Fish Chris

When my outing involves catching a Smallie, I never know whether to post in the "Outings" section, or the "Smallie" section ? Hmmm. Anyway, the fishing was pretty tough yesterday. Only caught two fish, but one was this beautiful, healthy 5.3 lb Smallie. I was 99% sure I caught it before... 1) just by looking at the size and the shape of the fish, and 2) because of the spot I caught her. But looking at past photos just now, yes, this is the 5.5 I caught a few weeks ago. This time she bit a fly-lined crawler. Fought great on the micro-light Oh yea..... I saw a freaking monster Northern strain Largemouth yesterday ! The lake record in this place is only 13.6, and I swear, I saw one that was 13 if it was an ounce ! Very bug-eyed and all ! Snuck back up that spot 3 X's, but couldn't get her to come have her pictures taken Oh well. Maybe next time. Oh.... and I did get blasted by an 8'ish Largemouth on the Hud. No hookup. But what made it extra cool, was that I had beached my boat, and I was standing high up on the shore when I made my cast. Suddenly, I see this big shadow (actually there were two, but this was the bigger, faster one) come racing towards my Hud, in the clear water, and then just blast the heck out of it ! Exciting to see, but I bet if I had no clue I was about to get hit, I'd have hooked and landed it. It's like you tense up, and start to swing, a split second too early. Anyway, that was still pretty cool, and it wasn't a DD anyway, so not a huge loss. Had fun Peace, Fish

Thank you SmallieFever Well, the Smallie shot was taken with my trusty Canon A650IS... Only $230 when I bought it 3 years ago. But then again, when your shooting up close (for fish shots) in good lighting, a decent point and shoot is all you need. As for my DSLR, it's still only Canon's entry level T1i... about $500. It's the lens on that camera that makes all the difference. My birding lens is a 400mm 5.6, and it cost $1200 ! {and it's considered the "poor mans birding lens". A 400mm 2.8 is going for about $10,000 !!!} Peace, Fish

I really thought this fish was going to go well over 5. It was long enough, and had a big enough frame, that it could have gone a solid 6 lbs pre-spawn, but she was spawned out, and kind of flat like a pancake. Ended up only going 4.9 lbs. Still not a bad one I guess. I do like the photo a lot though. What I would give for that sky, in a lot of my nature shots ! Oh, and what the hey, let me squeeze in a few of my other shots from this week.... White Necked Stilt Meadowlark closeup And hey now, this is a lousy, 100% crop.... I intend to do WAAAY better with this guy in the future. But for now.... This is a 3 year juvenile Golden Eagle ! It lives only a few miles from my house. These dudes are ENORMOUS ! They can have a wingspan up to 8ft ! Yes... 96" ! I think this guy is at least 80" or so. I want a dead-ringer shot of him, like I want a 19 lb Bass !!!! One of these days.... Hope you enjoy them Peace, Fish PS, BTW, in case these shots are too large to view on your monitor, without scrolling, did you know that if you hold the control button (bottom left) on your key pad, then hit the - (that is, the minus button, above, and just to the right of the "P" button) it will instantly shrink the image down on your screen to whatever you need for easy viewing. To size back up, simply hold the control button again, and then hit the plus button a time or two Really quick and easy little trick.

First off, nature expects some beds to be a complete loss, and it does a fine job of protecting itself. Why do you think bass lay thousands of eggs ? The fact of the matter is, with, or without man involved, exceedingly few of those eggs, maybe only 1 in a thousand (highly variable of course) might survive to adulthood (breeding size) anyway. A guy feels terrible that he might affect the outcome, of one nest. So he won't bed fish. But then he goes out, sticks a fish while blind fishing a crankbait, or spinnerbait (or whatever) and by bad luck, rips the gill of that one breeding sized fish, that was the sole survivor of a bed 5 years ago, and it dies. Well that sure sucks, don't it ? "Fishing" affects the fish. If a guys primary goal is to not have any affect on the fish, the only way to do that is to stop fishing altogether. In most parts of the country, sufficient recruitment of juvenile fish, is far less of a problem, than is over recruitment, leading to overpopulations of small, stunted fish. Something that has a much more drastic affect on bass spawns, than bed fishing, is fluctuating water levels (common in man made reservoirs). Sometimes, right after a major spawn, a lake level will drop far enough, and fast enough, to effectively eliminate an entire year class of fish ! It's been said that this is why Spotted Bass have wiped out some of the trophy Florida strain Largemouth lakes in Cali.... Why ? Because Spots spawn deeper. Don't let human emotions / feelings, affect the way you feel about fishing. Base your decisions on the actual facts of the matter. Is your lake suffering from under recruitment ? If not, don't worry about it. If so, you might try to have something done about it, like Christmas tree sinking, supplemental stocking, etc. I love bed fishing Peace, Fish

