Fish Chris

No, I didn't catch any monsters, but just a good number of quality fish. I think I caught 14 fish total, but those included three 5's, two 6's, a 7, and an 8.0. Of those 7 fish, 5 (including the 7 and 8lb'er) were caught on the Hud, 1 on the 9" MS Slammer, and 1 on the wake-bait junior {my first fish on that lure}. Had a LOT more slaps on the Hud, and swipes at the MS and wake Jr. which didn't hook up too. I did get several fish, including 3 Smallies on crawlers and the micro-light, but they were all smaller 2 to 3 lb fish. Just the way the cards fell though, as I / we know the big ones will eat crawlers sometimes too ;-) Anyway, here's a quick shot of the 8.0. Very healthy, strong fighting fish. Peace, Fish

That's funny to me. Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota, etc, etc, all make fine vehicles. To say one is all good, and the rest are crap, is just plain silly. It really all comes down to personal tastes. I LOVE my Ford F150. I'm also probably one of the only guys who frequents the Ford forum who LOVES Toyota Tundras. I think the new Camaro is bad ***..... but the new Mustangs put me to sleep. Anyway, the fact is, if any of the major car companies really made as crappy a vehicle, as the owners of other vehicles, would have you believe, that company would have been out of business aq LONG time ago. As I told them on the Ford forum, it's really just a matter pf personal tastes, and if you have to wonder about peoples personal tastes, just look at how many "white" vehicles their are out there ;-) LOL Peace, Fish

If I were looking for a new sports car right now, and could afford it, I'd buy that one RIGHT NOW :-) The Goverment is not going to let GM go under. Not to mention the fact, that independant testing shows again and again, that GM builds some of the best vehicles on the road today...... Even though I love my Ford truck too ;-) Peace, Fish

Or what ?!?! I'm in love Needs to be satin, instead of gloss black, with candy lime green stripes though ;-) ......and a 5kw stereo system of course :-) Peace, Fish

Cool catches ! That Moray would freak me out though ! Firstly, because I know their bite is stronger than $### ! And secondly, because they don't just lay their stiff, like a "fish out of water" but rather, those things can snake around and get their mouths wherever they need it to be, to cause damage ! We had small ones in the fish stores, and even those use to freak me out.... more than poisonous Lion Fish even ! Peace, Fish

Hey Bassnman Mike, yes, you are correct about the camper shell deal...... But I spent $1300 on a fiberglass Snugtop bedcover (I love it) because I like to keep the truck look / shape...... + the better visibility from the cab + better security (out of sight, out of mind) factor. I do think its pretty stupid though, that my truck is "automatically" considered a commercial vehicle :-( Btech Again, I would agree..... "but only if" the free waters you fish have as good of fishing... for either numbers, or quality, or monsters.... Whatever your goals were for the time being. I just wouldn't waste my time on a "free" lake, that didn't have the fish I was after. Peace, Fish

Hey MitchIsFishing, it's funny you said Because when it comes to cameras or stuff for my new truck, I'm completely the opposite as I am with fishing tackle. I could spend litterally 10's of thousands of $$$ on cameras and truck stuff, if I had it ! Heck, I have 7 cameras now.... but would just love to buy a top of the line pro DSLR, and a full assortment of lenses.... that would be $50K right there ! And a couple more top of the line fixed lens cams.... and a good digital video recorder.... And I know I could easily dump $50K or more, into my truck too. So, as you can see, for me, fishing is the FAR cheaper choice ;-) Peace, Fish

Matt, yea' we do :-) My biggest Bat Ray was 'only' 110 lbs though ;-) ....like hooking the bumper of a passing motor vehicle though, huh ? And BTW, I've caught 4 or 5 Angel Sharks too ! Those are some trippy darn creatures, aren't they ? And they can be pretty mean too ! Don't want to get your fingers too close to their mouths. Peace, Fish

