Fish Chris

In half a second, I know the answer..... And don't get me wrong, I am NOT a fan boy of G Loomis rods. In general, their pretty nice I guess... overpriced. But anyway, my favorite rod on the planet, which I have used for nearly everything from Bluegills to Sturgeon, are my G Loomis SR720's They are in the GLX series, so they are only like $110 (cheap, for Loomis) and they are a 6ft, 1 piece, rated for 1-4 lb mono. They just have such a sweet bend They are also very well suited for use with a 1000 series spinning reel, and 2 or 3 lb diameter, 10 lb test braided line. I've owned 3 of them. One got broken by a Halibut, but not how you think I had landed this big, bad-azz CA Halibut {IMPO, better eating than Alaskan Halibut, even though they don't get as big} I think it was 16 lbs. So I net it, set my pole down in the boat, bring the fish into the boat, and it immediatly starts beating the living $##@ out of the boat deck, as it slowly worked its way over the top of my pole, and..... Oh SNAP ! I'll tell you one thing though, that fish paid with its life ! And I still got the rod replaced for half off Oh, I've caught a bunch of big LMB on them too. Several double digits I know, but at least one 13 lb'er.... Small fry though, compared to 100 to 150lb+ Sturgeon < Those are a real challenge If G Loomis ever stops making this rod, I will sell my truck, and by the last 50 of them LOL Peace, Fish

To answer the original question, I LOVE white braid Way easier to see on my end, especially my micro braid I use on the ultra lights, and since I always use a mono leader anyway, no problem. Yes, I used to use braid straight to my hooks or lures, and I used brown and green markers with a slit cut in the tips, to pull my line through. How much difference that made to the fish ? Eh... probably not much. But for way more reasons than just line visibility, I almost always use a mono leader for all of my braided line fishing anyway. Fish

Megastrike, only once, a long time ago I used this line, as a leader material. Granted, the formula has probably been changed since then, and even then, I might have just got a bad spool {mono, and its lame shelf life} but I broke off two nice bass, back to back, after never have had broken off any on several previous trips, when I used Seaguar. Just got the P Line Flouroclear in a pinch..... and it bit me ! It's cool.... I use my Tuf line for pretty much everything anyway, and I'm getting to not be too picky with my leaders.... B. Big Game, Maxima mean green, and of course, Seaguar are all fine. Fish

Thanks guys Glad you liked them. Maybe I should ask the girl at the check in station, at my favorite lake, if she will let me take her picture I think you guys would approve Peace, Fish

At least I've been catching a few nice shots Here's a few more from yesterday and today... The first is a heavy crop, and might seem like just another Egret..... But we mostly have Great's and Snowies. Cattle Egrets like this one are rare in these parts. Avocet Walked out my front door yesterday, and was greeted by about 50 Cedar Waxwings Such cool little birds ! Close enough ? This shot has zero cropping. I was just so close, that my 400 F5.6 was over filled Focus hit good though. I kind of like the shot as is though.... Peace, Fish edit: sorry, those verticle shots sure mess with the auto sizing feature of the web page, don't they ?

Hey FishinDaddy, my camera is a T1i, but to be honest, it has given me fits.... My 400 F5.6 lens, on the other hand, is sweet ! Fish

Okay guys, I scrubbed it with warm water, dish detergent, and borax, then rinsed and dried.... Then scrubbed with bleach, rinsed, and dried. After work last night, it smelled 100 X's better.... only a hint of nastiness, which should eventually go away. The vanilla extract sounds good > if I could afford it ! Seriously, I love that stuff for my oatmeal, but it's like $5 for 2 oz ! ......when what I really need, is a 5 gallon jug Peace, Fish

I use braided line.... So I'd just pull the fish "and the tree" in Fish

Well much thanks again all Hey Fishing Rhino, I'm flattered..... but in this day and age, with all of the cheap, amazing technology available, and of course > The Internet, everyone and their Grandmother is shooting like a pro ! LOL Seriously, anytime I get to thinking I am shooting some pretty cool stuff, I just go to a few photo websites I know of, and "Wow ! Look at that" !!! That sets me right back in my place Their are just a tremendous number of great photographers out there nowadays. Basically, most anyone who wants to be one, can. But obviously it helps to have "the eye" for it too Peace, Fish PS, I'll be on the water tomorrow, and my cameras are as much of a must, as my poles Hope to post some photos of something cool in the next couple days Be it a trophy C/R, or a nature shot, either way