God bless her. Prayers sent. Fish

Hang in there buddy ! You'll get through it, and will be even better than before ! I've heard several people who have had this same thing say, "I never knew how much it was affecting me.... It came on so slow... But since the surgery, I feel like a new person" ! It's like it takes decades to get clogged.... and a couple hours to get cleared (granted, it takes a little more than that to heal up) But you will be fine, Prayers are with you, Fish

Meant to post this a couple weeks ago when I took it, but don't think I ever did.... BTW, can you imagine swallowing a catfish whole, with those spines and all ? One more thing... look close... that bottom bill is actually speared through the tail of the catfish. That catfish has got to be thinking, "Oh $#@& ! This is all bad" ! Peace, Fish

Well I guess both decent, and yet lousy too. What I mean by this, is that for as few times as I've been able to get out, I've caught 1 DD Northern strain, and 4 Smallies over 5 lbs. So, that part is all good. On the other hand, never in my whole life, have I been shot down due to poor, Winter like weather, between mid March, and mid April, as I have been this year ! I finally gave up on taking Thurs and Fri. off, figuring that if it ever turns warm / clear, and stay that way, I can still fish Mon - Weds every week, anyway..... But not this week Once again, it's been beautiful, but its supposed to start changing Mon night, and Tues + Weds, I'll be shot down again Un-freaking-believable Guess I'll have to squeeze 3 days of fun into 1 day, tomorrow. Urgggg..... Fish

But shimmy, I'm not talking about my personal opinion on this one. I'm talking about what I have actually experienced. Believe me, I've thrown pretty much every kind of live bait... a LOT, especially crawlers, and dads. And it's shown me two surprising things... 1) That making live bait work to it's maximum effectiveness, takes just as much skill, and knowledge, as making any artificial lure work to it's max effectiveness. and 2) As much as I love fishing live bait, I seem to catch more and more of my biggest bass on artificials in spite of the fact that I still almost always have a box or two of crawlers with me... and not to brag, but I think I know how to work a crawler pretty darn well. Ya' know, I've said before, that I've caught 2/3rds of my double digit bass on artificials, but even that doesn't tell the real story. That is taking into account that before I knew better I used to use live bait, about 98% of the time, and so it figures, that 8 of my first 10 DD bass were caught on (big surprise) live bait. Nowadays however, I think my DD's caught on live bait are down to about 1 in 10. Kind of sucks really. I just love fly-lining a crawler on the micro-light, then sticking, and playing a big ol' DD bass on that gear. Of course it's not all bad sticking a DD bass on a big ol' broom stick, and ripping his but to the boat in 10 seconds either LOL Anyway, Peace, Fish

RoLo's post was spot on ! And Bassman, thank you for finding, and quoting me in that post. So, I've said it before, but I'll say it again, "I just love to catch big bass, and if using live bait made that easier, I'd do it even more. In reality though, that just has not been the case. I've proven to myself again, and again, that the real monsters are typically easier to catch on artificials. ......which is why I always get a kick out of guys who talk {sometimes with their noses up in the air} about how they only use artificials Uhhh... Okay. So without even knowing it, what they are really saying to me is, they prefer to do it the easier way. Well, that's all fine. But if they only knew the truth.... Granted, all of that talk is pertaining to true monsters, of say, 15 lbs or more. Sure, their are plenty of times when live bait will kick the heck out of artificials for numbers of small to medium sized fish.... but if I'm only catching small to medium sized fish, I don't feel like I'm proving anything to anyone, anyway. Besides all that, I'm probably the least competitive guy on the planet, in the first place. The only guy I'm ever trying to outdo, is myself. Peace, Fish PS, When I first saw the title of this post, I thought it might be about hemorrhoids or something ! ;D

