Fish Chris

Hey, I've always said, "Size is relative to so many things, most importantly, the species" ! BTW, my trophy Smallie lake actually does have a decent number of BIG Redears, and BIG Bluegill's too.... It's just that they come on later in the year (June, July) when I'm already winding down on the bass fishing..... Leastwise, most others years I was winding down. But maybe this year.... {I just heard on the news that gas prices could be falling as much as .50 cents a gallon in the next 6 to 8 weeks !} I might have to make some trophy sunfish trips..... + I always have to stop and remember that the Cali state record Smallmouth of 9.6 lbs, "which came out of this lake" 3 years ago, was caught at (I think it was) the end of June !!! So, even if my deeper water crawler techniques don't work so great just yet, I might have to try it again in June - July. Heck, if I'm there for big Sunny's anyway, and already have a bunch of crawlers with me for those :) Peace, Fish PS, WRB, yes ! I saw that MONSTER Redear ! Just wow ! That thing was just ridiculous !

Yea', that front kick by Machida was unbelievable, huh ? You could totally hear the crack on the video.... I guess that was the sound of Couture losing a tooth ! But as usual, Couture was the total embodiment, of perfect sportsmanship. He is such a cool guy, besides such an amazing fighter. He has always put on a great show. Hate to see him go Yea' anyway, what a great set of fights. Fish

Okay, so the fight is a week old already... I didn't see a post for it, but anyway... During the UFC ppv, with GSP vs. Jake Shields, their was a fight between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominic. In the first round, Jose made an illegal kick to the groin of Mark Hominic (ouch !) In the second round, Mark Hominic developed a HUGE, hideous hematoma on his forehead (bleeding under the skin, which causes a grotesque bulge of the skin) So I had to bust out with > That's not a hematoma.... that's one of his testicles ! LOL So first the doc looked down his shorts, then he looked back at his head and hollered, "Found it" ! LOL Seriously though, it was a pretty good set of fights. John Makdessi threw what was maybe the best, fastest, most perfect, on the button, spinning backfists, I have ever seen ! WOW ! Fish

Well, I don't drink any of that stuff any more, but for all the years I did, If I wanted a Coke, I'd ask for a Coke. If I wanted a Sprite, I'd ask for a Sprite. If I wanted an Orange Crush, I'd ask for an Orange Crush. Do you see a pattern here ? Careful what you ask for... You just might get it ! Specifics ! Fish PS, I think most people around here use the generic term "soda".... but then you guys know I don't do anything like most people

Catt, wow. That's a trip. Kind of sounds like our Red Ears, the difference being, our big Red Ears are few and far between. Tim, yes, I have used swivels in the past, but 1) I think I'm going to need a little more weight, and 2) I usually stick to "the less hardware in the water, the better" principal. But I'm sure it would work though. Oh, and I basically never have line twist issues anymore with my braided line. Peace, Fish

Rolo, we use the exact same anchor Fish

00 mod, I caught it on a Basstrix Bluegill, rigged on an Owner Standup jighead. Excellent hooking %, and once hooked, they almost NEVER come unbuttoned.... unlike the old Castaic Bluegill which cost me SOOO many big bass ! Peace, Fish

Okay..... 18.4 lbs. It was, and still is, the Rancho Seco lake record. So far as I know, the biggest bass ever caught in Nor Cal was an 18.7 from San Pablo d**n Res. ....but if you had been in that spot, at that time, and casting that lure, "YOU would have been the one to catch THAT fish" Just a matter of circumstances really. I mean, somebody had to do it Peace, Fish LOL..... If I had said, San Pablo Darn Res. would the sensor have let it pass ? LOL

