Fish Chris

Hey Bassthumb, Cinnamon's for sure... But you wanna' see something weird ? Check out this shot of a hybrid Cinnamon X Bluewing Teal that I took last Spring (confirmed by at least two wildlife biologists). In fact, one of them asked if he could use my photo to show an example of such. Very rare I guess. Cinnamons are not supposed to have purple heads, nor a face bar.... I just wonder if he is viable ? The biologists said that could go either way. Peace, Fish

Looking over every Dad on that first page, I'd pick this one.... A nice little small-clawed female in about a 2 1/2" size... nose hooked, and live lined Whoo Hooo ! Live dads are SOOOO much fun Fish

Hmmmm. I might have the TV on Roland or Bill, for back ground noise. I'm so used to all trhe advertising stuff, it's just in one ear and out the other anyway. Hunt for Big Fish is pretty awesome ! And I like all those giant, weird species shows, like Monster Quest, River Monsters, etc. Actually, I don't have much time for TV anyway. Probably half of the shows I lay down to watch, I end up falling asleep in the first 15 minutes anyway LOL Fish PS, I always have to laugh when people talk about Bill Dance and how he fishes private places for all of those "big" fish Big ? Okay, so he catches lots of nice 5 to 9 lb'ers. How often does he catch a legit 13 lb'er ? Personally, I'd rather fish hammered on public waters, where I have a better chance at a 13+......

Hey, I'd rather watch some silly, pointless lingerie football, than real football ! At least I get to look at something nice ! I'm not into men in tights. But to each their own Fish

Tipptruck, you said What ? Are you kidding me ? You might as well get a Prius LOL Why not one of these > http://www.craveonline.com/lifestyle/article/hennessey-venom-gt-lotus-elise-2011-pictures-104851 It's basically a Lotus with 1200 bhp !!! I'm more of truck guy though..... First thing I'd buy if I ever hit the lotto > A fully customized F650 ! Here's a whole page of them. Take your pick http://www.f650pickups.com/ Peace, Fish http://www.f650pickups.com/wideopen.html

Branuss, why ? Did you have an outboard mounted to your boat ? (I hate that rule Just because of that, I can't use my new(er) boat, but have to borrow my old boat back from my buddy, since the motor is light enough to take off of it.... The people that run Rancho have always been super cool with me though. Peace, Fish

Hmmmm........ Bass_Finatic Well, probably, but a million people and their grandmothers have been throwing Senkos for a long time, and 10 lb'ers have been relatively rare. Certainly not even in the same ball park as the % of 10 lb'ers caught on big swimbaits or wake baits. Now, I know their were a good handful of guys throwing Huds before I did. And then after I started throwing them, it seemed like everybody in Cali was throwing them ! {not saying that had anything to do with me... but for whatever reason}. That used to bother the heck out of me. That was the only thing about throwing a Hud that I did not like. But as it turns out, a lot of those guys didn't do so great with them, and therefor, didn't keep throwing them.... Which is exactly what you need to do with big baits if you want to be successful with them. As for Senko's, I guess a person could say I was a fool not to throw one, but in the times and places a Senko might be the best artificial lure choice, I feel I could catch that same fish on a live lined crawler...... and I think other guys are foolish not to consider this. So we are even I guess Peace, Fish

Man, I swear if any more of you guys bad mouth Senko's, I'm just going to have to try throwing them one of these days.... well.... maybe not LOL Fish

Bass_Akwards Fantastic post I can SOOO totally relate ! Peace, Fish

Aceman, if you have ever thrown out a live bait, and then just sat there and did nothing, you were not fishing it correctly. Live bait keeps me as busy as any of the artificial lures I throw. Come to think about it, it keeps me busier than some artificials..... RW, I'd say if their has ever been a "Magic Bait" it's the lowly nightcrawler But what's really funny, is how few people really know how to fish them to their full potential. As for artificials, no other lure has ever been so consistently hot for me, with Cali trout-eaters than the 8" Hud. Whatever color. #5 or #12. But hey about Senko's, I've certainly never said they were not a fish catching lure ! Some BIG fish too ! I just never wanted to fish them because everybody and their grandmother was fishing them..... and I was not after the fish that everybody and their grandmother was catching. As for them being slow, or boring, I couldn't care less ! As far as that goes, I'll do whatever it takes. Peace, Fish

Hey Moby, just a heavy action spinning rod (about like inshore saltwater) and 50 lb braid. My normal stuff for heavy swimbaits. Certainly not required for the bass..... heck, if I would use a micro-light for Sturgeon ! Hey Bizz, yea.... What it says is, that stretch, on that pond "used to produce some big bass"..... back in the good ol' days. Oh well. Glad I was there Peace, Fish

