Randall

I can't remember where I saw it but there is a company that makes big swimbaits out of the same stuff.

Fluke thanks for posting that. I noticed there is no record for GA in two classes and the other one can be broken. I guess I will go get me some 4lb line and try to break the 4lb line one first while its still cold. I was going to try to catch my world record mud fish again but it might be more fun to try and break that four pound line record.

Needemp, I would have to disagree with most of you original post. I don't agree with any of the second or third paragraphs. I think both tournament anglers and trophy hunters can be seen as equal in what they do. In each there are people who are among the best at what they do whether it be catching the biggest limit or catching the biggest fish. Neither is easy. You can't compare apples to oranges so why try. I have seen people on both sides try to compare and debate as to which is the better fishermen and IMHO you can't compare the two that way since both have different goals. There are fewer people who are targeting the biggest fish in the lake across the US and it takes a different mentality to just target big fish. If most had to just target big fish most would quit since most lack the confidence and preserverence to keep fishing for one big bite. Tournament or recreational type fishermen have smaller fish biting more often and can see sucess faster in the short term and have TV shows to watch on the weekend to keep them going so there are more of them. This equals more competition and more high caliber fishermen in the long run out of sheer numbers of people doing it. But, I dont think neither is a better fishermen than the other. Just two people doing the same thing with different goals and end results. All trophy fishermen do not live in California and all do not use swimbaits or live bait all of the time. California is just the place in the US right now with most of the biggest fish caught so it has recieved the most attention and thats the baits that have had the most attention. I am sure there are plenty of other people like myself that go out and specificly target big fish who live all over the US and fish other baits. There are probably some as good as the more famous California fishermen but since they live in different states and fish in different waters so they just haven't had the same chance at publicity as the California guys. But, thats just how it is. The media goes with what gets people to pay attention and 18lb plus fish get peoples attention more than 15lb fish or smalller.

15lb 8oz bass. I was fishing shallow muddy water with shallow cranks hitting stumps that were just inches under the water when I saw a flash just under the surface I thought was a carp. Looked back to where it was and saw a huge bass swim up over the stump and just sit there. It was spawning on top of the stump. Fished for it for around four hours with a jig and I finally decided to throw a suspending rattle trap at it since thats what it flashed at the first time. Hit the stump and let it suspend just over the stump and I saw a big mouth open and close so I set the hook. Fish ran right at the boat which was just a few feet away from the stump. When it got to the side of the boat it jumped one time and the hook tore out of the mouth of the fish. It was almost dark so I left and came back the next day looking for the fish. Theres an older guy on the bank in a chair with a big grin on his face who after watching me circle the stump for a while tells me that the fish is gone but I can see a photo of it in the park office. He had seen me lose the fish and came back early the next morning and caught it. Weighed 15.8 lbs and was caught with a little red and white bobber, Zebco 33 combo, and a crappie minnow. He actually released the fish and showed me photos later of about five other fish he had caught over ten pounds on minnows out of the lake fishing from the bank in his lawn chair. At least somebody else caught it so I knew how big it was or I might be telling this story about a 20-25lb bass that got off. ;D I did have a much bigger fish that I caught that sort of got away. This past June I hooked and landed a World Record size mudfish on a DT-10 crankbait I had no idea what the world record was (I had heard stories of fifty pounders) so I was on the front deck of the boat weighing the fish (between 23-24 lbs) when it jumped off the hook on the scale flopped around and went back in the water. About a month later I am reading a magazine and see the new GA record for a mudfish is only nine or ten pounds. Mine was more than double that size and I let it get away and never once tried to stop it from getting back into the water. I looked up the WR to see how close I was to it and found out that I would have blown the record away by a few pounds. Not that I want to be called the mudfish king but still might have been cool to have a WR fish.

Ok, I am going to tell you all the real reason why weight calculators dont work. ;D This gizzard shad came out of an 11.9 lb fish. The weight calcualtor don't know if this one pound shad or one even bigger was just eaten by the fish or not. Largemouth bass have been reported to eat a gizzard shad up to half their length in size and I am sure some California fish eat some big trout up to a couple pounds as well. I have caught big smallmouths on big sucker minnows about half their size as well so I think this proves guessing and weight calculators don't work.

I use the spotstickers sometimes when not fishing around grass and when I feel like a need a 90 degree bend jighead. The guys who run the company are really good guys as well.

