Fish Chris

Hey Quinn > Are you kidding me ? I don't let the big ones get bigger > for others to catch them < I let em' get bigger, for ME to catch them again ! ;D ;D Hey, if somebody else catches a big one I let go, hats off to them (as long as they release it too) but I was thinking "first" about #1, secondly, about my fishing buddies, and then all of the other big bass C/R anglers ;-) Catching and keeping a limit of smaller fish {in some fisheries} is not only okay, it can be a benefit. However, every fishery is different. Places that tend to overpopulate with stunted bass, definately need to have quite a few smaller fish harvested. Other places with low numbers of larger fish, are best for C/R angling. I tend to concentrate on the low numbers / big fish lakes in the first place..... but I am guilty of letting them all go, just because I don't care for the taste of Bass. Peace, Fish

Hey Bilge, yea', I've heard Doug H's take on it, and he's probably right. But then again, I kind of agree with Pirates opinion too I'm not sure their is a 22-6 bass swimming around at this very moment though.... or, a bass which is always more than 22-6 even with normal weight fluctuations. But even so, a 22-6 or better is doable. BTW, that 25.1 that was foul hooked (which I absolutely believe was 25.1 lbs) was almost certainly a genetic fluke. Otherwise we would have seen five of them in the 24 lb range, and twenty of them over 23 lbs..... but instead, we haven't seen even one more over 22 lbs, in a long time. And that fish has since been proven to have died. So, its going to take another 1 in 100 million fish just like it.... and then it will have to get caught "after" growing to its full potential. You'd probably have a better shot at winning $100 million in the lottery ;-) How's that for a vote of confidence ? ;-) Peace, Fish

Paul, those are great shots taken with your Oly ! Especially the underwater shot. They actually make a really nice underwater housing for my Canon A series (I think it will fit all three of them, but at least two of the three) but that darn thing costs about as much as those cameras did ! Still, I'd like to buy one..... Hey Dwight, yes, I always use the timer for my self taken shots, but with my Canon A series, its totally customizable. So, I set it for 6 seconds, and then it takes 3 shots in a row with about 1 second between each. Not really any pressure to take them really fast though, as I just pull the fish out of the livewell, first, holding it in the hand that I want to for the photo, then use my other hand to hit the timer, and sit back. While the shots are clicking off, I can adjust in between shots too..... and I can set it to take as many shots in a row as I want to, also. (up to 10 at least) And all of these settings are saved in my "C" (custom) mode. So I don't need to set anything up on the spot. Its all set up ahead of time. Even when I hand the camera to someone else, I usually just leave it in the "C" mode nowadays, just changing it from the timer setting, to single shot. But as soon as I turn the camera off, and back on, it goes right back to my custom timer. It's all really easy. I'm telling you, these A series are the best ever for self taken fish shots..... and now discontinued, with nothing to take their place :-( Peace, Fish

Well first off, I love dogs of all kinds. Big ones, little ones, pure breds, mutts, whatever. However, not only do I never fish with people, because of all the distractions (especially with my AADD) but I think it would be even worse with a dog. Reason being, I think I could ignore my friends easier, than I could a dog ;-) I don't own a dog of my own at the moment, but I am good buddies with my landlords dog..... who is watching over my left shoulder as I sit here and type this. He is a German Shepherd x Gold Lab mix, and he is a big old boy ! 105 lbs ! I think he's full grown, but barely. He's only 2 years old. (hey Btech, do you have a photo of yours ?) When I play fight with him, and he wraps those big teeth around my forearm, while growling and snarling, you can't help but think "Darn, it's a good thing he's just playing" ! I'd hate to be a burgular that runs into him ! ;-) Actually, he has already cornered a burgular in our back yard, who was attempting to break into the neighbors house. The neighbor called the cops, and the attempting burgular was arrested ;-) How cool is that ? It's kind of funny, as with everyone "who is supposed to be here, he is just a big baby" :-) He just knows when to "turn it on" ! My buddy Tepu Kahn Peace, Fish