Thanks guys. Hooligan, most of it is just the place. For the last couple years, I have felt that the Smallies in this lake had hit there peak, and fallen off. But this year is starting to make me feel like it might have been a matter of conditions. I know I saw at least one 9+ lb'er last year.... and I'm still thinking that 7.3 of mine was probably not the moster I sighted 60 feet away, 40 minutes earlier. Catt, Even out in deeper water ? Hmmm. In Cali, you won't find too many situations where Bluegill and Bass overlap so much that this is a problem. Definitely not in my trophy Smallie lake. Heck, if I do get a sunny there, it will likely be a 1-2 lb Redear, which is totally okay with me Your absolutely right, A HUGE MISTAKE !!! > But then again, average bass fishermen usually just catch average sized fish. If they are not ready to step out of the box, that's just on them I anchor on probably 90% of the spots I fish.... ALL of them if there is even a slight breeze, or a potential for BIG fish. > EVEN when I'm throwing swimbaits, as I hate to have to adjust the speed of my retrieve, to compensate for the boat drifting toward or away from my cast. + I probably won't be able to make 4 or 6 casts, without the boat drifting to a less than optimum position > and remember, every time you hit that T-motor, you just decreased the odds of a big fish bite by probably 10% to 50%. USE AN ANCHOR, or shoot yourself in the foot ! Peace, Fish

Congrats to all of you on your PB's Mine was just caught at a time and place where 15+ fish were probably not as rare, or as big of a deal, as some of you guys 6's and 8's. Size is just relative to so many things. Their used to be a guy on here, from SoCal, who's PB was bigger than mine anyway. I heard a response once to this question, which I thought was really cool.... So what's your biggest bass ? "I dunno'..... I haven't caught my biggest bass yet, but I'll let you know when I do" Peace, Fish

Hey BassAssasin, that's a great looking fish ! Congrats on the new PB BTW, I don't think I've ever caught a bass that big on a crankbait. 4 1/2 tops. Stay on em' ! Fish

Thanks guys A-Jay... Panfish ! Yea' ! This lake has MONSTER Redears, which I know spend the vast majority of their time quite deep. And they totally hang in the same areas as my Smallies + they LOVE crawlers as well ! Now a 2-3+ lb Redear would be one awesome by-catch ! WRB, true, true. I used to fish dads deeper than I often do with crawlers, because they cast farther, and will swim down, tail first. Only problem up here (don't know if you guys are being hassled with this yet down there ?) but even though crawdads are not supposed to be illegal to use as bait, it is against the quagga regulations to bring in bait buckets, or any live bait which could conceivably transport quagga larva .....which sucks, as I used to get all my dads from tidally effected delta water anyway, which so far, has never produced any quagga mussels. But whatever. Crawlers work great too. Your right that "everything eats crawlers".... but I've never has a problem with wading through little fish to catch the big ones in this lake. The balance of small to big fish just seems to be really good ! My kind of lake Oh, and BTW, this lake supposedly has actual "Blue Cats" The lake record is over 30 lbs (they say 40, but it was a horrible photo, and it was weighed using the old bathroom scale trick... can't believe they would even call it a record. I think I need to catch a 45 > on my micro-light, and clear this matter up for them. Scales ? Oh, well I have my certified by the Dept of Weights & Measures, scale right here Great tip with the split shot crimping.... but remember, I use braid with a mono leader. So what I was thinking, was that I will probably crimp my split shot to the braid, right above the not at my leader + this way, the knot won't get stuck trying to slide through the sliding sinker. One more cool thing about this type of fishing, is that I'm totally accustomed to using an anchor when I bass fish anyway. I think T-motors are another one of the BIG mistakes many bass fishermen make. As if fish, especially big fish, are not already aware enough of your presence > without hearing / feeling zzzzzzzzz.....zzzz.....zzzzzzzzz..... Let that breeze drift you into position, quietly lower that anchor (to a soft landing) then then fish quietly...... and leave all of your noise making friends at home LOL Peace, Fish