Best all around jighead is the Spot Stalker. Can be used on almost any soft plastic. Works in grass since it has a grass head but also works in other types of cover well. Has a removeable wire weedguard so it can be fished with the weedguard or Alabama rigged (Texas rig on a jighead). Has a strong enough hook for heavy cover and giant bass but light enough hook to use with light line. Comes in a bunch of different weights. Has a dimple on the bottom which allows use of a heavier jigjead with a slower rate of fall. Has a stand up head. Great keeper behind the head so the worm don't slide down but also isn't in the way of a good hookset. Has an excellent hook up ratio. I don't know of any other jighead that does this many things as well as this jighead. This is the only one I have found that can do it all. www.unclejosh.com

Heres the number I have for Strikezone Lures who makes them. 334-616-6959. I haven't called it recently so it may or may not be a good number.

Best bang for the buck is an Eagle Cuda on sale it can be bought for around $50. If you want to spend more for something a little nicer then the Eagle Fishmark 320.

Each hook has its place. I use Owner Rig'n hook in thick plastics and horizonal hooksets like on a Carolina rig or splitshot. If you are seting the hook on a fish at more of an angle like when flipping or in deep water under the boat then I use the straight shank hook because it will hook more fish at that angle. The offset hook will blow the mouth of the fish open and cause a miss. I said this in an earlier post and someone sent me an email telling me to look at page 78 and 79 in KVD's book since most still insisted that the off-set hook doesn't cause a problem. KVD, Larry Nixon, Denny Brauer and a bunch more guys I have heard say this before who have made millions agree with this. ;)Quotes from KVD book Secrects of a Champion: Perhaps the most important trick I learned about worm fishing came from Larry Nixon, arguably the best worm fisherman in America. Larry says you will catch more fish with a straight shank hook than you will an off-set hook design, with the later being more popular among weekend anglers. I've found that when a bass bites down on an offset hook and you jerk, the offset design can actually blow the fishes mouth open.

Motorguides biggest reason for going digital was that there motors were burning up circut boards. In other words they were losing customers at a very fast rate to MinnKota because of poor quality motors. So they went digital and promised they were better motors. MinnKota is still more efficent than the digital Motorguide so if you want a more efficient motor get a MinnKota but neither would be worth paying for a whole new motor in most cases.

Looking at how that one is hooked up behind that big jaw bone I would have to guess if you had a Spot Remover on that one would be a missed hookset. ;D For the record Randall don't use Spot Removers just Fluke and he hasn't gone double digit on one yet. ;D I have had three double digits on Spot Stalkers and Spotstickers in my boat though. Nice fish. Did you weigh it?

Suspended fish always want to eat right at the level they are suspended or just above them. Most of the time they will not pick up a bait off the bottom. Most suspended fish are inactive and not actually seeking food but just siting there waiting for it to come to them. When I fish the jighead off the bottom I don't fish it faster but use a lighter jighead and as I shake it and move it will rise up off the bottom and fall back slowly. The fact that it stays in front of the suspended fish longer than a heavy jighead or texas rig gets the fish to strike it since it is an easy meal for the fish that it will not have to chase.

I find fish by running and gunning. Your buddy couldn't keep up with me when I am running and gunning. :oI will fish a buzzbait, topwater, crankbait or spinnerbait sometimes at Varner with all three trolling motors on high to find the fish. I am not even trying to catch them. I just want to see them flash on the bait to give away their location as I whiz by. Then I go back and work each spot over where I catch a fish or see a fish and fish every inch of it. I want to know the exact spot the fish feed when active and where they hold when inactive. Do they suspend or hide down in the grass or cover when they aren't feeding? I also want to know how they travel back and forth across the structure to get from place to place. Now, by the time you see me I already know exactly where these fish live, how they live there, and why they live there. I know where the bigger fish are most likely to come from and where numbers of smaller fish are more likely to come from on the same point, ledge, etc. This all gives me the confidence to slow down and work a spot until I hit a fish in the head and it has to bite when the fish aren't biting because I know exactly where they live. If the fish are biting I just fish a faster bait and catch even more fish but I have no reason to run spot to spot to do it until I have already caught all I can off that spot. My boat only does 3.5-4.0 mph so I am better off staying put and catching one or two more where I know I can catch one or two more fish instead of running to another spot where the fish probably aren't biting any better and wasteing time running when I could be fishing. If you look at all the guys that win Varner tournaments on a regular basis this is how all of them fish. I learned most of it by fishing with and watching them fish. Once they find the fish they know how to catch them even if they aren't biting. There is only so much running and gunning you can do at less than five MPH and still expect to catch fish. But, If your buddy has no confidence in the spot it would be hard to expect him to stay put as long as I do. So, use your time in his boat to find some fish and new spots then go back in your boat later and actually learn the spots and catch more fish.