Well, I'm going to guess that I'm not the only one here, to ever make this stupid mistake.... But I believe twice, in the last 15 years or so, I have decided to leave my line in the water after a cast, but wanted to reposition my boat just a bit. So, carefully (but apparently, not quite carefully enough) I attempted to use the t-motor, for a short move.... and the next thing you know, my rod is getting yanked down so hard, surely I must have the lake record.... but their ain't no setting the hook ! Are you kidding ? It's all I can do to keep a hold of the rod ! This happens in about .8 seconds, and by .9 seconds, my heart is about to beat out of my throat..... Then, at about 1.2 seconds, I realize, I am a complete dummy, and have allowed my t-motor to wrap around my line ! Doh ! Then, about 2 seconds after the fact, I'm looking all around me, to see if anybody just saw me do that. Doh ! ;D Nothing pulls like a t-motor ! Peace, Fish

Alright, here's several tips for you; Fish differently than the crowd. If you fish like they do, you will only catch what they catch. The crowd catches mostly dinks, so don't follow them. Here's a prime example. On nearly every trip I make, I see guys (often in big, flashy bass boats) just blindly fishing down the shore, covering water.... much of it worthless, or at least "small fish" water. Why do they waste their time like this ? Get out and find BIG bass with your own two eyes ! It helps if you have clear water, but even in murkier water, big bass will often follow big swimbaits, or especially, loud obnoxious top waters, like a 9" MS Slammer. ALWAYS wear your polarized glasses, and look for followers on every cast ! All you have to do is see them. That's 3/4's of the battle. Every time you sight a big fish, make a mental note of it. Put together a big fish rout, in your head. After several trips, definitely after a season, their will be no reason to waste time blindly fishing down banks for 'no fish' or for 'small fish'. Instead, you can just hop from one big fish spot, to another. Believe me, if your fishing spots that you have sighted big fish in, 90% of your time on the water.... and your throwing big fish baits, like a Hud, you will end up catching some of those monsters you have sighted in the past. Also, don't ever think.... "Well, I already fished that spot earlier today". "Yea ? So what ! Fish it again, and again ! Big fish don't feed all day. It often only takes them 10 or 15 minutes to catch one big meal, and then they move right back off of the spot, until the next time they are hungry. Let's put it this way, my big fish rout might only be 6 spots, that takes me 2 hours to go through. That's fine, that means I can fish my entire rout 5 X's in a 10 hour day on the water..... and experience has shown me, that what I did on those spots the first 4 X's, has absolutely no bearing on what I might do on the last stop of the day ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enough about big bass routs.... Here's a few more. Most people think they have to be on the water when it's barely light enough to see..... But they often wimp out and leave by 1pm. Cool. Let em'. I start at 10 am, and after my first 3 hours, most of those goofballs are out of my way. So from 1pm until 7 pm, I have the whole lake to myself. And what's more, their is no doubt in my mind, that big bass are easier to catch, when their are not a bunch of big, loud, obnoxious, high per bass boats running around chopping the place up. Apparently, big bass enjoy peace and quiet as much as I do As for "wanting to do it with artificials only".... I have kind of split feelings on this. One part of me would like to tell you, that being "open minded, to any, and all legal techniques, will give you the best chance at sticking a monster". But on the other hand, at least your picking the "easier", less challenging way to catch a big bass LOL Here's what I mean by that; I am the first to admit, I love fishing live bait, and I have done it a ton. I certainly have no qualms about it. Yet only 1/3 of my 89 double digit bass have come on live bait, and none of my 7 bass, of 15 lbs or more, have been on live bait. That kind of bums me out a little, as I'd love to catch a 15+ giant on a crawler, and my micro-light Sure, I love live bait fishing, but a guy has to do, what a guy has to do, if he wants to catch giants. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fish the places in your area that consistently kick out the kind of fish you want to catch ! One monster fish, is not as important as a whole bunch, of maybe just slightly smaller fish. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Find out as much as you can about the guys that consistently catch giants in your lakes. Their are usually a few out there. Anybody can get lucky and catch one giant, but the same as with the "big bass lake" thing I mentioned above, you'd be better off following a guy who maybe hasn't caught an 18 lb Lake record..... but who has caught a big, fat number of say 10 to 15 lb'ers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fish a LOT ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm sure I could come up with a lot more.... but this should be enough to soak up for now Anyway, I know theirs a big fat pig out there waiting for you, right now Peace, Fish

Hey Long Mike, and you know I use braid 100% exclusively, right ? Yea', line twists on my spinning gear is never, ever a problem. Peace, Fish

