Fish Chris

When I replied, I had forgotten about Tarpon ! I always wanted to catch a 100 lb Minnow {of course I'd REALLY like to catch the bass that could eat a 100 lb Minnow } But I always hear about "fly fishing" for Tarpon..... and honestly, I don't have any desire to fly fish for anything. Isn't their another way to catch them ? Oh..... and who here wouldn't want to catch a Goliath Grouper ! Now those are just like a 500 lb Largemouth, if I have ever seen one ! Of course any billfish would be awesome, and obviously, the bigger, the better, but I'd really like to catch a Swordfish ! Peace, Fish

Awesome catch ! Fish

Not only beautiful, but a fatty too ! Great catch ! Fish

Sure ! And I love to talk fish with these guys > at the boat ramp, at the store, on the internet, etc..... But when I'm fishing, that's my time. I'd really prefer not to have another human being within 5 miles of me, if possible Fish

Thanks again guys. Hey Blue, yea, my stepfather had the same shot, and said it worked great ! But for whatever reason, my Dr. doesn't like to give shots ? Hey Slone, yea', I've heard enough about the Technu, that I think I will have to piocke some up to keep it on hand. One thing I have come to feel about poison oak (or ivy, or sumac) is that once you have started to have an allergic reaction, their really is no "cure"..... only treatments to help to minimize symptoms, and speed recovery. Pretty much like the common cold. Peace, Fish

Well 75 yards, or 200 ft sounds reasonable to me. But here's the thing > When I'm fishing "the best case scenario" is that I can't see another boat as far as my eyesight allows, on glass calm water allows. Next best is.... Well, their are a few boats 600+ yards away over their.... but at least they are just trolling for 8" Kokanee trout (in an $80k boat, I might add ! How funny is that ?) When I see a glitter rocket zooming past me (while sitting on one of my hot spots) I always think to myself, "I sure am glad I'm in a camo'd 14ft aluminum.... because I wouldn't want that guy to to think I know what I'm doing..... or for that matter, to even know I'm a bass fishermen" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So now that you know how I feel about all that, check this out.... A few weeks ago, I was sitting up on top of an offshore hump. The shallowest parts of it are about 3ft deep, by 20 feet wide, by 50 feet long. So as I'm sitting there, looking North, with my typical tunnel vision, I hear the faintest of bumps behind me. I turn to see this guy sneaking up to park maybe 30ft behind me, on the same hump ! So the guy starts casting some kind of little micro-jig or something (I think he was trout fishing). I'm sitting there thinking, "You have to be freaking kidding me" !!! Fortunately, I had already stuck 3 or 4 nice fish on that spot (had basically worn the spot out) and was ready to leave anyway. Now typically, when I leave a spot, I t-motor out a good distance, then fire up the gas motor, and idle out a little farther still. But not this time ! Instead, I pulled up my t-motor. Pulled up my anchor. Made sure my motor was aimed straight at the guy, fired her up, and went from an idol, to full tilt ! I looked back to see my motor wash, which was filled with mud, and bottom debris, heading straight for the guy ! Here ! You want this spot ? You can have it ! I hope he got the message ! Fish

It totally allows me to clear my head. 100% stress relief. I can call all of the shots. Make all of the decisions, and answer to NOBODY ! I've often said, I'm infinitely happier on the water with an empty wallet, than at work with a full one {of course what's even worse, is being at work with an empty one.... but that's a whole other can of worms } BTW, as much as I love bass fishing, ANY species of fish (if they are biting) will usually do just fine I also get most of the same relief out in an open field, or in the mountains, or at the ocean, with my camera (trying to capture that trophy shot) > as long as I'm by myself. Having anybody there to distract me, pretty much ruins it. Peace, Fish

Thank you guys. I was sure I wouldn't be the only one here who has gotten this garbage ! I went to see my Dr. a while ago. He gave me fluocinanide cream, prednisone tabs, and hydroxyzine tabs. I found it interesting to learn that poison oak, ivy, or sumac, are not contagious from one person to another, and is not even spread from one part of the body to another by scratching. Where this fallacy comes from, is that when a person first gets the poisoness oils on there skin (before it has ever started to cause any alergic reaction) they often spread it all over the place from normal rubbing or scratching, or from contaminated clothing or equipment. Then, the most sensitive areas start to break out first. Enevitably, when more spots start to flare up, people assume that they spead it freom the first spot, to the second spot. Not true. They spread it, wherever they spread it, in the first few hours. Anyway, I know what poison oak looks like, but I just never worried about it very much, haven never been bitten by it. You bet that I will avoid it like the plague now though !!!! Peace, Fish

Amazon River..... but not for no wimpy little Peracock bass I wanna' catch a 150 lb+ Amazon catfish ! Or a 40 lb Pacu ! Or just anything crazy ! I bet I would get some of the coolest fish photos of my life ! Second choice would be Alaska for Halibut, giant Lingcod, and Rockfish. I've already experienced some of the best bass fishing on the planet, so that would be the last thing I'd consider.

