paul.

we've all heard it a thousand times. the old story of "one more cast" producing a lunker. well, this is actually a story of "two more casts". i went for a little while this afternoon to one of my favorite holes. didn't plan on spending very long unless the fish were biting 'cause i had some other things to do. spent a few minutes catching a few gills for bait first. then i set up in one of my favorite spots and went for almost an hour without so much as a sniff. "last cast", i thought as i chunked a small gill out on a suicide mission. i was just about to reel in when line starts peeling of my little spinning reel. didn't take long after the hookset to see it was only a small fish, about 1.5 pounds. but experience has taught me that having a fish on and fighting (particulary when using live bait) is a good time to watch closely to see if there are other fish in the area. not only that, but many times it seems that watching one of their comrades eat will sometimes turn on other fish nearby. i cannot tell you how many times while fishing with gills i have gone from skunked to full blown feeding frenzy after the first fish commits, even though it seemed like forever to get the first one. so i took my time and watched the bass' runs and contortions in the semi-clear water. then i saw her! a sure enough good 'un come up and start following my little one. but this lunker was more than just curious, she was hungry! i watched in absolute disbelief as this brute of a bass tried to make lunch out of the 1 1/2 pounder on my line. she viciously attacked and halfway swallowed my little bass head first in in a split second and just took off. i knew there was no way i could catch her like this though and i gave as sharp a tug as i dared with the spinning outfit and 10 lb. test and fortunately got her to spit my poor bass out. after unhooking and releasing the little one, which now sports a nice ring of teeth marks around it, i reached in my bucket quickly and grabbed the biggest gill in there and baited up. chunked it out and in a flash she comes up and annihilates it! i saw the whole thing and it was beyond cool. i dropped the hammer and the fight was on with the drag singing that old sweet song. she was so strong that i barely kept this fish out of a stick up about 25 yards away from where i first hooked her. but i finally wore her out and put her on the scales. 8-3! a real good fish for sure, and a story i'll always remember. it definitely pays to watch closely when you are fighting a fish. you just never know what might happen. hope y'all are catchin' some too.

that's real cool. with ability like that, there'll be more great posts like this in your future i'm sure.

well, it's almost official. test results are back on alex smith's shoulder and he's probably done for the year and done with the 49ers. i hate to see him injured again, but honestly this may be a blessing in disguise. i think we can safely use the b-word for smith now - "bust" that is. so my team is going to be looking for a qb. i thought i could hopefully help with the process by placing a wanted ad here. wanted: back up qb. san francisco 49ers. opportunity for rapid advancement due to pathetic starter. qualifications: must be able to perform houdini-like magical escapes as the o-line will collapse with startling speed and regularity. although not mandatory, eyes in the back of your head would be a plus. must have been well-coached elsewhere because you will not be here. must be able to throw with pinpoint accuracy as receivers will achieve zero separation. must not panic in lopsided games. must be at least good enough to make sure defense gets equal blame for upcoming losses. must weigh less than 200 lbs. as frank gore will have to carry you on his back along with the other 9 offensive (pun intended) personnel. must be in great shape, requiring very little or no time to recover from a 3 and out series as the defense will quickly give up scores requiring you to report back for duty with the offense immediately. salary: you will no doubt be grossly overpaid in proportion to your ability as this has been our policy with quarterbacks since jeff garcia. everyone please feel free to post your own team's help wanted ads here now or as the season progresses. maybe it will help. :

it could be worse. they could be the redskins or the 49ers. i have been a huge fan of both these teams since i was a kid. it's pitiful to see how far both have fallen from their former glory. the problem list is too long to even begin to talk about here. even mediocrity seems to be too lofty a goal right now. i don't see either one of my teams going better than .500 this year if week 1 means anything. but it's a long season and anything can happen. yeah, right.......... : i can definitely feel your pain buddy. :'(

6'8" g-loomis mossy back jig and t-rig rod. extra fast action. that's the one i use most anyway. the others i use are 6'6" mh/fast.

sounds like a lot of fun. the little dude definitely looks happy. tell him we all said congrats.

very nice ron. you really tore 'em up man.

man those are some real toads there el grande! very cool man. i have seen some of w.c.'s work and it's not bad at all - especially for the price. there are some little things you notice once you study their mounts for a while, but no really glaring errors. definitely not going to find much, if any, better work for that price.

looks like y'all had a lot of fun. way to catch 'em.

thank you very much. you are too kind buddy. the #1 necessity to be able to catch big bass is to fish in places where they live. i am lucky to be blessed with a few such places. shore, you definitely have got one of the coolest avatars on here. that movie was hilarious. ;D

eddie my friend, you have just done a perfect job outlining the main reason i fish alone most of the time. sure i go with friends every once in a while, but when i do my goal is fun and fellowship. the fishing is secondary. that way it's a fun and "successful" trip no matter what we catch (or don't). that's not to say i wanna get skunked when i'm fishing with somebody else. i still wanna catch 'em and i try hard to and try to make sure they do too. but when catching fish is my primary goal, especially catching a big fish, i mostly fish alone. the one exception to this rule is my sweet little 6 y.o. daughter. if she wants to go, i try real hard to take her. she is my favorite fishing buddy of all.