Well, in a nutshell, I use a palomar, for attaching hooks. An improved clinch, for attaching lures, and a blood knot, for attaching my fluorocarbon leader, to my braided main line. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But here's the really important part ! Read this twice ! No... 10 X's ! I don't consider myself to be such a great knot tyer, yet my knots NEVER, EVER FAIL !!! Why, you ask ? Because what I am great at, is being able to visually inspect a knot, to see how cleanly it tied. If it does not cinch down cleanly, and pretty, their isn't even any sense in pulling on it, to test it. Hack that sucker off, and try again... and again, if necessary. I don't know about the rest of you, but I might tie 5 beautiful knots in a row.... then 2 or 3 crappy ones. Of course those always seem to happen, when I just sighted a monster, and couldn't be more anxious to get back out there.... But that is precisely the time that a perfect knot matters the most ! It's not a mystery to me, why a pretty, clean, symmetrical knot won't fail, while an ugly, funky, crooked knot will. What is happening, is that at some part of the knot, the line has developed a twist in it, and when subjected to a heavy load, it is quite likely to cut itself off. The point is, everyone, on occasion, ties a crappy knot. The important thing is, learning to recognize it as such, and retying it, before it ever touches the water. An ounce of prevention, is worth a ton of cure Peace, Fish

First off, I certainly won't say that everyone should use spinning gear. What I do believe, is that anglers should use whatever they feel most comfortable with. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That said, here's my whacked out life story. I was born left handed, but forced to be right handed, by old school parents who mistakenly believed that life would be easier for a right hander. What they didn't understand, is that life... or at least, hand-eye coordination, is extremely more difficult for somebody who was born with their brain wired for left-handedness, yet forced to be right handed. The point is, for myself, no amount of practice could have ever made me even half-way decent, at casting a bait-caster. Heck, after 40 years with spinning gear, I still wouldn't consider myself a great caster. But I manage to get my lure or bait out where it needs to be..... even if it takes 3 or 5 casts to do it Anyway, I've been throwing 5 to 6 ounce swimbaits on spinning gear for more than 10 years, with no problems at all. I've also caught numerous Bat rays, to 140 lbs (poor mans Marlin ) on the same spinning gear I use to throw my swimbaits with. Last Fall, I used my micro-light spinning gear, to catch two Sturgeon in the 90-100 lb range. Honestly, I don't think their are any freshwater fish (and very few saltwater ones) that I can't land on spinning gear. Point is, if you are using the right spinning gear, and you know how to use it, their is nothing in fresh water that it won't work totally fine for. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But again, the best reel for you to use, is the one you feel most comfortable with. Peace, Fish PS, It's still kind of amusing when I hear of buddies who are great with a bait-caster, yet still get a backlash Like I said, I'm not even that great with spinning gear, but still, I never get backlashes

Hey Bizz, I guess this is what your after, huh I took this shot 2 days ago on the way to Berryessa. Pretty ugly birds, but yet they have some really cool irredescence ! Reminds me of the White Faced Ibis' I shot at the Yolo Bypass yesterday.... Peace, Fish

What limit ? I C/R, so therefore, I have no limit Fish

Hey Bass_Akwards, that doesn't sound crazy to me at all. In fact, I think their is probably a lot of truth to it. But my standpoint on these kinds of things is this; If one always waits until the moon phase its 'just right', and until the weather is 'just right', and the water temps are 'just right'...... he won't end up fishing very much, and he won't catch near as many fish in general, or even "BIG' fish, as the guy who just goes fishing whenever he can, regardless of conditions. Don't get me wrong, it's fun and interesting to put together connections, and to be able to call good trips, or tough ones, but in the end, I try not to let these things talk me out of going fishing, whenever I can This would be like, although I have found that a HUGE % of my double digit bass have been caught between 11 am, and 1 pm, I still like to be on the water for at least 8 or 10 hours. I think it was Bob Crupi who said it, "But no matter what patterns he has learned, still, a bunch of his best catches, have been made, during times, places, and conditions, that were exceptions to the rule". Hmmmm, Peace, Fish