No... I don't mean "always" from now on.... I'm just saying, I hardly EVER fish deeper than 15 feet or so with my live crawlers 1) because I often won't even cast a crawler out deep for "blind fishing". {I like to see them hanging out, or cruising in an area, before I even bother, and obviously, I'm not likely to see them... even in very clear water, much deeper than 15, or certainly 20 feet} And 2) Because I feel like a live-lined, tail hooked crawler, with zero weight (hard to get out far, and deep} is just so much more natural. But you know what ? I know some spots.... like points, and humps, that once in a while, will have HUGE fish up on them. Most times they are not up shallow, but I can't help but thinking they are still in the area, just maybe out a little farther / deeper ? So lately, I've been thinking that I really need to start fishing with a really light sliding sinker setup.... say 1/8 ounce sliding weight, with the smallest bb splitshot 18" to 24" above the hook, to keep the weight above / away from the bait. Don't get me wrong.... this is certainly not a new technique for me {used to do it a bunch for Stripers). It's just one that I seem to have fallen away from, and have almost never tried for deep(er) water Smallies. BTW, I caught that 6.2 Smallie totally blind, and quite a bit deeper than I'd normally fish a crawler.... probably about 20 to 25 feet. Still didn't use a weight. I just made the cast while my boat was out a little deeper off of the hump, gave it plenty of slack, then pulled my boat back up shallow and lowered the anchor. Guess I could skip all of those hassles, by simply using a little lead..... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anyway, I just REALLY want a 9+ lb Smallie, and I'm thinking this might be the ticket..... Hmmmm..... Will report how it goes. Open for any additional suggestions as well. Fish

Cool I enjoy being the odd-ball. I'd rate electronics a 1... for myself that is. I know some guys really know how to use them for a great advantage. I just suck with them. I'd get all side tracked watching that screen > instead of fishing (you know, my whole AADD thing) and I might as well be watching a portable TV LOL But it's cool. I've been known to stick a big one every now and again without electronics. Put me on some water.... any water, with fish in it, and I'll find them, if not with my eyes, then on the end of my line Nova Kaw, you didn't give the option > "I'd sooner be fishing out of a 12ft aluminum which also had zero electronics" ......which is what I'd have chosen Peace, Fish PS, I actually do have a little portable FF that works quite well for what it is..... and I'm thinking I might have to take it out the next time I go for those deeper water Smallies..... Then, their is this one, deeper hump which I can't seem to find (with just my eyes) with the lake being practically over full ! If I could just find that hump, that might be a good place to start. After all, I caught the 8.5 in my avatar, as well as 3 others over 7 lbs, all on this same hump. Of course it was probably about 5ft shallower, but.....

Yes, bacon is deadly for crawdads. In fact, I hardly ever used a trap. Instead, I just tied a couple strips of bacon onto the end of a 8 or 10 ft piece of mono, then weighted it down with 1/4-1/2 oz of lead. Tossed it out into an area with quite a few dads. Did this with 2 to 4 seperate lines, then, by the time I would get back to the first line (like less than five minutes) I'd slowly start pulling it to the shore. The key was, not to pick it up out of the water, as most of the dads would drop off. So instead, I pull it right up close enough to me, but still a few inches under the water, then gently scoop a long handled bait net underneath them. I'd usually get 5 to 10 crawdads per per pull. Going through my 2-4 lines, I'd get 75 to 125 dads in about 30 minutes. How do I type the fart sound LOL Whatever works man. And BTW, their is a TON to know about using live bait to it's full effectiveness > at least as much knowledge is required as is with artificials, if not more ! You just need to know that even with live bait, their are no guarantees in fishing. Don't go into using live bait, with unreasonable expectations. You might have a great trip with it.... but you can be skunked using it too. Peace, Fish

Rippinglips, I've been thinking about that > and even if my judgment was just off, and I did catch the big one I saw, I'm still sure this lake has a high 9 if not a 10 and change I saw one last year that looked like a double digit Largemouth... except it was brown ! Chasenbass, dude ! I'm honored that you would re-register, just to reply to my post Talk to you soon. Peace, Fish

That is a very cool catch I think this one barely scratched out the old record of 5.5 lbs... caught about 40 miles from my house. I actually met the guy who caught that one. I'd be happy with a measley little 3 lb'er ....err, even just a 2 lb Bluegill ! Peace, Fish

