Daniel My Brother

x2, me too. Loyalty, schmoyalty. ;D X 3

Great fish...and those action shots on the tube are awesome.

Sunday afternoon my friend Mark invited me to fish at his family's farm. If there is one rule I live by, it's never turn down an offer to fish a farm pond. They're like boxes of chocolates Mark started by throwing a small jig and was catching crappie on just about every other cast. He stayed with that little chartreuse jig for most of the day. While I like Senkos, I chose a sturdier (and cheaper) Tiki Stick for these aggressive pond bass, and started whacking em pretty good, some up to 2 pounds. The bite slowed down as the sun started to set, so I switched to a white buzzbait. I was working the weedlines and had a couple of smaller fish offer at it, but I tried to set the hook too soon and missed both. I then made a long cast to the center of the pond and as I'm bringing the buzzer in, I see a V-shaped wake following. I know she's going to hit it and I tell myself to be patient. She takes the bait and I wait a beat, then set the hook hard. I knew right away this was a better fish. She fought hard, peeled line, jumped once, then relented. Best fight of the year resulted in the second best fish of the year. 5lbs, 12oz. Thanks for reading.

Great report. Nothing beats wading streams with family and friends. I hope to get out and wade for smallies sometime in the next week or so.

We cut the gills parallel to the fish's lateral line and that helps keep the blood off of the meat, but it really doesn't affect the way the fish tastes. If I'm keeping fish, I will bring a cooler and immediately throw the fish on ice after I catch it. It makes cleaning the fish easier, and the meat is nice and firm to cut. If you're keeping bass, I'll suggest keeping only the smaller ones (under 15 inches)...they taste better and are more abundant. Throw back the bigguns, don't keep more than your limit, and enjoy!

The only time I notice is when I switch reels. I can fish all day with a an Abu C4 and be happy as a clam. But if I switch to a lighter, low-profile reel, I don't enjoy going back to the heavier reel.

I'm a big fan of Extreme rods, especially if you can find them on sale or buy as a combo. They're plenty light and sensitive for my needs, but I have nothing high-end to compare to so I'll stop there.

Amen. I miss canoeing around the strip pits, and portaging over to little known ponds. Now those ponds are surrounded by homes and I no longer have permission to fish. :-/ Enjoy your flashback and stick a pig!

Sometimes with a closed faced reel, slack line gets reeled in and makes loops and kinks that cause casting problems. If you cast and the line gets stuck, stop and pull out as much line as you need to until it comes out easily...Then hold the rod with your left hand a few inches in front of the reel and pinch the line between your thumb and forefinger as you reel in. This little bit of tension on the line will help it stay flat on the reel and cast easier. Bottom line, whenever you reel in a spincast reel, try to keep a modest amount of tension on the line. If your line is already kinked, or knotted, you'll need to replace it. A better solution, if you plan to fish often, is to switch to an open faced spinning reel.

Thanks for the comments. My 8 year old actually skipped a birthday party so that she could go fishing! There really just isn't anything the girls like more than watching that bobber go under. As far as my big bass, it was pure blind luck. I was having a blast catching 15" fish in a stocked pond, when a big one just happened by.

Nice fish, Cliff! Do you drive an electric golf cart to go fish? If so, I think you've found the ultimate way to beat the cost of gas. Dan

WOW! Another great fish and story! You need to write for a magazine.

What a blast! We took my daughter's Girl Scout troop camping at a friend's farm last night. This farm has a small lake that's known for great bluegill fishing, big crappie, and a few monster bass. We were lucky enough to experience all three! For the first 4 hours my job was to bait hooks, take pictures, and clean fish. Here's my 10 year old with one of the many fine bluegill she caught. Here's a closeup of the fish (please note, I call all sunfish bluegill because I don't know any better) Here's my 8 year old on the right with a basket of fish she and her friends caught (That's me cleaning fish in the background...I miss my electric knife!) Here's a closeup of their catch, good times! Here's a girl holding a fish the right way (Close to the camera!) one of many 12" crappie that were caught. After a big fried fish dinner, and songs around the fire, the girls fell asleep hard. I knew my best chance to fish without interuption would mean getting up at first light, and being quiet. I snuck out of the cabin at 5am and started throwing a 5" watermelon / black flake Tiki Stick. Immediately I started catching fish, but none much bigger than a pound. Oh well, still fun. Then I hooked into this girl! I was thrilled to see her weigh in at 7lbs 4oz!!! A NEW PB (after YEARS of trying!) Check out her belly! And finally, my new avatar! If you look closely you'll see a line coming out of her gill. She obviously swallowed a hook recently, and only the line and a small splitshot remained. I removed the splitshot and set her free to be caught another day. Thank you for looking!

Moves like a champ and sounds like a lawn mower. I like it!

I fish from a jon on a few 10hp lakes under within an hour of home, so gas hasn't affected my fishing much. I am going to put a hitch on my Mercury Sable to pull the jon boat, it gets much better mileage than the van I've been using, and the jon doesn't weigh much at all.

On second thought, I'll go with "throw back the big ones" (and always bring a camera and a scale---we're not good at guessing)

Learn to tie a palomar knot.

Chicken livers and nightcrawlers will catch catfish all day long. CORRECTION, they will catch little catfish all day long. If you want BIG catfish you first need to identify what species you're after. Big flatheads like live bait, sunfish are perfect. Big blue cats prefer cutbait, and they prefer the head of a skipjack herring over a fillet. Stomp on that head so the juices are flowing, then rig it on a big circle hook. Good luck getting your revenge! Dan

That's VERY impressive. I'm guessing not too many bass fishermen around there are throwing 9 inch swimbaits! Congrats again on a true hog!

That is a great tip. Can anybody second this?

If money is no object, more thrust is always better. BUT...you don't need a lot of power to push (or pull) a 12 foot jon. I use a $99, 36# thrust on my 14 foot jon and it gets around fine. Not much practical difference between motor guide and minn kota. Both build fine motors.

3 DON'TS to a happy marriage: 1. DON'T utter the word threesome. 2. DON'T ever mention her weight. 3. DON'T try to mix fishng and anniversary.

Out and about: Busch Light for fishing Stag for bowling (it's a SE Missouri thing) Around the house: Corona with lime in the summer Bud Light longnecks in the winter I like just about any beer in a bottle, but sometimes cans are more practical. Very good thread! Cheers, Dan

I didn't have much luck with them, and I've never read about anyone else having a whole lot of luck with them either. It sure looks like it should catch fish. Good luck!

Average 4 pounders!!!! You guys are killing me! I probably catch 6 fish in the over/under 1 pound range for every fish in the 2 to 5 pound range. 6+ pound fish are rare for me. Oh well, still plenty-o-fun.