Yea', those big ol' Leopards are a blast too ! A couple years ago I was catching the heck out of Leopards and Bat Rays, and it was kind of weird..... First I'd be catching Bat Ray, after Bat Ray. I might catch 6 or 8 of them in a row... then Bam ! Nothing but Leopards 1 after the other :-) Some of them pretty nice sized to.... I mean like 50" to 56" inchers. Those things rip too ! I had 1 catch that might be a little hard to explain.... but it's a cool story, so let me try anyway :-) Okay so I was fishing at the dead end of a channel, where the water basically came up and out over shallow flats (on a high tide). Their were already Leopards cruising around on the flat. Well, I don't know what made me think to try this, but I baited up with my Salmon Roe, then just held my pole straight out beside the boat, with about 4 feet of line between the tip of my pole, and the bait. Of course I couldn't see it.... but I knew that stinky Salmon Roe had to be putting off a big time scent trail, right out over the flats. About that time a Leopard is cruising about 30 feet behind my boat, from the right, to the left. As its swimming along, I start thinking > if it were going to hit that scent trail, it would be right... about... NOW ! Right then, the Leopard starts twitching, and jerking, and spins an immediate U-turn, going right back through the scent trail.... then another U-turn, and another, as it starts to follow it upstream straight towards my bait, hanging off of the end of my pole, which I'm still holding straight out beside the boat. Yea', my arm was starting to get tired, but as the shark closed in, I knew what was going to happen, and the adrenalin started pumping :-) Sure enough, within a few more seconds, it inhaled my bait, and Bam ! Fish (okay) Shark on ! :-) Whoo Hoo :-) Turned out to be a nice 52" too :-) Very memorable experience. But anyway, talk about an amazing sense of smell ! Which reminds me, I have about 10 lbs of Roe in the freezer right now ;-) Peace, Fish

Sure bass can see braid..... more or less, depending on conditions of course, but will it affect your number of bites ? Maybe. Sometimes. I use to tie my braid straight to my hook or lure, and I caught a lot of fish that way. But after a year or two, I decided to try a fluorocarbon, or regular mono leader, to see if it would increase my number of bites. Well, I can't really say that it did. However, I found that it gave me more abrasion resistence around rocks + with the fact that braid has almost zero stretch, it gave me just a bit of a shock absorber. You have to figure that if mono can stretch up to 20%, then a 3ft leader will give you an additional 7 inches of stretch (maybe as much as the entire 50 feet of braid you just casted out). So, for these reasons, I've stuck with a fluoro or mono leader for the last 12 or 13 years. My blood knot never fails BTW. Sure, I tie a crappy one now and then, but I "always" recognize it as such, and retie it before it ever touches the water. Peace, Fish

Dude ! ALL nice fish ! How heavy was that monster Cali-butt ? My biggest is 29lbs... that looks bigger ! I'm envious ! Our bass fishing up here is kind of sucking this year. I might try to mix it up a with a little kitty fishing here soon, and hoping one of these years that the butts come back inside of Bodega Bay..... I love catching / eating those crazy looking things :-) Stay on em', Fish

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I went to place I use to fish a TON in the old days, and I absolutely smoked them. Very close to 40 bass, for 150 lbs total. All on the micro-light, and little crawdads. Whoo Hoo :-) Nothing huge... biggest was a 7.4 lb'er, but all kinds of legit 4's and 5's. I just had a blast. I'm thinking, > Wow ! I guess I can still go their any time (just like I did years ago) and smoke them, "any time" I need a fish-catching fix. So last week, I have a buddy who was going up there to stay for a week..... but he left some important equipment at home, so he calls me on his cell, and asks if I could fish up there the next day + bring him his stuff. Well I'm thinking..... "Uhhhh.... well I could do my buddy a big favor + while I'm at it, go on and stick 30 or 40 nice bass on the micro-light again, right ? WRONG ! I've never seen that place so stinking tough ! Even launched my boat on two parts of the lake. Caught 4 fish total.... biggest pushing 4 lbs ! Now, the thing is, you guys should know (I say so all the time) I get my butt kicked as much, or more than anyone > When I'm fishing specifically for giants < But that a totally different thing. I know leaving the house that my odds are slim, of catching anything at all. On the other hand, here I am getting my butt kicked, at the place I go to for big numbers of "easy fish" ! Ain't that just a slap to the side of the head ! Don't you just love fishing ? ;-) LOL Peace, Fish

