Fish Chris

I never had before. But the night before last, while brushing my teeth, I looked in the mirror, and Holy $%#* ! The whole right side, of my right eye, was beyond red ! I mean, like it was filled with blood ! Pretty scary actually. No pain. No vision problems.... but really ugly ! I did a little surfing on medical sites, and read that this is pretty common, and generally looks worse than it really is. Not much to treat it, but it usually goes away in 1 to 2 weeks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So what did I decide to do the next day ? Well, go fishing all day, in the wind, and bright sun, of course Recommended by eye doctors everywhere, I'm sure Have you ever had this happen to you ? Do you know what caused it ? How long did it take to heal ? Fish

SprayCrew, and Scott, that looks like an AWESOME sportfish to catch right there ! Looks kind of bassy to me. I'm sure some guys would get all bent about catching one of these (just because it wasn't a bass) but personally speaking, I think some guys just don't know what fishing is about ! If it will bite my hook, and pull my line, I'm always down for the battle ! Of course bigger, is better.... but then size is also relative to the species. Anyway, I'd just love to catch a big ol' Drum ! Peace, Fish

Thanks again guys Oh, and BTW, "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock, was actually filmed in Bodega Bay, CA. And I can totally see why ! I shot there all Winter long. In fact, the Bufflehead shots I posted for this thread, were taken there Peace, Fish

Hey Bass_Akwards, I love fishing live dads, when, and where I can still legally do it. But I use my medium weight gear, and 2 1/2" to 4"crawdads, most of the time, when I'm after big bass. Which is why I don't immediately think of crawdads at a "finesse" technique. Tiny dads, fished on the micro-light can be a kick, but I usually just get numbers of 3 to 8 lb'ers that way (mostly at Clear Lk. CA) It's a blast, but almost never produces legit 10+ fish for me. My crawlers are always fished on the micro-light though. Peace, Fish

Congrats Nothing like a DD bass to make it a great trip ! Continued success to you, Fish

Man, that is a great looking fish ! Congrats on the new PB. I know there is a DD out there waiting for you Peace, Fish

My favorite finesse type of Bass fishing, is to fly-line (no weight whatsoever) a night crawler, and let it sink, slowly / naturally, twisting and curling the whole way Deadly ! ....and if that won't put them in the boat, try tail hooking them. They are much more fragile this way, and will sometimes break their own tail off to get away.... But if you can get it into the zone, it will literally crawl across the bottom, and a bass (even big ones) often can't resist ......and if that doesn't work, I'll turn around and throw a big swimbait, or 10" wake bait Peace, Fish

I always love to flash back on original trophy bass king, Bob Crupi's answer to this question.... Bob said, "If it's /only/ a 10 to 13 lb'er, then it doesn't really matter either way. /But/ if it's a /really big fish/ use a net Personally speaking, I carry a large landing net, and will usually use it, for 10 to 13 lb'ers (or bigger) but I don't usually bother with the net for fish much smaller than 10 lbs, unless I'm using micro-light gear, or see the fish is barely hooked. Peace, Fish

I've caught the vast majority of my big bass between 10 am and 2 pm, but to narrow it even tighter, I call the hour from noon until 1pm, the magic hour I try to always be on my best, big fish spots, around then. Peace Fish Doh ! I think "BIG Bass" so automatically, that I didn't notice where you specifically asked about numbers, and not big ones. Hmmmm. It's been a /really/ long time since I went out even trying for numbers.... But I guess back in the day, I used to do pretty well early in the morning, and late in the evening.

Doh ! I guess I forgot to say, it went 10.2 lbs. I would have bet my truck it was going to be 11 to 12, looking at it in my livewell. But as long as it was a DD, I'm okay with it. Only 11 more to go Peace, Fish PS, next time I post fish photos, I'll post them a bit smaller...... then, when I hit the lotto, I'll buy all of you guys that don't have one, a wide screen, HD monitor

My first double digit this year And it was a flawless, fat, healthy, Northern strainer too ! It blasted a Hud, and fought really hard. Couple big jumps. Only got two other fish... a 2 lb Smallie, and a 5 to 6 lb Largemouth, also on the Hud. Obviously though, the DD made the trip. Oh, I got some great in-flight Merganser shots too... BTW, question for you guys.... Are these photos too large for you to easily view, without scrolling ? I have a wide screen, HD monitor, and when set to 100% view, they fill my screen just right, and are tack sharp. But I don't want to make it difficult for any of you with old school, lower res, 4:3 monitors. Just curious for future knowledge. Peace, Fish

Typically 8 to 12 hours, depending on how early I get on the water.... because no matter what time I get on the water, I almost always stay on until dark. BTW Diablos (and others who do this), you need to quit going so early, but stay until dark. Why ? Because the crowds go early... but also wimp out, and leave early. A lot of guys get on the water at 6 am, but leave by 1 pm. If I get on the water at 10 am, I only have to share the lake for the first 3 hours, of my 9 hour day. Call me selfish, but I find nothing more enjoyable than Mon-Fri, fishing from 10 am until dark.... with an absolute bare minimum of the crowds to deal with. Remember, if you fish like everyone else fishes, you will only catch what everyone else catches. You have to step out of the box, to make extraordinary catches (on a regular basis). Peace, Fish