Geeez, all growing up I had friends who got covered with this garbage, and since I never did, playing in the same spots, I figured I was just immune to it. Well, maybe resistant, but apparently not immune What's strange is how long it took it to catch hold, and start spreading ? 10 days ago, on that awesome Smallie trip, I took my stretchy clips, and shoved my hand off into some bushes on the shoreline, for something to hold the boat still. As I did this, I thought, wow.... that looks like Oak leaves... but no tree ? And it scratched my wrist a little too. Later that day, that scratch, and one tiny puncture was red, and irritated.... but I was hot, sweaty, and covered with sun screen, so any scratch might feel irritated, right ? Well, 5 days later, that scratch and puncture was not healing, and still irritated ? Not normal for me. So, I put some antibiotic ointment on it, and covered it with a band aid > MISTAKE ! By keeping it warm and covered, the next day, it was like blistered up and itchy as $%#& ! 2 days after that, I had about 8 more itchy, ugly blisters popping up on my hands and forearms ! Urgggggg ! I finally started treating my Poison oak with calamine clear, yesterday, so today, no more new spots, but I hear this garbage takes a week to clear up Not sure what I will do 4 days from now, when I'm back out in the sun..... How do you spread sunscreen all over yourself, when you have Poison oak ? Just a big PITA Your experience with this stuff ? Any suggestions ? Peace, Fish

Deepjig, first off, congratulations on an awesome new PB !!! But here's a few thoughts.... First off, even if your cell phone had had juice > it's a cell phone ! Not a real camera ! Friends don't let friends use a cell phone camera for the catch of a life time ! Second, you have to know about Murphy's law ! You can't only have one camera..... no matter how nice it is ! You have to have at least two little cameras, and extra batteries, at ALL times. I carry 4. And 3 scales. Anyway, the good thing is, your 10+ is waiting...... for you to get everything together.... then to go stick her, and have a photo session And BTW, big bass tend to be SOOO territorial, that their is a WAAY larger chance of you sticking that very same fish again, than most people would ever imagine. I know I wouldn't have even believed that myself > 15 years ago, before I had caught, released, re-caught, and re-released a whole bunch of big bass Of course if you wait a year, their a good chance she will be your 10+ Again, congrats on that toad Fish

4-15 Nice fish ! Fish

Yea' buddy ! That's a GREAT trip by anybody's standards ! Those are some straight up trophy sized Smallies ! I wish I could get onto my big Smallies as consistently as you do with yours ! Anyway, congrats Fish

I guess it was a good trip, it's just that I've gotten a little spoiled lately No big Smallies. Only got one nice 3 1/2 lb'er. But I did get 8 Largemouths, which were like 3 1/2, 4 1/2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6 3/4's.... So, very nice fish, just no monsters, and no big Smallies. Oh, and BTW, the 4 1/2 was caught throwing the 6" Hud ! Same place I missed one on it last week. Maybe the same fish ? BTW, I did try fishing deeper with crawlers, and actually caught the 5, two of the 6's, the 6 3/4, none of which did I see cruising beforehand. Pretty good for blind fishing.... for me anyway. Look at this 6 3/4 though.... Was she healthy, or what ? And even being my own toughest critic of my fish photos, I don't know how I could have done better on this one Camera settings and lighting were spot on {Hope I can get so lucky when I get my 9+ Smallie } Peace, Fish

Friends don't let friends use a spinning reel upside down ! ......leastwise, without ripping the heck out of them LOL Fish