Yep! After we caught this one we made a few more last casts though. ;D

I forgot the part about jigheads catching suspended fish. I agree with Chris there. Ninty five percent of my worm fishing is done with dropshot rigs, jigheads and splitshot rigs. I rarely fish a Texas rig and almost never throw a Carolina rig. Most fish are not located on the bottom but just above it and unless they are real active they will not go to the bottom to get a bait on a C-rig or Texas Rig but fishing the jighead you are fishing for the fish on the bottom and suspended off the bottom in a more effective way so it increases the number of fish that may bite the bait as well.

When Mike D and Lunkerville came down to Atlanta I wanted so bad to take them to Lake Varner where I have caught a bunch of ten plus pounders but the weather called for 101 degrees and we could have caught nothing so I chose a numbers lake for the show. Varner is an incredible big fish fishery but can be tough when the water temp gets over 90 degrees. I didnt want them to come all the way from NY to go back without a show. Both Mike and myself had big fish on but they both got off before they were seen. Also remember in reality most fishing shows you see on TV are not real. I remember a few years ago it took six pounds a day to win BASS angler of the year so If you could catch six dinks everyday you could be the best Pro fishermen on the BASS tour. That kind of puts it all in perspective. The lakes up in the NY area where Mike does most of his shows have a bunch of quality four to seven pound fish that I have seen posted on his other website but in reality most people don't catch those everyday and the show is about the everyday guy catching fish the way it really happens. Its what I like about the show.

The main two differences are that a Texas rig when rigged with a straight tail worm presents the bait perpendicular to the bottom while the jighead presents the worm horizonal or parallel to the bottom and in most cases and that a jighead and worm hooks a fish in the roof of the mouth most of the time since the hook point stays up while a Texas Rig hooks a fish in the side of the lips more often where the hook can be thrown by the fish more easily. The only time I like to use a Texas rig is when getting reaction bites by dropping a worm into cover or swimming a ribbontail worm steady up off the bottom. Since most everything moves horizonal to the bottom most of the time as it travels through the water when swimming, the jighead and worm makes a more natural presentation and gets more strikes and IMHO catches bigger fish as well. There are some jigheads that make a bait stand up of the bottom when stopped because of a standup head as well but I dont want my worm to standing up because it moves the worm from the horizonal position where it works so well.

I dont know if this would intrest you but I noticed Trition Mike has a X-85 Lowrance for sale in the Fishing Flea Market for $125.

I was on the show as well on a hot day in July that hit 101 degrees. You can watch the "Georgia On My Mind" show at www.lunkerville.com and watch me sweat while catching fish in 90+ degree water. Mike D as well as the other Lunkerville guys were a fun bunch to hang out with. Dodgeguy from here was also on a show. I have had a couple other people that wanted me to stockpile big fish for a week etc. to make a fake show for them and I wouldnt agree to do their shows. Mike D. and Lunkerville put me on the show and showed it how it really happened. It was a really tough day to fish and we didnt catch any monsters although we caught fish but its just like the show says, "Real people, real fish stories".

I would suggest the 320C if you like it. The only reason I asked is I take a bunch of people fishing who tell me they don't like their fishfinder. After I teach them how to use it they almost always like the one they already have. Most people expect to see perfect arches, bait and brush on their screen. After they realize that the screen almost never looks like it does in the comercials, brochures, packaging they discover nothing was ever wrong with the depthfinder they have.

Ryan, What dont you like about the one you have already? The lowest price Eagles and the ones for $150 aren't much different. If its the pixel count or if you want a color model then it may make a difference otherwise you may just be getting about the same thing. For beginners using a jonboat I would suggest an $50 when on sale at Bass Pro Eagle Cuda or the 320. It will do the same thing as all the others and work better in some cases than expensive high power models.

Forgot to add all these fish came from 46-48 degree water.

Most of these were in a livewell all day.

This one was in a livewell for a couple of hours.