Okay, in CA, "with the two rod stamp, and Bay Delta Stamp", our license are about $60. I know that's a lot for guys that don't get to fish very much..... but for somebody who fishes as much as I do, that's the best $60 I spend ALL year ! {I certainly feel better about my $60 fishing license, than I do about the $455 registration bill for my truck :-(} As far as paying to launch / fish, it ususally works like this; Their is almost always a seperate charge for fishing, then launching, then parking. The couple "pay lakes" I go to add up to $15.50 and $19. Of course the $15.50 one requires a $6 bridge toll, before I even get to the lake..... and then their is the gas in the truck and the boat for the trip.... Put it this way, depending on where I fish, a day of fishing (in my economy 14ft aluminum) usually costs me $35 to $60 a day. Now here's the thing, for those of you from other states who say > I'd never pay to launch my boat / and or day use fees < Hmmm. Okay. You should understand that their are a few places I could fish (and sometimes do) which have free launches, and no day use fees. But if you have a specific goal, to catch a giant 19lb + Largemouth, or 9lb+ Smallie, you will either "pay to play" or just flat knock yourself right out of the running. One more thing to keep in mind.... A guy could fish one of those free lakes in another state, and that lake could be right next to his house..... But if he fishes out of a high performance bass boat, he will still spend more (just in gas for his boat), than myself, traveling 100 miles, and then paying a $19 launch and day use fee. In any case, yea, fishing is expensive, but it's what I LOVE to do, so therefore, I don't feel as bad paying for it. The stuff that kills me is stupid expensive groceries, insurance bills, registration bills, etc, in other words, stuff I have no choice about paying. They just know they have you by the b####, and I guess that makes it okay for them to rip you off :-( Fish

I hardly ever buy new tackle. Okay, so I've had a lot of nice stuff given to me (sponsors) but even before that, I was already scrapping the stuff I never used, and narrowing it WAAY down to just the stuff I actually catch fish with. What excites me is a sticking a BIG fish ! A new rod or reel will just be dirty in a few trips anyway..... but as long as it still works, I won't hardly ever think twice about it. To me, getting excited about fishing tackle, is like a carpenter getting all happy goofy, every time he opens his tool box ;-) Fishing gear, and even a fishing boat, are just tools. And as long as they work, theirs no need, or desire to replace them. I spend PLENTY of $ as it is, on gas to get to and from my fishing holes, and day use fees. The bait monkey would starve if he depended on guys like me. Peace, Fish

Smart enough to become a Dr, but not smart enough to wear a PFD at ALL tiimes while on the water. I'll just never get it. Sad though. Prayers to this man and his loved ones. Fish PS, Some guys apparently feel that wearing a PFD makes them look like a wimp. I feel like wearing my PFD makes me look "smart".

:-) LOL So hey SirSnook, do you have as hard a time as I do, not just coming unglued over the fact that some guys still use a big arse rubberbands, between them and the fish ? .......and then these guys ask for advice and I'm like.... Uhhhh, well for starters :-) LOL I mean, these guys don't even know what it "really feels like" to fight a fish ! Braided line is just an absolute no-brainer...... and this is coming from a guy who used crappy arse mono for the first 25 years ! Hey SirSnook, how long have you been using braid, and what was it like for you to switch from mono ? It felt REALLY weird and whacky to me. Took many trips over a period of months... maybe a full year before it felt totally normal. But that was 15 years ago. And I could sure never go back. Hmmm, Fish

Hey cat, Tungsten weights, 1% difference Super sensitive rod, 4% difference Braid, 95% difference. Just educated guesses of course, to try and make the point. Twice as many fish ? Probably not. 20% more fish, for all people, all conditions, and all fishing situations combined, and averaged out.... probably. And well worth it. Peace, Fish

I do ? Would you mind if I filled my gas tanks, and payed my day use fees instead ? :-) So many good rods out there. Love my Okuma Guide Selects. My Fenwick HMG's. My G-Loomis SR 720's are awesome ! One things for sure...... No matter what you buy, or where you buy it from, I'd highly recommend finding one that you can pick up and hold in person. Even try slapping a comparable reel on it so you can get the actual feel of it, first. The only way I'd buy a rod online, would be if I had already owned that exact rod previously. Peace, Fish

