Shane J

Great stuff, Rhino.

Exactly!

Catt, you will fall in love!

New Hampshire Maine Vermont Connecticut Massachusetts New York Rhode Island Virginia North Carolina Texas Arizona Wisconsin Colorado Pennsylvania

S. Texas, though, buddy.

Yup. Defense is a regular part of his game every time on the water.

That's awesome! I wish we had 8 letters.

Yes it is, Grip.

Thanks,Nev! I try to not actually blow up the lakes that He fishes, simply because he gets enough pressure, followers, and spot stealers, but he has a laundry list of lakes within a 16 hour drive of him, that he fishes regularly, and one of them is Falcon (only 8 hours from him), know what I'm sayin?

Thanks for your concern, guys. Actually, Phil, when that happened, we were not in a position to just stop navigating, or we would have sunk. Like A-Jay said, it's a battle, and you gotta stay on it. He did throw on his bilge system (which is huge, by the way,I think 3 1500 pumps), but messing around and hooking something up, no way! Have it hooked up, or it's useless.

That's a cool comparison shot, and you're absolutely right in what you say. There is one exception that deserves mentioning. Going totally opposite in the match thing can get you bites in certain scenarios. Let's say you find baitfish at 15', and bass arches suspended. Suspended bass can be some of the toughest ones to catch, and the fish that can make a difference on a tough day, or when it really matters come tournament day. Lets just say those baitfish are bluegills, which a lot of times in our area, they are. The obvious says, throw a bluegill-colored crank, right? Not always. The reason a lot of people can have a hard time catching those fish, is because they are trying to match those fish, but then they are competing directly with the real thing, and let's face it, nothing looks more like the real thing to a bass, than the real thing. Sometimes if you go with something like silver or white, worked right in there with those fish, and it stands out enough to be the choice when a bass strikes. Weird, I know, but it works. I had a memorable day on the water a couple years ago, where the fish were off structure and suspended. There were gills, and when I worked anything down there with bluegill colored stuff... nothin'. Then I cut off the bluegill lipless I was using, tied on a Sexy Shad one, and instantly caught a 5 pounder. Within a few hours, I had 5 fish over 5lbs, plus 12 or so others between 3-4 lbs, all on the sexy shad crank, and we don't even have threadfin shad here. I'm not the worlds most avid crank bait guy, but the same can apply to plastics and jigs as well, and have numerous times where my best action, and biggest fish, have come on some non conventional color choices. Great post, though, Mainebass, and to answer your question, my lunker this time around was just over 10lbs. We lost a lot of time on this time around due to high winds, and extreme frontal and post frontal conditions for the first two days. We worked through it, though, and landed some beautiful fish. Big O got one about 11.5 lbs.

Thanks, buddy! Yeah, it was great, as usual, and I'm ready to go back!!

Fishing with Big O in S. Texas this past week, and we did it. I gotta say, that was one crazy, very scary experience. I had never been through it before to that extent, and I thought we were done! Now, that guy can drive a boat as good as anybody, and his 21i Class Skeeter, is arguably the best big water bass boat on the market, however sometimes, tragedy will strike. We had gotten on the water about 7:30 am, and found gorgeous conditions. 75+ degrees, light breeze, and clear skies. As we motored out, and were getting ready to head to our first spot, I looked out behind us, and saw the coolest cloud formation I had ever seen. A long, unicorn horn-shaped cloud, that went all the way across the lake. It was amazing and beautiful, so we took a few pics. (They don't do it any justice) As we watched it over the next few minutes, we noticed that it was rolling in a drill type fashion, and moving down lake in one huge mass. It got closer and closer, until it was obviously going to pass over us. Big O idled around, and we ventured up under the thing. I couldn't believe the difference right under it. It was easily 20 degrees colder under it, and the wind was ripping at about a constant 20-30mph. We went through to the other side, and the wind was picking up fast (probably about 40 mph), and the lake was getting worked up big time. Heading to a sheltered cove to wait it out, we figured once this "squall" passed, we'd be fine, so we decided to cross the lake and wait it out in a North wind-sheltered cove on the other side. It was about a mile or so to the other side. Going across, we were going with the waves, which had now gotten to be about 4'-6' rollers. I didn't realize, that is the most dangerous way to approach big waves, especially when they are tight together. This lake was worked into a frenzy, and waves were coming from everywhere it seemed. We made it about 3/4 across before it happened. Came up on top of a wave, and as the boat came down off it, BAM! Wave had come from the side, and we speared. The boat was instantly full of water, I thought I was gonna drown, gear everywhere, electronics both slammed down, and we were sitting in water up to our waists. Big O hit the throttle in a lightning fast reaction, dumping hundreds of gallons of water out the back of the boat, and saving the boat from sinking, but we were hit bad. We got to the other side to wait and assess the damage. Trolling motor broken, lost gear, two swamped Lowrance units, and of course, we were soaked and freezing in that wind. I'll tell ya, THAT SUCKED, and I wouldn't wish that on even my worst enemy. Looking back, we should have known better, but hey, what are you gonna do? 20/20 hindsight, you know? Anybody else ever lived through this frightening experience? Maybe we could spare someone else from having it happen to them, and possibly even save a life.

Yessir! Works the bomb with a pegged 1/2oz weight, I can tell ya that much!

Actually, there is. Mark Davis sorta let the cat out of the bag on this bait, but I'm not at liberty to post any photos of it yet, sorry. By the way, that's all Mark was throwing for the first two days at Seminole, and he's doing ok I'd say!

This one was the biggest for me for the week. Caught this lovely lady on a New Rage Bug, also in Blue Craw, but in 12' water, and swimming the bait. The bass we found on this point were eating baitfish. Funny thing was, was Two casts earlier, I had a 7 or 8 pounder hooked up, but she got off on me. Then I got this doll, and she was heavier anyway, so I wasn't mad anymore!!

Thank you, Joyofthecatch. That one was on a Blue Craw (the red you see in the pic, is from a dash of red dye marker I put on there to create a "Tequilla Sunrise " color) Rage Tail Space Monkey, 6/0 heavy wire Moaner Stick'r hook, with a 5/8 pegged Tungsten weight. We were flipping 4-6' trees, and she decided she just had to have it! Lot of fun winching those hoggies out of close-quarters trees!!

The Rage Bug will be introduced at iCast. That bait is so money, it's not even funny. Me 'n Big O just had a field day on the fish with that thing, and OH, BABY!!!

Guess who's back? Back again..... Ya'll miss me?

Thanks, man! I think I will!

I should be back sometime before April. Maybe.

Alright, guys, I'm outta here! You all hold down the 603, and hopefully by the time I get back, the weather has turned a heck of a lot warmer! Anybody needs to reach me, call Big O's #. He has a better plan than me!

Yeah, there ya go, buddy. Find those Wal Marts, find the best fish. Simple as that.

Yes, the Grub will either push up or down, depending on how you rig it. That's another one I use on a swim jig a lot.

Geez, Speedbead, why'd you sugar coat it so much?