Well, I'd say that that 5 lb'er looks bigger than the average 5 lb'er posted on the internet.... but on the other hand, I don't think the average photo of a 5 lb'er posted on the internet, does a very good job of conveying the actual size that fish appeared in real life ! About my photos; I often have guys say, "Yea', but your holding it way out to try to make it look bigger" to which I always reply, "I'm not holding it way out, to try and make it look bigger than it was, but rather, to try and make it look as big as it really did, hanging from my own hand, 18 inches from my face. Oh, nice fish Peace, Fish

Considering the wind, which makes sight fishing anywhere from tough, to impossible, it turned out to be pretty good. I ended up catching 5 Smallies for right at 19 lbs. Those were a 2, 3, 3 1/2, 5.3, and 5.5 lb'ers (only weighed the last two). The 2, and the 3 1/2 were caught on fly-lined crawlers, which is extra fun, because of the micro-light gear. The 3, 5.3, and 5.5, were all caught on white, or Chartreuse Huddlebugs, and custom Owner jigs. Oh, the 3, and the 5.3 were really tough fish ! Worked for like 2 1/2 hours total, to make those come into the boat ! The 5.5 couldn't wait to have its photo taken First cast with a Huddlebug, it bit, I swung, and pulled back an empty jig head ! Tied on another, and stuck it two cast later Oh and BTW, I know that 5.3 well. I caught it twice last year. I'd bet my boat on it. Same slightly pinched tail... flatter profile... caught in the same exact area... I might try to find photos of it the last time, for you to compare.... But I'm already sure, anyway. Oh, and hey, I got some fantastic Osprey in-flight shots too Here's a few of the best.... Peace, Fish

Much thanks again to all. Interesting to see all of the different opininions and attitudes. Peace, Fish

Much thanks guys Hey nine miler, my lens is a 400mm F5.6, but I ususally shoot anywhere from F5.6 to F8. Lund E, Tippi Hedron ? Soccplayer, I have the F5.6 (the poor mans birding lens... only $1200) Wish I could afford the F4 ($6000) or the the F2.8 ($8500) .....but then again, even if I could, those lenses area PITA to lug around. Peace, Fish

I've been doing a lot of photography, for the last several months, especially, ever since I got my new 400mm lens. These first couple, I just took today. 3rd year, juvenile Bald Eagle Caught one ! Hope you enjoy them, Fish

Great fish ! Heck, even that Bluegill is a slab ! Is that one of those Coppernose types ? Stay on em' man. Great start Fish

Thanks guys I definately had fun. So much in fact, that I'm going to be there again tomorrow Peace, Fish

Much thanks guys :-) BTW, you might like this pair of Mergansers in-flight, that I shot yesterday, during the same trip.... Peace, Fish

WRB, you took my comment too literally. I was simply trying to convey the fact that going from an 18 lb'er, to a 19 lb'er, the numbers drop off ridiculously fast. "96 places" was just a number I pulled off of the top of my head. The "list" was also fictitious. Same thing goes with numbers of big fish living in any particular lake. A lot of guys mistakenly believe, that if a lake holds 500, 9 lb'ers, it must hold at least 200, 10 lb'ers, and maybe 50 over 12.... Beep. Wrong answer. Of course the variables are endless, but more often than not, a lake with 500, 9 lb'ers, might have 30, over 10 lbs, 3 over 12... and maybe one 13 lb'er. So my whole point, was just to try to show that as fish near "max size" , their numbers drop on a "very steep" curve. Fish PS, Who Dat, well, kind of. That's a little too much crop, but that's the right idea. Also, if the original shot is used for cropping, "then" downsized for the net, the photo quality would be WAAY better.

It was a tough trip. Only managed to scratch out 3 fish... a 3 lb Larghemouth, a 3 lb Smallie, and this fat healthy 5.4 lb'er I guess I forgot how big a 5+ Smallie was ! In the water, I guessed at least 6, maybe 7 lbs. Even after I caught it, I was thinking it had to go 6... but the scale doesn't lie. Only 5.4. Still a nice fish though. Oh, I caught all 3 fish on my micro-light and a fly-lined crawler. Never got a touch on swimbaits, or wakebaits. Peace, Fish

There you go ! $9.98 ! Sold ! Fish

Hey Buckeye Truer words have never been spoken ! Their is this one video by Nickleback (whether you lovem' or hatem') that I always say is the most important music video, ever created by anyone, anywhere, anytime It's called "Saving Me"... I'm sure you could find it on YouTube, if you hadn't seen it, but wanted to. It basically shows everyone walking around, doing their daily life things, with a number that's clicking down over their heads. And that is just the most hard-core fact of life. Everyone of us has a number, and it won't ever stop, until it runs out. That's why missing a day of fishing (or sometimes photography) is such a HUGE, negative thing to me. Sure, I can go tomorrow..... but that won't bring back TODAY ! Once today is gone, it's GONE ! So anyway, I know I'm going to have a great time tomorrow. But a few fish, especially a big one, would be some nice icing Peace, Fish

Dang, that is one huge bass ! Looks every ounce of 18 lbs to me. And it looks to be in really good shape, too. It might even have another pound or two of growth left in it (although with a fish this size, their are never any guarantees) Hey Cart, the thing about this photo, is that the camera was WAAAY too far away. I don't need to see the guys shoes, much less 3 feet in front of them..... or all that sky over his head. I see people make this mistake with fish photos all the time. This shot could be helped a bunch with cropping. Awesome fish though, huh ? Peace, Fish