Wild Bill [NY]

Welcome aboard from NY.

OH...yup, it does haunt me. I remember it clearly. I was down in Texas, playing hooky [pun intended] for a week from my job while my wife was there for training at her Dallas based company's headquaters. She was there for three weeks, staying in a compnay condo alone, so I drove down, and while she was at training sessions all day, I was driving to Fork, and getting home in time to do an evening dinner with her.You know, so SHE wold not be lonely..yeah, right ! She had a company-paid food allotment that we both easily could eat on, so i just had to get myself there, and amuse myself while she'd go to training every day. All week I had been fishing with guys from texas that I had 'met' through the internet, getting to fish with them. Different guys almost every day, and I had a true gas that week, and my day's last guy said 'hey what you doing tommorow' which SHOULD have been the day I had to leave to go back home again. He tells me there is a heated lake right on my way home, right alongside the highway i got to take to go home, and he'll meet me there at the ramp atsunrise, so I can see and fish that water before I have to go back to NY... Well, what's a poor boy like me to do in a situation like that.. Come on,now, that did not take you tooooo long to figure out , did it, honestly? Well, the next morning, my brandy new good ol' boy pal Steve has me into them good. Nice TEXAS sized LMs, and we're sticking them, and giglling like two little school girls as we boat fish after fish . Well, I KNOW I get to get on the pony to make my planned stop for the night, as I am looking at about 27 hours of driving solo now, only staying that one pre-arranged and pre-paid night.. I say, let fish another five minutes to Steve, then I REALLY seriously have to go[despite not wanting to] to make it to the place in time for any sleep at all. Well , we get to this patch of grass emerging out of the water, and I sling this big green worm up into it, and just as I pull it into sight outof the weeds in the gin-clear water, this behomoth LM just darts out and inhales it fully, in clear sight of both of us, and I set the steel firmly to it. The fight was ON !!!! It darted easily 20 feet, me with my drag taking line as I pull back on the rod to try to control the fish,with me slightly thumbing the spool to slow it, and amazingly I did, and it now did a 180 turn from what it just had been doing, now paralleling the weedline again but in the other direction, as feverishily took p line with the reel. As the line tensed up again, it turned again, running at me, now right under the boat. I 'd swear I had jammed my rod down fast, but it must not have been fast enough, as obviously my line now cut on the bottom of the boat..losing the "beast from the weed". Steve goes to me..."You see how big that was..?" I say 'bigger than I have ever seen, and way bigger than what I ever caught"... He tells me that I had told him just yesterday I had come to Texas in hopes of sticking a ten, and well, that was better than a ten; about 12 to 14 pounds...he figured. I then had 27 hours behind the wheel to get myself home, thinking about it, and thinking about it, and thinking about it...yup, and even thinking about it some more. Yes, it haunts me...

I am going to throw a hissy fit if this dang ICE does not melt soon. LOL !

Welcome aboard from NY.

Welcome aboard from NY.

Welcome aboard from NY.

I like Bobby's Perfect Frog by SnagProof in the "Wild Bull Frog" color pattern. I better like that color; I designed it for them, No BS. I already have some of the Ish's Phat Frog, but have not thrown them yet, as we have ice for water right now. My second choice would be the Black one. I am a certifable Frog-aholic, and have been fishing them since 1969. Here's a cool pattern for targetting Bass with a frog; something I learned from Cal-delta frog-aholics on my trips fishing out there. Take a "Sparrow" [yes, it is a color pattern they sell] , and then toss it up under bridges that hang over the water where Sparrows will build nests hanging over the water. Plop it next to the bridge upright in those areas where they enter the water to simulate baby sparrows that have fallen out of nests. When doing this, be sure to not move your bait any distance, but instead, just make the frog sit in one place, making it quiver by just wiggling your rod tip some. keep in mind, newborn baby Sparrows are not swimmers, but instead will just panic in the water before they drown, flailing around, and that's why you just want them to wiggle around in one place. That's thinking OUTSIDE of Box of the typical 'frog' usage, huh ? Don't just think of a frog as only a 'frog' , but also as other small creatures found along edges of waters all around us that bass feed upon, like baby ducklings, Blackbirds, Mice, Moles, Rats, Etc... You'd be drop-jawed if you saw my 'frogging/Ratting' boxes, because I have made some cool, custom-made 'creatures' that I madeto resemeble some of the creatures mentioned above, like a frog that has a slight off-white belly, that I removed the strand 'legs' and instead glued two small yellow boot-tail legs in thier place, to look like duckling legs hanging down at rest, and kicking the same way when moving. Or "rats/mice" that I cut the factory tails off , and put a thin [floating] worm in it's place, like 4" straight-tailed Roboworms or even the Slender Senkos so that the tail moves more and looks far more realistic, in my opinion. Doctoring baits like this gives some of my baits a very unique look that they have not been conditioned to, and more importantly to me, gives me confidence that my bait looks more realistic than the way it came from the factory in replicating a certain forage specie. Okay, call me nuts..{LOL} I always slather frogs/rats with MegaStrike, for two reasons. It 'lubricates' the lure, so it slides around easier over cover, such as Lily pads, etc, and secondly, so that when "Mrs Bighead" comes up and engulfs the lure, the fish will get that "Mmmmm" good taste and hold onto it longer, giving me a longer window of time to set that hook. If nothing else, all these little modifcations that I do gives me great CONFIDENCE that I WILL CATCH FISH when using them under certain circumstances[like the bridge tactic, or the duckling hatch tactic], and that , in my mind at least, is as or MORE important than the chosen lure.