Thank you Bassn. I've been thiniking about having that one printed on aluminum for my parents...... Fish

Thank you Glen Fish

Thank you SoFla Man, that sure is an awesome Peacock Bass in your avatar ! If you didn't put this shot in the "best catch besides bass" thread, since the last time I checked > you should ! That thing is just big, beautiful, and very cool ! I'm envious Peace, Fish

that some of you might enjoy I've been out with the camera a couple X's in the last few weeks, and these were taken in those two trips...... This little Momma Kildeer was sitting on a nest she built 8" onto the side of the gravel road ! But she was smart..... she built it right behind (or in front, depending on your direction) of about a 15 lb rock, sitting on the side of the road. Anybody hit her, and they better be ready to swap with a new tire / wheel White Faced Ibis. Trippy birds Down the hatch ! Normally, backlighting kills me, but I kind of like the effect with these Bufflehead's In-Flight. American Bittern. Really tough for me to catch. This was still BL, and a heany crop.... but I thought, usable. You ever hear these things "drumming" ??? One of the craziest sounds in nature ! Oh.... and shot through my {dirty... on the outside} bedroom window. I was surprised how nice it came out. That's all for now Hope you enjoyed them Peace, Fish PS, Even If you see these shots, scaled down, and they look okay.... still, please try this, expand them to full size, then set your monitor for 100%. This will give you max detail Oh also, these should be big enough for a desk top, so if you want to use one, feel free. I think you can grab them from here, right ? Not protected ? If so, just ask. I'll e-mail it to you.

Got some bleach, some borax, scotch bright sponge pads, and disposable rubber gloves this evening.... Oh, I probably shouldn't mix the bleach and the borax, huh ? That just sounds bad...... Plan to hit it tomorrow morning before work. Will report back. Peace, Fish

Well, superficially (because of the black stripe) they resemble baby LMB fry.... But I'm leaning towards some sort of a minnow or shiner. As was as was asked, "Are they hanging in a swarm in one small area ? Is there an obvious bass bed nearby" ? I say, 90% chance of minnows or shiners (of which there are countless species) or 10% chance, LMB fry. An up close, clear, macro photo would make it easier to tell..... Peace, Fish

Really ? That's a trip. Do you have any idea why, or how this is supposed to work ? Fish

Totally agreed Thanks again guys Good fishing to all of you this Spring Fish

Right on. Thanks guys. I think I might try all of those things... And yea', our weather is supposedly going to turn really nice for us in the next day or two.... so the ice box will certainly be outside, and open... but I need to move it to the sunny side of the house Fish Oh hey, I forgot to say this, but it's pretty weird; So, as I was saying, that stuff in the ice box was like some kind of blue grey soup ! However, their was no sign of an actual fish... no skin, no bones, not even the skull ! But when I emptied, and went to rinse the thing out the first time, there was like a photo copy of the split tail, printed right into the bottom of one end of the ice box ! It was perfect too ! You could see all the fin rays in the tail ! gill plate, eye socket ! How weird is that ? Didn't hardly want to scrub out, either.

First off, I'm a dum bass ! So I hadn't been fishing for Stripers, for about 4 months (unheard of for me to go that long without fishing, but anyway) and so, > 4 months ago, I accidentally left a 13" Split Tail, in my 100 qt live well {icebox} So I go to open the box, and Bam ! I swear there was 15 gallons of the ugliest, blue Grey colored water I have ever seen ! It didn't smell like fish, but rather a bunch of really foul roadkill ! Now, I sure wish that had been my old live well, as I'd have tossed it, and never looked back.... But this one is basically brand new ! So here's what I have tried.... I scrubbed the whole thing with dish detergent, and hot water, then, while it was still wet, I completely coated the whole thing with baking soda, and lit it sit, for a couple days. Washed all that out yesterday morning, dried it, and sprayed the whole inside of it with the 100% real citrus spray {awesome air freshener if you can find it} >figuring if the baking soda was really basic, and pushing everything that way, that as a followup, I'd hit it with something the other direction, toward acidic. Then set it by my front door, open, So today, when I came home from work, I walked up and it kinda' smelled like, you were on an orange farm, where the farmer had been shooting possums, and leaving them laying there !!!! I'm sorry sir, but this is not acceptable ! You guys gotta help me out here ! What do I need ? Sulfuric Acid ? A bench grinder ? High explosives ? LOL I REALLY don't want to have to throw this one away..... nor order another one Thanks guys, Fish Edit: What about lye ? Where do you get that stuff ? What's it normally used for ? Oh, I did think about bleach at first too.... but might have been using it as a livewell the next day, and was a little spooked by using chlorine.... of course I'd rinse it really well.