Wait a minute, I meant to say CRAAAAZY ! Can't believe I forgot to mention this in my little fishing report (under the title; The front of a front...." Anyway, I was down at the far end of my lake. Peaceful. Quiet. Relaxed. I whip my Hud way out. Let it sink a little bit, then start my normal slow, steady retrieve. So I'm like in another world, looking at the trees...... And WHAMMM ! I get blasted so hard, it nearly ripped the rod clean out of my hands ! Thank God I had my drag set, or else I'm sure it would have ! Even so, it ripped the rod half way out of my grip, to the point I could even get a decent hookset.... But no sooner than I gained my grip, and my focus on the situation, it was gone So, I immediately go back into my slow, steady retrieve {note; I advise fishermen to work on doing this. Too often, I believe people get bit, miss the fish, and instantly rip their lure all the way in to inspect it. That's a mistake. If you go right back into the same retrieve, often times, the fish will come back and blast it again, giving you another chance to put it in the boat} Okay, so anyway, now my heart is pounding out of my chest, my hand / wrist is starting to hurt from the trama.... and from my new death grip on the rod... My mind is racing, as I think to myself, "Their isn't no way a "bass" could hit like that ! Just then, my lure starts to come into view, and 1 second later, I see this HUUUGE black shadow following it in, and scarier yet, closing in on my Hud!! At that second, I'm thinking, 4ft long, Lk. record Catfish ! When suddenly, up pops the head of a big ol' 4 ft Otter ! 12 ft from my face ! It looked as startled as I did, as it spun around and streaked off. It popped up once more, about 50 feet away, to look at that idiot in the boat, throwing fake trout around, then went down, to never bee seen again. What a crazy experience ! I've been throwing swimbaits for nearly 13 years, and that's the first time that's ever happen ! Thank God I didn't hook that sucker, because I'd have never landed it, nor would I even want to ! I'm sure that dude could put a hurting on me. Still can't believe this happened ! Fish

Well, I'm kind of surprised. I really thought it would make some difference, for better, or for worse. Instead, it just turned out to be kind of a ho-hum trip. I caught some decent fish though. 12 Smallies, with 3 legit 4 lb'ers... two of those on the micro-light, so that was fun. And one 7 lb Largemouth on the Hud. Oh, and I also caught the smallest fish of the day, a 2 lb Smallie, on an 8" Hud too ! It had one hook right through its nose ! Talk about hungry ! LOL So, it was a decent trip, but no hogs. And now, we have nothing but screwed up weather for at least the next 10 days :( :( So much for my fishing vacation. I'm trying to go back to work for a few days now, until this garbage straitens out. Peace, Fish

Geeez, this weather is just KILLING me over here ! I'm on a semi-vacation, where I'm taking a couple extra weekdays off, to give me Mon-Fri off for fishing right now (still working weekends, as those are the worst days to fish anyway... crowds everywhere) So this week, the rain and cold is due to move back in Monday evening (this evening) and basically will be here to screw me up, the rest of my fishing week :( But hey now, as for today.... 1) we have had 2 additional days of warm weather "since" my Friday trip that I stuck the DD, and had some other action as well. 2) the high clouds started coming in last night, which kept the night time temps up probably 10 degrees higher, than if it had been clear... and 3) I will be fishing the front of a front, on a falling barometer ! Whooo Hooo ! Ya' know, fishing is fishing, and the only way to know for sure, is to just go for it ! Which you know I'm going to. So anyway, I'm not saying, "I'm going to stick several monsters today"..... But I am saying, if ever there was a day it was most likely, it would be today ! .....then, whether or not that happens, if ever there was a Tues - Fri, that it was least likely, it would be this Tues - Fri Come on baby ! I feel like I'm putting all my chips out on one big roll ! I've got one, big, fat chance, and its today ! Or else, forget it. Please wish me a TON of luck ! I'd rather be lucky than good anyway Peace, Fish