Much thanks guys Hey RW, I feel like a new man 00mod, well, I've been doing digital photography for about 13 years. A lot of it is my cameras. {love my Canon A6xx's models } But the biggest secret (which since I tell everybody, it really isn't a secret LOL) is that I put my big catches straight into a 100 qt icebox (my livwell) so they can rest and recuperate. Then I break out my camera, set up the tripod, and I almost always take a few test shots, usually holding something bright white up where the fish would be (like the lid of my water jug). I then view these shots and check the exposure. From that, I can quickly make and small tweaks on my camera that I think I need to, to dial it in to spot on. Once that is ready to go, I will pull the fish out, hit my timer, and set back for 3 to 5 consecutive shots (my camera will take as many as I set it up to do, after any amount of seconds of the timer... about 2/3rds second apart. I will then put the fish right back in the livewell, and view my shots.... I might notice that I was holding the fish too high... or my horizon was crooked, etc, so I tweak it a little more, and take another set > never keeping the fish out of water for more than maybe 15 seconds at a time. Doing it this way, their is really not much way to screw anything up. Just like my fishing, I like to give myself the best possible odds. Senile1, I wouldn't say all of our Smallies here are greener.... mostly just the ones from this particular lake, with some much more so than others. I personally think it's diet (these Smallies eat a lot of Kokanee trout) and water conditions. Thanks again for all the replies. So, where do you think my mind will be today while I'm at work ??? LOL Peace, Fish

Geeez, did I ever have a blast today ! The fish were still acting kind of goofy and post spawn'ish.... but nothing that a live-lined, tail-hooked crawler can't take care of I did get 1 Largemouth pushing 5 lbs on the 9" MS Slammer, and I got blasted (for the first time, while just swimming it) on the 6" Hud, but missed that one. Everything else was caught on the crawlers. I ended up catching 7 Largemouths, from about 4 lbs to this 7.3 lb'er.... But the REALLY COOL part was the Smallies I caught 5 of them, and even the smaller 3 were nice 3 to 4 lb'ers..... But then I stuck this beautiful 6.2 lb'er.... So, at about 4 pm, I pull up to this off shore hump, which is only submerged by about 5 feet of crystal clear water. Immediately I see several nice, 3 to 4 lb Smallies.... but then I see a MONSTER ! I was guessing it at 8 to 9+ lbs ! In fact, I thought it was a Carp until it swam around to the other side and the light changed directions, and not only was it a bass, it was a Smallmouth ! So, I back off a little and flip out a crawler. Tick...... set the hook, fish on ! But I could tell it was not the monster, it came to the surface once, before popping off. Oh well. Flip out another crawler. Tick..... set the hook, fish on ! It shoots for the surface and jumps.... only about 3-4 lbs, but this one pops off too ! WTH ? My hook felt sharp > But I changed it out anyway. Quite a bit of time passes, with 3 or 4 fishless casts. Finally, I decide to let the spot rest, and come back on my way out. But as I start to cruise out with my T-Motor, I see a BIG one about 30 feet out in front of me, cruising forward also. So I kill the T-motor, put on another crawlers and cast it out ahead of the fish. {note: it was almost like I was chasing the fish at this point, and this almost never works.... especially with big fish} But I'll be darned if she didn't turn downward, nose down to my crawler, and slurp ! I let her take it a few seconds, and got a good hook set. It came to the boat pretty easy / fast the first time but as I was reaching for the net, she decided this was not good, and she must have ripped literally 40 feet of drag ! Holy $#%& ! Now remember, I just lost the two fish prior to this one + I KNOW this is a BIG fish ! Ya', know, I'll play with a 3 or 4 lb Smallie as long as it wants to playt. No hurry, and if I lose them, no big deal.... But with this one, all I wanted was to put it in the boat ASAP !!!! And of course, instead, this fish just ripped, and ripped, and ripped ! Ya' know, time gets kind of distorted when your adrenalin is pumping full bore, so I could be off, but I swear this fish fought for 8 minutes ! By the time I got the net under her, I was just rattled ! But geez, what an awesome fish ! She ended up going 7.3 lbs, and had a very similar frame, to my 8.5 lb PB in my avatar.... just about 1.2 lbs less in the belly.... not that this one was skinny, by any means. Just not totally over inflated, like my 8.5. I have to say this, I sure picked the right two fish to lose, and the right one to land LOL Here's a vertical shot.... And here's the horizontal. Probably my favorite shot of the trip..... Just wow ! Was that ever fun ! Oh, and it was like 85 degrees, water was like glass most of the day Peace, Fish PS, I'm actually not sure if this was in fact, the monster Smallie that I sighted in that same area. Remember I guessed it at 8 to 9+ lbs ? I guess I could have just been off a little.... OR, maybe there is still an 8 to 9+ lb'er cruising that area waiting for me to go back and stick her next week

