over 100 fish each. Most of them were right at 3lbs with a few biggewr and a few smaller. We ended up booking 4 more dates. By the end of the 2nd trip we were throwing 10in senkos and big swimbaits trying to find bigger fish. We caught the up to 5.5lbs. By the 4th trip we were board. it was too easy and we couldnt find anything bigger. We actualy stopped fishing for bass because it wasnt fun anymore. The lake has huge bluegill so the whole 5th trip we just fished for gills and got a couple over 2lbs. The gills were soo much more satisfying then the bass. Why? becasue they were huge and the bass were small and stupid. Its all in the expectations. I had fished for at least 20 years before I decided I had to have a big fish. I had caught tons of fish up to 9lbs and I had nothing left to prove except a trophy. I needed a big one. Thats when my fishing life changed. In my quest, a 6lber didnt do much for me. It wasnt the one I wanted. I think most fisherman come to a point where catching small bass just doesnt have the same excitement anymore. You get good at cathing them . You want to progress. There seems to be 2 paths to follow. Either turn into a tournament fisherman and compete agaist other good fisherman or become a trophy hunter and compete against the fish. Both paths require skill and dedication to be succesfull. Both are logical steps as you become more skilled. Its just human nature to want to get better.

Actualt a paddletail tube is more of a swimbait than an MS Slammer or an AC plug. the original swimbaits were saltwater boot tailed baits. Worm king, Fish traps, Big hammers, etc. Before those would have been the sassy but they werent named swimbaits. IMO a true swimbait is a rubber fish type bait that swims. NO hard bait is a swimbait. The Castaic with the hard head rubber body would be a hybrid. Size is irelevant. If you look on Calfishing Rob has the hard baits classified as "trout plugs". even though they are not all trout, I think its better than calling them swimbaits. Yes all the CO's are trying to cash in on the hot trend. Its all about the $$$$ Most of the new baits are sub par. they are in such a rush to get something out that they dont take the time to properly develope them. Its a race. This is also the reason why smaller Co.'s like mine, Hudd, 3:16, MS Slammer etc stay in buisiness and can compete with the massive amount of new "swimbaits" being dumped into the market. the baits have been tested to death and proven to catch fish. Not saying all the new baits are bad, some are great but most are knock offs. Just incase you didnt all know Basstrix has been making swimbaits for at least 20 years. They aint new.

Bizz I cant add a whole lot to what you said. I dont know Florida either and I agree with every thing you said. Of course I would throw my baits in there but I am bias but I do get reports from a lot guys down in FL. I do think you might have forgotten a good bait for FL. I think the 6in Hudd in ROF5 golden shinner color would also be a good choice.

Bleach would do nothing. what you need to do is go to spike its website and get the worm and chunk paint in white. Do not get any type of dye. It wont work. The white paint will work.

Hey if your getting bit on a charlie then keep using it! I do disagree with you on looks though. It looks nothing like a gizzard shad or any other real fish IMO. I am by nature cheap and if I didnt make my own baits and I could get bit on a charlie thats what I would use. They just arent productive where I fish. If you think a charlie isnt very durable then wait till you fish your basstrix. I recomend getting some mend-it it will prolong thier lives ten fold

throw the charlie away. As far as action goes, it depends on the bait. there are good baits that have paddletails and there are bad ones. Same with billed baits or jionted ones. The Basstrix are great little baits and should get you some fish. Its not a big fish bait but it gets bit well. The Charlie has several issues. the first being how unrealistic it looks. You find any fish that looks like one of those and post a pic!. I would only use it in muddy water or at night. (actualy I wouldnt use it at all)The biggest issue with them is the hardware. I have heard several reports of guys actualy getting a bite on one of those biats only to have the little metel loop that hold the hook get ripped completly out of the bait.

I have 2 weights on the 4.5in shad. The light fall weighs 1 1/4 ounces and the heavy fall weighs 1 1/2 ounces. the little 2.5 in baits only weigh 1/4 ounce