Grey Wolf Ya' know, it's funny, being the type A guy that I am, it's tough for me to fish slow.... yet most of the time, if I fish fast, I feel like I'm totally wasting my time. I force myself to fish slow, much like I force myself to fish finnesse. I'll do whatever it takes. Kind of like weight lifting... no pain, no gain Skeet, what are you talking about ? Senko's are great ! It gives the crowds something to do, while I'm going the other way I've yet to have ever thrown a Senko in my life. I might someday...... but everybody else will have to stop throwing them first Fish

Yea', like I say, it was a big fish.... It's just that that particular photo makes it look like the head of a "world class bass" I think this was a regular photo of it.... Peace, Fish

Taken totally by accident.... I had reached up to hit the timer button on my camera, then sat back down... but thought I missed the button. So, as I stand back up to hit the button again... "Flash" ! Doh ! Anyway, it was a big fish..... 13.4 I think.... But if I told you this was a head shot of a 20.6 some guy caught down in So Cal, wouldn't you believe it ? :-) Oh yea... maybe it was the 20.6 that I caught.... just forgot about that one I guess LOL Peace, Fish

My condolences to all of his family and loved ones. RIP Jack. Fish

I don't know if this is considered a "technique".... But I would feel like an absolute goof ball, who had somehow, accidentally, become part of the crowd > .....If I were to sit up on the front of an actual high performance bass boat, and just blindly cast down a bank ! .....and I don't care what I was throwing. Or to put it another way, to fish like a normal person.... ------------------------------- Oh hey Lucky Craft Man I know, huh. I'm getting to be more and more that way too. Artificial lures usually just make it so much easier to catch the big ones Call me lazy.... or maybe, it's just that I'm trying to maximize my odds. But nowadays, for me, its #1 swimbaits, #2 soft plastics for sight fishing (the exact lure is not that critical), and #3 live bait (usually crawlers, because they are easy to keep with me), in that order. Don't get me wrong, I still love to use live bait when and where it gives me the best odds for a monster, but I only find that to be about 10% to 20% of the time. Peace, Fish PS, For those of you who said you hate finnesse fishing, even if you thought you were okay with live bait fishing, I'd say, forget about. It's probably way closer to finnesse fishing with artificials, than you ever realized.... least wise, to do it correctly.

Hey Bassfisher, those are Cinnamon Teal. Very beautiful ducks, but then most ducks are, IMPO. Very challenging to catch in-flight also > FAST ! Peace, Fish

Yea Don't know why I worded it that way...... Just meant to say, I missed a Sturgy, then got skunked on the Stripers, and what's worse, is that today was my "Monday"..... Lord knows I've been skunked a BUNCH ! .....just not lately. Peace, Fish

Well, you know what happens when you start to feel like their is just no way you can miss, right ? I've just been getting so spoiled with nice Stripers, that I had no reason to believe yesterday would be any different. Wrong ! Caught my live Split Tails no problem. Then, since I had about 3 hours before the outgoing tide started, I went on and did some Sturgeon fishing.... Using the smallest Split Tail in the Sturgeon spot. (heck, I'm more confident using Split Tails for Sturgeon, than any other bait anyway.... Another one of those whacky, totally out-of-the-box Fish Chris things) And what do you know ?!?! After about 15 minutes, I had a for sure Sturgeon pump on my Splitty ! Let it take it too.... Swung... a little weight.... thunk.... off :( Darnit that hurt Never had another Sturgeon bite But that's okay, I just know I'm going to stick some nice Stripers ! However, I fished until dark... perfect bait, perfect weather, nice strong tide..... not even a bite What could be worse ? Uhhhhh..... I think I can answer that. I have to go back to work today, and my work just called me in early Oh well. Hey, here's a photo for you though. Technically, not great. It was low light, so I had to use a high ISO... and the focus fell to the back (the female) but none the less, I love the pose Peace, Fish