very, very cool. what a banner day.

real nice fish there. welcome to br.

glad you had a good day. way to go.

that sounds like a cool day of fishin' in my book no matter where you placed buddy. nice post.

dude! you are flat out whackin' 'em man! that's great.

real cool story. nothing like fishing with a kid to keep things in perspective and remind you what fishing is really supposed to be about.

that's cool man. fantastic.

kentucky lake sometime in march '09 i think. sorry but i'm not sure of the exact dates. i'm sure there is a thread on it somewhere on here though.

wow! thanks very much for all the kind words guys. i'm very flattered and humbled. to even have my name mentioned in the same sentence with chris and jay is real special to me. but i've said it before and i'll say it again. there are a bunch of better bassers on here than me. i just do this for fun. guys like wrb, catt, jay, mattlures, randall, supermat, and plenty of others from all over the country here on br that are the REAL trophy hunters and catchers. kent (rw) is another one who has somehow managed to stay "under the radar" on here. he has caught a bunch more trophy class fish, both lm and sm, than most folks realize. of course fish chris does not even seem human sometimes. these guys consistently produce trophy class fish under more difficult circumstances than me. some of the guys i've mentioned have also been a huge help to me and i am indebted to them for their big fish wisdom. of course the trouble with those cali guys is that they never post what they caught until 3 months later (and sometimes not then) because of all the fishing pressure they have to contend with. ;D really, there is no magic or mojo associated with catching big bass. if they live where you fish and you fish the right times, spots, and tactics, anyone can catch them. i just wish there was more info out there (or on here) specifically related to pursuing and catching trophy class fish. i'll take all the help i can get. as far as the road trip goes, i really hope i can make it. simp that was very nice of you to say man. but honestly, i can count the number of times i've been on ky lake on one hand (and still not use all my fingers). and it's always been in someone else's boat. all i have to fish out of is a trolling motor powered jonboat-not exactly ideal for ky lake by any means. there will be a bunch of guys at the meet that will be much better sticks on ky lake than me. cj has to be at the top of the list. simp, i will be happy and honored to fish with you at the meet if i get to go. i just hope you have a boat with a gas motor. ;D thanks again guys and good luck out there.

great fish and great post. what's happening to the pond in 28 days though? it sure would bite to lose a fishin' hole like that. cool pix too.

sounds like y'all had a great time. fishing ky lake with cj is probably pretty close to fishing stick marsh with george or varner with randall. chris obviously knows the lake and can flat out stick 'em. i don't reckon y'all could have had a cooler guy to fish with. congrats to all of ya and thanks for what y'all are doing with the road trip. glad y'all had fun and hope y'all caught a bunch.

assuming your hooksetting mechanics were correct, you were rigged right, and you were not just getting bites from small fish that couldn't get the whole bait in their mouth, here are some possible remedies. 1. switch to a different style of hook. r-bend or hp hooks hold the plastics on pretty good and usually keep them from sliding off because of their design. if the cover is sparse, you could even go with weedless hooks. 2. instead of burying the hook point in the worm, bring it all the way through and "skin hook" the bait. 3. switch to braided line, at least for your main line. you can keep a mono or floro leader if you wanna. i don't though. i just use straight superline and carolina keepers. this eliminates having to tie all those knots and gives you a much better feel because of the uninterrupted line. 4. make sure the points on your hooks are sharp. if you are using dull or poor quality hooks, it's not gonna really matter what else you do because you are still gonna lose fish. 5. use a small barrel swivel to keep your bait from sliding off the hook. before you tie the hook on thread the line through one end of a swivel so it slides freely up and down the line. then tie the hook on and put it through the nose of the bait as usual. before putting the hook point back into the bait, put it through the other end of the swivel. slide the swivel up so it is snug by the eye of the hook and put your hook back into the bait. 6. peg the hook eye in the bait using a toothpick and break off the excess toothpick. 7. upgrade to a more powerful rod. this is obviously the most expensive solution, so i'd try the others before even thinking about this one. hope that helps.

nah rob, i only weighed her once. was in a hurry to get her back in the lake. it was pretty hot out there today and i didn't wanna stress her too bad. i'm pretty sure the scale was right though. it's just one of those good pictures where i'm holding the fish out pretty far. the fish did have a long frame though and would easily be capable of being a DD if she'd get a little more meat on her bones. maybe i'll meet up with her again when she's been eating a little better.

huge. good job man.