Congrats to all of you Eagles !! I made it to 'Life' , Order of the Arrow, and Senior Patrol Leader before all my buddies dropped out of it, and once that happened, I dropped out shortly afterwards, too [sadly].That was back in the 1960s... I now am involved in mentoring my local troop in freshwater fishing, and I supply them with gear and prizes for their annual fishing trip each Summer.

... Hey , hey now, let's not judge. I got two beautiful fiberglass mounts of Neon Tetras , one of a Gourami, and another fiberglass mount of a Guppy , but don't worry. I threw them all back. Free the fighters !!! Har, Har, Har !!

Pretty tough not to catch fish on a live nightcrawler. Was ANYTHING at least pecking at your bait ? What was your air temperature ??[roughly]

1533 [previous number] + my 49 = DANG, I don't have this many fingers !! {LOL} 1582 is the total now.

DVT, We should try and hook up somewhere to fish together. I am living out on Long Island, but I fish a lot of waters along both the rt 78 and rt 80 corridors on my Ranger. I was born and raised in NJ, and moved out here in 86

I started slinging plugs [as they were called back then] in 1960, with a Jitterbug my first lure ever. Amazingly, they still catch the tar out of them in low light. Most guys that fished only had a few lures. My grandfather would roll over in his grave if he ever saw all my tackle and rods, let alone my basboat. Back then, most guys learned fishing from thier Dads or grandfathers like I did, not by reading about it ,nor seeing it on TV, and we sure as all get out had no internet then. Times and things back then were way simpler. There were only a few channels on TV, and after a certain time, programming was DONE until it started again in the morning. In 1960, our family had ONE TV, and it was black and white, In 1960, we had no A/C in my family's car nor in the house either. We had a fan...{LOL} I have fished intensely my entire life; have never put it down.

Welcome aboard from NY.

Welcome aboard from Long Island NY.

My guess is that person was involved in either some kind of car/truck crash , or boat crash, where the lure got into is eye due to that. Look at all the other bruises and blood all over on him. Or somebody opened a very big can of whooparse on him. Looks like he had a very, very, very bad day one way or another.

That's why it is so important to know the laws of wherevere you are fishing.

Tops it would be is 5 pounds, at best. Here's the best formula to figure a fish's weight: BUY A SCALE . An eye will lie; a scale doesn't.

A "Cow's Tongue"

Nine, Welcome aboard from NY.

Had an aweseome day of fishing there with a local guy by the name of Steve Bennett.

Tin, That photo in your avatar now is kind of disturbing looking.. LMAO !!!

Welcome aboard from NY.

George, A few questions : 1].. Have you ever had a client have a heart attack when he saw the size of his fish ? 2].. Do you keep nitroglycerin tablets onboard your boat for such an occaision ? Dang, those are some hawgs !!

John specializes in what he told me was "japanese fish photography". Show them some examples of it, John. He can make a 3-pound largie look bigger than that new japanese world-record fish. har, har, har, har !!! "Arigato" in advance for humoring me again, John. {LOL}