Well Lucky Craft, I have caught 6 Smallies over 7 lbs, and 2 over 8 (a totally spawned out 8.2 lb'er, that should have been well over 9 lbs) and my PB that you see in my avatar, which was an extremely fat 8.5 lb'er. Here's the thing though > It's NOT that I am such an awesome Smallmounth angler, but rather, 3 years ago (going on 4 now) we had a lake up here in Nor Cal, which was just going stupid crazy, with HUGE Smallies ! In 2007 alone, this little 1100 acre lake produced no fewer than 30 Smallies over 8 lbs, and maybe 5 over 9 lbs ! And then, just for icing on the cake, it kicked out a 9.7 lb'er, which crushed our 30 year old state record of 9.1 lbs ! Unfortunately, the cycle for Smallies in this lake peaked in 07', and has quickly fallen ever since :( Now, you'd be pretty lucky to get a 5 lb'er or two. I never caught a legit 6 lb'er there last year On the other hand, this same lake has a great, and seemingly growing, number of 8 to 10+ Northern strain Largemouth's ! ......which, of course, are great Northern Strainer's, right ? And it's beautful lake too, with crystal clear water, tons of wildlife, NO water skiing (I love that part ) I just LOVE fishing that place. The only problem is, without the draw of a HUGE, potentially record breaking Smallmouth, I kind of feel like I'm just spinning my wheels their nowadays I just know their are much better places for me to hurry up and catch 11 more double digit Largemouth's (I need 11 more to hit 100). Pretty much "only" places with Florida strain bass, and hatchery trout. Hmmmm.... Oh, here are some pictures for you A nice, wide 7.5 lb'er, that photo'd well... Believe it or not, this is the 8.2. What might look like a little belly fat, is actually a totally empty, sagging gut. This fish had such a huge frame, and head. I hate the photo, but.... A nice, long, strong 7.5 lb'er. My 8.5 actually had a much smaller frame than the 8.2 above, and no bigger frame than the long, strong 7.5.... but she just had that HUGE gut My 8.5 was SOOO strong too ! She fought me the whole time I was trying to take photos... never rolled over in the livewell, and would snap her mouth shut tight, to try to keep me from lipping her. She finally realeased with an explosion that drenched me Whoo Hoo Again, pretty much anybody fishing this lake, in 07', as much as I did, would have caught fish just like these, and maybe even more. I was sure lucky to be one of the guys there doing it when it was ON ! Peace, Fish

Very cool ! I love catching those big ol' kitties Fish

Thanks again guys Fish

Hey Gotarheels, that is the cutest little Westhighland Terrier ever ! Is that yours ? If so, does he go with you on fishing trips ? I just love dogs of almost all breeds... Peace, Fish

Okay, so about 3 1/2 years ago, I bought a boat cover for my 14ft aluminum. It's been a great cover.... But 3 1/2 years of sun, rain, freezing, and cooking temps, had really started to break it down. It was failing at the corners, then developed a small tear out in the center. So, first really nice thing was, I called Cabela's, and although they had updated to an all new computer system 1 year ago, they were still able to contact a place that was in charge of all of their old data. Within minutes, they called me back, gave me the exact model # that I had ordered, and, they even still had it in stock ! Cool ! So I reordered it right then and there. Now, as far as warranties go, I assumed that it had a 3, or maybe 4 year warranty, so since it had been such a good cover, I wasn't going to sweat a few more months, even if it were good for it. So, I get my new cover, and the first thing I see when I opened the box was 7 year warranty ! Whoa ! Now wait a minute ! That makes a difference ! I called Cabela's and told them the situation. The girl told me, "No problem. Just put the old, failing boat cover, in the box from your new one. And, you can even use the return shipping lable that came with the new one, in case their was a problem" ! How cool is that ? So, I did exactly that. This morning, about 3 weeks after I sent back the old failing boat cover, I got a credit added back to my account for $159.99 I've always loved Cabela's anyway.... and Lord knows they will get that $159 back... AND a LOT more ! But that was just too cool ! Peace, Fish

Ya' know Fishing Rhino > I'm not going to deny that their is some truth to this. But here's just a few other things to consider.... In-Fishermen once did a study on this exact topic, and what they found out, was that fish with less red muscle (like Largemouth Bass) do not tend to fight very long anyway, regardless of the tackle, hence, they do not tend to build up a lot of lactic acid. In other words, Largemouth's are a great candidate for using very light gear with. Also, lets say one uses a flipping stick, and rips a big bass straight to the boat, before you can blink an eye. That fish is going to be VERY hot coming into the boat, increasing the chances of the fish hurting itself, by ramming into the inside of a livewell, or shaking out of the anglers hands and being dropped. Another thing I see, is anglers who either do not have much experience, or, who try to milk out some extra fight from a fish, by lightening up on the drag of medium, or heavier gear..... or, goofier yet, just not pulling on the fish, 1/10th as hard as the gear would allow. {if these guys want more fight, they need to catch bigger, stronger fish } Generally speaking, I believe people place too much emphasis on the gear, when it comes to wearing down a fish, while in reality, I think a much bigger factor, is the fish wearing itself down. All you have to do is stay hooked up, and keep even pressure The fish pretty much takes care of the rest Peace, Fish