Good job man That's a nice one in anybodys book ! Contiunued success to you Fish

Thanks guys. Tom, it's true ! The thing about this lake, is that it is a medium sized lake (about 3800 acres) yet it has a HUUUGE watershed. {area of land which drains into it} Basically it recieves a large portion of the Sierra mountain run off, through the Merced River. So this 10ft rise, in the last 10 days, was basically from a storm system that might have given us an average of 2" rain, in a few days (a single, medium sized system). During hard rains... especially Spring tropical rains, that melt a ton of snow, they empty as fast as they can, and can still barely keep up ! Peace, Fish

In case you didn't already know this, please allow me to teach you something that I should have.... well, I kind of did already know... > Quickly rising water, especially during the spawn, is ALL BAD ! I had heard reports that my favorite trophy lake had risen about 1ft per day, for the last 8 or 10 days, and was almost to the spill way. What this means, is that even if any fish had started to build, and get on beds last week, this week, they were either to deep for the fish to use... OR, too deep for the fishermen to see ! Worst yet, that new 8 to 10 "top" feet of the lake, are coming straight down from the Sierra Mountains > read: freezing cold snow run off. Brrrrrr ! So while the lake should be getting 1 or 2 degrees warmer, each week, instead, I would bet the lake dropped by two degrees, when it should have been warming ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of this said ^ It's freaking Apr. the 9th (later than I have ever started bass fishing) on the best trophy Smallmouth, and Northern LMB lake in Nor Cal ! Surely I could scratch out a nice one or two, right ? Wrong ! I worked hard for 9 hours. Threw crawlers in all of the best holding areas. Through Huds on every hump, point, etc, that I have ever caught swimbait fish in this lake, on..... and zero ! Finally, at like 6pm last evening, on my way back to the ramp, I through the Hud again, at a spot which always has fish on it, but they get constantly hammered on.... And Bam ! I got totally freight trained.... but no hook up Probably a 6 to 8 lb N LMB, since this is what the lake has so many of. But that was it Water temp was in the low 50's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, what to do in the near future ? I know the rising water won't be an issue any more, as the water will be at the spillway today, or tomorrow. But my next big concern, is that a good sized area near the dam, had started a big, ugly red/brown algae bloom, just between morning and evening ! By next week, that whole lake could be a big red/brown mess ! It would actually make sense too. Think about all of the additional nutrients from hundreds of acres of newly flooded land, plus the stuff in the new water itself ! Certainly won't go back next week, without talking to the marina next weekend...... It was still a nice, relaxing day though. Got down to a tank top for about 3hrs That felt good. Maybe I should wait until May..... or June ? Heck, if they aren't on by then, it will be time for the Sunfish ! WTH ? Oh well. Peace, Fish

Probably fly-lining a live crawler, on micro-light gear..... Although I've caught most of my biggest ones sight fishing with soft plastics. Fish

Dwight, I think you must have taken the 'Fish Chris' school of fish photography Had you said all you got was that 9+ lb'er your holding, I'd have probably believed it ! LOL Seriously though, what a chunk ! And hey, with that black birth mark on her tail, you will know you have caught her again, when she really is 9 lbs ! Stay on em' buddy Fish

I SO want to get a huge "Bluegill". My pond has pretty big ones.... maybe a 2 1/2, but a 3 would surprise me. They always seem to run a little smaller than the Redears {shellcrackers..... or if your from South Louisiana, it would be a chinkipin} Awesome ! Fish