The gear I use, has little to do with the fish (or size of fish) I'm after. I will commonly live line a night crawler on my micro-light gear, just because this is what it takes to cast a crawler with zero, or little weight. Then I will turn around and grab a broomstick rod, with 50 lb braid, because this is what I need to cast 5 oz swimbaits. And it's actually quite typical for me to switch back and forth between these two extremes. I don't use medium weight gear near as often, and that's usually only for sight fishing. As for a longer fight making the fish tired.... Believe me, I can whip any freshwater bass on my micro-light in a few minutes. Granted that 7.3 Smallie I caught last week on the micro-light fought really long and hard (8 min ?) but that's an exception + I'm really sure it is doing just fine right now BTW, even on my micro-light gear (rod rated at 1-4 lb mono, 1000 series spinning reel) I still use braided line... albeit, a micro-braid of only 10 lb test, and about 3 lb mono diameter. Because of the non-stretch factor, I put about as much pressure on a fish during a fight, as I would if I were using 6 lb mono (but I haven't used mono for 15 years, and won't ever again). Finally, if you want to use micro-light gear to have more of a challenge landing the fish, that's all fine..... But what I'd prefer to do, is to catch bigger fish Peace, Fish

I've used nothing but braided line, mostly on spinning reels, for going on 15 years. 10 lb on my micro-lights, 30 lb on my medium-lights, 50 lb on my heavy rods for swimbaits, or Striper fishing. I always use a mono, or fluoro leader. Not so much for the visibility factor, but for the greatly increased abrasion Resistance around rocks, or the teeth of a big bass + also, for the little bit of a shock absorber the mono leader adds to my basically zero-stretch braided main line. If you think about it, a 3ft mono leader, might give you 6" to 8" of stretch, before it parts. That might be enough to keep from ripping a hook out, or straightening it, breaking a rod, or simply snapping off your braided line ! Granted, braid is super strong, but with almost zero stretch, it is subject to failure from sudden shock loads. Braided line with a mono leader is as good as it gets Fish

Man, that sounds like a BLAST ! That's a lot of really niced sized fish ! What kind of top end do you think is possible out of that place ? Like, the record for that area ? Keep on em' ! I'll be looking for your next report. I'm going out again tomorrow myself Peace, Fish

WRB, I knew you had me beat... twice over.... but I didn't want to say anything until you did I wish you had some photos of those fish..... but because of the time and place you were fishing (and also because it's coming from you) I don't have the slightest doubt. Matt, what's a pound ? That fish is freaking HUGE !!! Great photo too. So cool Peace, Fish

Hey buddy, is their any way you can post a bigger shot of that fish ? That was such a COOL shaped bass ! Just stacked ! I was so envious of that catch ! I must have fished that spot 100 X's, but I guess that one just had your name on it Peace, Fish BTW you guys, would you believe I have to drive nearly 100 miles to my trophy Smallie lake, and I bet my buddy here, lives maybe only 30 miles from the place ! Lucky dog !

Oh and hey, as far as changing lures go, just tie on the right lure in the first place, and you have to bother with changing it I think On my last 12 hour trip, I changed lures once.... from a Hud, to a Wakebait Junior.... But I don't know why. I never catch anything on that beautiful, $75 thing Peace, Fish

I'm glad you said > like for your spinnerbaits < because yea, on those, you don't have much of a choice, unless you have money coming out your ears, to replace the whole lure, every time you dull a hook. But quite honestly, I really hate to use a hook once it's been dulled "EVEN IF" you are able to sharpen it to where it feels REALLY sharp.... maybe it even seems sharper than factory. But there are still two problems with a sharpened hook 1) you can make the metal approaching the tip much thinner / weaker, causing the point to fold over, instead of penetrate, should it hit a hard, bony part of the fishes mouth, and 2) you can inadvertently change the angle of the point, which really makes as much difference with whether or not a hook will penetrate, or skip over the surface, and slide right out of the fishes mouth, as does sharpness. In a nutshell, sharpened hooks suck. But yea..... with spinnerbaits..... Glad I don't hardly ever have to worry about that. I think my biggest bass on a spinnerbait was maybe 4 lbs..... Oh.... I did get a 4+ Smallie on one once Peace, Fish

Well Bass_Akwards, like I keep emphasizing, it's really just the time and place.... That, plus the fact the no other, serious, experienced bass anglers that I know of, at least on this lake, use crawlers. Sure, plenty of crawlers get used on this lake, but almost always just wadded onto a hook, and casted out from the bank, and the pole stuck in a pole holder. Then, an hour later, they reel in this waterlogged hunk of garbage and say, "Yep. It's still there", and they cast the same hunk of #$@& back out for another hour. To me, that's not even crawler fishing. Peace, Fish

Totally.... unless you try to pick them up out of the water, then most will drop off, and you will only catch a few stubborn ones Fish

Any time you can use one less piece of hardware, the better. No. I never use snaps. Fish