Hey BigE, good write up. I'll go even one step further, and say that a DSLR for fish photos, is likely to even "hurt" your chances of getting a good photo. Don't get me wrong, if a guy wants to go crazy with creativity, and spend tons of money on great lenses, the sky is the limit. However, DSLR's have a much steeper learning curve, and furthermore, are much more critical, about their settings, and WAAY easier to take a shot which is out of focus, due to the much shallower depth of focus. And yes, I ALWAYS use flash during my daytime shots... as well as my low light, or night shots, albeit, for two different reasons. Oh, and friends, don't let friends use camera phones LOL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One more important thing BigE, you didn't mention taking photos of ones self, by ones self. I don't know how many of you fish by yourself, but I fish by myself 99+% of the time (by choice) and so I needed to learn how to take my own photos. Believe it or not, with the right camera, I find this easier to do, than to have somebody else take my photos for me. In fact, taking my own shots, I have everything set manually, and dialed in to spot on. While when I have to hand the camera to somebody else, I often have to "dumb it down" by switching to full auto, and just hoping for the best. Without going into a big long explanation, and hijacking BigE's thread, let me just say this; If you can still find a Canon A630, A640, or A650is, used on Ebay or somewhere, get with me... maybe even by phone, and I'll guide you through a complete camera setup up, that you can save in the "C" custom mode. Do you like my fish photos ? Okay, it will be exactly like having me with you, on every trip And just remember, you can tell them, "I caught a huge bass, yada, yada, yada................." and people will most often just look at you with a blank stare, and nod there head {like, sure you did buddy } but as soon as you break out the photo album, or iPod (soon to be iPad) and start showing them photos, they get all whacked ! OMG ! Hey George, come look at this ! Wow ! Ooooh ! Ahhhh ! That always cracks me up It's like, "Dude, I just told you all about these fish, and you barely raised an eyebrow... now I "show" them to you, and you come unglued !?!? You didn't think I was just blowing smoke, did you ? LOL Peace, Fish

Thank you guys. I knew it was pretty common, but geez is it ugly ! .....not that I'm the "prettiest" guy in the first place ;D ;D Thank God for my fishing glasses Oh yea' Swilly, my best friend had the same thing from puking his guts out too. I don't think I have high blood pressure now, as along with losing 50 lbs, my doctor still wanted to put me on blood pressure meds, so I think its "finally" normal, after 20+ years, of being high. On the other hand, is blood pressure medication also a "blood thinner" ? Hmmmm, Fish

BigE and CJ, thank you. BigE, I wouldn't call it a hijack at all. You'd be welcome to add any photo tips to this thread. Only one thing though, about using any old point and shoot.... Yes, almost all of them have self timers. However, their is this one little issue, which causes a big problem for many cameras. Okay, so you set everything up, you lean forward and press the shutter button, bam, it focuses right then while your leaned forward, hitting the button. Then you sit back with the fish, it counts down, then snaps the shot..... which is now out of focus I don't know why they don't make these cameras to count down first, then focus, then take the shot ? That would totally eliminate this problem. Anyway, the reason my A6XX series cameras work so well for self taken fish shots, is that along with all of my other pre-sets (in the "C" mode I mentioned earlier) I also set the camera for "manual focus" at just over 1 meter (for Largemouths.... maybe 2 meters for bigger fish like Sturgeon) so the focus is already where it needs to be. Just something that needs to be considered. Peace, Fish

Hey Matt, thank you. It's funny you should say that, as my fish-photo camera(s) that I use, are like having a photographer along with me. Here's what I mean; My Canon A630, A640, and A650is (the one I use the most) have this feature called "C" (custom) mode. So what you do is, you set up the camera, at home, in your yard, under no pressure (after having just stuck a monster bass ) And you can adjust everything ISO, shutter speed, aperture, flash brightness, even manual focus distance. Oh, and I even set the camera up to count down 7 seconds, then take 5 consecutive shots, about 1 second apart So you get everything dialed in to spot on, shooting a package of paper towels (or whatever) for a test subject. Then you hit a couple buttons to save all of these settings in the cameras memory. Now, the next time I'm out on the water, and I stick a monster, I simply turn the camera on in "C" mode, and Bam ! It's good to go ! Still, I'll usually put the fish in the live well, set up the tripod, and take a few test shots (holding my water jug, with a bright, white top), and check the shots for any blowouts (over exposure). Then I might make a small adjustment or two, to get everything spot on, for the current conditions. I could hit a button to save these changes.... Or, I can just use the camera with these changes this time, then, once I turn the camera off, and back on, it will revert to my previous setup. I just can't tell you how much I love my Canon A6XX series cameras. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only problem is, Canon no longer makes these cameras, nor do they even make a replacement, which does everything exactly the way these do Sure glad I have 3 of them Peace, Fish PS, My best advice, is to try to find one of these cameras used, but in great shape, on Ebay or somewhere, ASAP ! The lame thing is, these cameras only cost me brand new, about $150, $200, and $230. Then, right after Canon quit making them, the last ones being sold new, were going for like $300 to $500 each ! WTH ? Now, I even see used ones going for $250 to $400 ! I guess if someone wants one bad enough, they will pay the price :-?