First off, yes, this is a straight up fantail Goldfish. Domesticated for color and finnage. I worked on a fish farm in Arkansas, and yes, this is a pretty big one. Looks to be maybe about 4 or 5 lbs, which is about how big our breeders got. However, I have caught numerous wild strain Goldfish (almost always confused with a completely different species, the common Carp) from 5 lbs, all the way up to 10 1/4 lbs (foul hooked that one on a rattletrap). Even the guys at the fish farm could hardly believe I had caught an actual 10 lb Goldfish, but again, that was a wild strain version, with a small tail, and bronze color. Now, a Koi, or the domesticated version of the common Carp, can get very large.... over 30 lbs for sure. Many years ago, we netted a 20 lb solid orange one from a local duck pond Bassfishermen, this ^ is what you are almost certainly seeing. But don't feel bad, like I say, Goldfish and Koi are SOOOO commonly confused with one another, whether or not they be domesticated for color / finnage, or the wild strain versions. Peace, Fish

I use a blood knot. Works great for me. Fish

I wouldn't even consider anything but braid. Almost always with a flouro or regular mono leader. Fish

Much thanks guys Hey Brushhoggin, definitely not a Smallie. The Smallies in this lake are almost always really deep (from back tro belly) and laterally compressed (flat) like a Bluegill. This fish, on the other hand, was darn near as wide side to side, as it was tall. Almost cylindrical in shape. + I forgot to mention, but it had the signature "tooth patch" on it's tongue as well. I thought hybrid for just a minute, but now I strongly lean toward a straight up Spotted Bass. BTW, I have seen spots this exact color, although admittedly, most of them from these parts are the exact same color as the Largemouth I posted the shot of here, just with a different pattern. Peace, Fish

That's a pig ! I'd like to see it from some different angles, but no doubting that's a hawg..... That I'd like to catch tomorrow ! LOL Peace, Fish

The fish were a little whacky. Not sure if they are starting to get into the post spawn funkiness, OR if they were just beat on so hard over the weekend, that they still had shell shock. Either way, I did not catch any fish on a swimbait, in spite of how hard I tried. ALL of my fish, I think 10 of them, with about 7 of them going 4 to 7.1 lbs, were caught on live lined crawlers.... Which of course makes it fun because of the UL gear, but their is really something to be said for nailing them on a big swimbait and heavy gear, which allows you to feel the power of the fish much more. Hmmm. Maybe tommorrow. Anyway, 1 interesting (and a bit spooky) instance, was when I caught this 4.9 lb Spotted Bass ! {the photo doesn't show the size well, huh ?) This is the first Spot I've caught from this lake in my 5 years of fishing it ! But I figured their had to be a few. Heck, the lake right below this one, is over ran with a bazillion dinky, cookie cutter Spots (read: It USED TO BE a great Northern Largemouth and Smallmouth fishery too.... before the Spots got introduced ! ) So anyway, it fought great. I put it in the livewell for about 3 hours, while I tried contemplated what to do with it. Probably should have just tossed it in a trash can.... But instead, I released it. I sure hope it doesn't make any babies. If the colors look weird, don't let this throw you off... A LOT of the fish in this lake have unusal coloring. I think it's the diet. Anyway, and this was the 7.1. What a beautful fish, huh ? As I was fighting it in the crystal clear water, it had another fishing running around chasing it (isn't that weird how they do this ?) that was probably 9'ish. And I saw these guys on a nest. Too bad this was not great light, and a heavy crop. Still, such COOOL birds Peace, Fish