I'm having such a hard time following the responses here, because I don't remember who uses braid, and who doesn't :-? The thing about sensitivity is, its a "grand total" thing. A super sensitive rod quite litterally makes about a 5% difference. The other 95% (no exageration here) is about the line. I've said this before, but I'll say it again..... a 40 year old fiberglass rod {or what did they use before that ? Split cane ?} with braid, will be a more sensitive combo, that the highest modulas graphite rod, with a big stretchy rubberband between you/your rod and the fish. If your already using braid, then theirs no need to worry about sensitivity. Peace, Fish

Hey Wayne, just out of curiosity, do you know if Stren Super Braid is made with braided Spectra ? .....or, might it be made with Dyneema, or some other super fiber ? I'm thinking that if it holds dye better than braided Spectra lines, it probably isn't braided Spectra. Not necessarily a bad thing. I used Cabelas Ripcord (braided Dyneema) a little back in the day, and it was pretty decent. Not as good as my TUF-Line XP of course ;-) ....and a lot more expensive, but decent. Peace, Fish

Is a more sensitive rod really necessary? No. In fact, the lightest, most sensitive rods on the market can be detrimental, as they are inevitably more prone to breakage, from sudden shock loads {brittle}. Is braided line neccessary for maximum sensitivy ? Absolutely, positively, Yes. Peace, Fish

I use nothing but braided line. And spinning gear 95% of the time. I have a couple baitcasters for Sturgeon, but even so, I've got big Sturgeon on micro-light spinning gear with 10lb test micro-braid, as well. Peace, Fish

Hey snap, first off, braided Spectra does not hold colors and dyes well. I've never used the brand of line your using now, but I will say, the color shouldn't bleed all over the place, but rather, it normally just kind of wears off during normal fishing. BTW, I often use "white" braided line, as this allows me to see my end of it better (for line control) and since I always use a fluorocarbon, or regular mono leader anyway, visibility at the fishes end is never a concern. If you do like to tie your braid directly to your hook / lure, and if your braid starts to get really white and washed out, you can take brown, green, or black indelible felt tip pens, cut a slit in the felt tip with a razor blade, and drag the last several feet of your braided line through it, to recolor it. Peace, Fish

Yes what CWB said, but let me just clarify it a bit. Chair tips = Black, rubber table and chair leg caps, 1 1/8" to be exact. You can get them at just about any good hardware store, 4 for like $2.89 or something. Now check this out.... washers ? Sure maybe. But guess what fits perfectly into a 1 1/8" table leg cap ??? Quarters :-) Simply try just the weight of the rubber cap first (this works well with my micro-lights). Then maybe a quarter or two on your medium rods. I've used up to 4 quarters on on my heavy spinning rods (no, two 50 cent pieces or a silver doller won't work ;D Oh, but forget tape. Once you have them feeling just right, simply shoot a glob of silicone into the cap on top of the quarters, push the cap on to the butt (make sure it's straight) and let it cure overnight. Bam ! Your rod is balanced for life. Anyway, I balance ALL of my rods, before thier first use, and as was mentioned above, although you are actually adding a small amount of weight, the better balance makes them "feel" lighter, and cause less fatigue on a long fishing day. Peace, Fish

I have had So-Spenders, Cabelas, and now Stearns brand inflatable PFD's. All were quite comfortable. The latest ones (the Stearns) were a little stiff for a trip or two, but are pretty flexable / comfortable now. And I'm 6'1", 250 lbs. The Stearns seem to ride up a little higher, in the front, but I'm pretty much use to it. Anyway, I ALWAYS put my PFD on at the ramp in the morning, and take it back off at the ramp in the evening. Just having a PFD with you in the boat, is about 20% as effective as it is, if your actually wearing it at all times. BTW, with regular, old school foam PFD's, it will get you by "legally" (in CA) to just have it in the boat..... But not so with inflatables, which actually must be worn at all times, to be considered. Children must wear a PFD at all times (in CA) which is a GREAT law. At least they can grow up first, before they decide if they want to be stupid or not. Peace, Fish