Hey Paul, great questions. First off, "definately NOT an SLR for fish photography". I'd consider that to be a BIG mistake, and here's why.... DSLR's typically have a very shallow DOF (Depth of field / focus). So, it can be quite difficult to get both you, and the fish, tack sharp. Also, for self taken shots, the greater DOF of a fixed lens camera, allows you to fudge it a lot more. I set my fixed lens (point and shoot) cameras for 1 meter.... the fish might be a bit closer... I might be a bit further, but with the greater DOF, it's not near the issue. Now, here's the bad news :-( The camera(s) that I'd most recommend, the Canon A600 series (A630, 640, 650) are not made anymore :-( Luckliy I have one of each :-) It was one of those deals where the cameras did too much, for too little $$$, and it was hurting sales of other more expensive models in Canon's own list of models :-( As I keep telling people, if you can afford it right now, spur of the moment, I'd start scrambling to find one of the cameras I mentioned above on E-bay or somewhere.... even used, but like new. Now, when these cameras first came out, they were going for like $149, $189, and $229 (the prices I paid) (from the best online discount camera places). But as people started finding out how great they were, the prices climbed to like $199, $239, and $299.... then even a little higher yet as the last ones were going out. Anyway, their are 3 primary reasons why I think these cameras are the best for fish photography; 1) because they use AA batts, so you can easily aquire rechargeables, which last a long time, and cost only pennies a charge + help to keep batts out of landfills..... but you can / should still carry 1 set of old school alkalines, which have a VERY long 12 to 15 year shelf life. This means you will NEVER be stuck without juice, on a spur of the moment photo shoot, of the biggest bass of your life. 2) They have an articulating screen which is just the coolest and most important thing ever, when trying to take photos of your own fish, when by yourself. You can see where the top of your head, and the end of the fishes tail is, and make adjustments before the shot(s) is taken. and 3) these cameras have a function called the "C" (custom) mode. This allows you to set up every possible aspect of the camera ahead of time... aperature, flash, manual focus distance, timer length, number of shots after countdown, ISO.... I'm sure I'm missing something, but you get the point. So, you stick a big one, your adrenalin is pumping, you can hardly sit still without shaking.... but its okay.... Your turn on your camera in the "C" mode, and its ready to do everything you set it for the day, or the month before. BTW, you can still tweak things.... like say its a cloudy day. Well, you can leave every thing else the same, but maybe bump your ISO from 100, to 200.... or change your F-stop from say 6.3, to 5.0. If that works great, you can hit a couple buttons to save the change.... or not, and when it is turned back on, on the next "sunny day" it will remember your old / previous settings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't get me wrong, I do own an Olympus DSLR, and its a fine camera for some things.... "when I'm standing behind it" and especially in lower light situations (or my long exposure stuff using really dark filters). But otherwise, a high quality point-and-shoot for fish photos, all the way ! :-) Hope that helps, Fish

{of course I've never been wrong... once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken ;-) LOL Seriously though, I screwed up. I inadvertantly reported that that 10.5 lb Northern Bass I caught a couple weeks ago was my new PB Northern...... Beeeep.... Fail. My previous, and still PB Northern, was this beautiful 10.6 that I caught last year on a crawler. I could have sworn it was 10.4 lbs.... But I was showing my fish photo folder to a guy earlier today, and flipped past this one, noticing it was actually 10.6.... and darn was it a pretty one. Probably a younger fish than the 10.5 was also. I'd sure like to catch it again in a year or two.... Anyway, my mistake. This is the 10.6 that is still my PB Peace, Fish

Alright, so here's another one..... I don't have any kids of my own, but I raised one for about 7 years. Her name is Kathleen. She is all grown up now (20 ? Geeeez, I can't believe that !) But anyway, one time I was getting ready for work and I was shaving. Kathleen (who was about 5 at the time) walked in behind me and asked, "Is that whipped cream on your face" ? I told her, "Of course not silly..... you know its shaving cream". She giggled and replied, "Well I think you should use whipped cream instead". So I asked her, "Oh yea'..... Why is that" ? She replies, "Because it would probably work just as good anyway..... then when you got done, you could lick the rest of it off" :-) LOL Doh ! Why didn't I think of that ??? :-) LOL Fish

Dude ! If you catch one on a Hud with my rigging, I would be darn near as stoked as if I caught it myself ! :-) I bet Ken H. would be pretty jazzed about that too ! Now you "have" to let me know..... Man, I feel like I'm getting ready to make that trip myself ! ;-) LOL Have fun, be safe, and stick a MONSTER !!! Peace, Fish

Hey Robby, man ! That is one beautiful bass ! Look at that color ! Great fish ! Continued success to you :-) Fish

.dsaavedra. slow ??? For a lot of the trips I do, 3 fish would be like a "numbers" day ;-) LOL And you got a PB too ! Congrats on that fatty, Continued success to you, Fish

I use those little Fiskars thread cutting scissors... The ones with a spring clip to hold them closed, and the short, pointed blades. About $10 or $12 at Wally world, in the fabric dept. Oh, and no matter how clean your cut is, braid will try to come unfrayed. This won't make your knots slip any easier, but if it bugs you, you cab just put a tiny drop of super glue on the tag end of your braid.... and what the heck... you can go on and let it soak into your knot too, just for peace of mind. Peace, Fish PS, BTW, good scissors (like the Fiskars I'm talking about) can be sharpened "razor" sharp in just a few minutes with a hard whetstone. Think I'll do mine again right now :-)

So I guess its okay to hijack my own thread right ? :-) Vyron ! So that is you ? How big was that one ? I hear they fight like a big, overgrown Largemouth bass ! .....and actually, that doesn't surprise me, as they look very much like one. Those things are freaking cool :-) Good luck on your trip. Post a report regardless of how you do.... but I hope you smoke em' ! :-) Peace, Fish

{not a joke, just a funny, true story} Okay, so a buddy of mine was telling me about some friends of his.... a nice young couple with a 5 year old son, and another on the way. The couple had gotten their son a cat, and they had told him it would be all his, and that he could name it whatever he wanted. Okay, so he tells his parents, "I want to name it..... Chris" ! :-) LOL Of course the parents told him, "But honey, Chris is a humans name". To which he replied, "You said I could name it whatever I wanted too" ! And of course they did say that. So they just kind of laughed it off, and said, Okay, so we are going to have a cat with a goofy name. Could be worse right ? So, as I had said, the mom is expecting, and they went in to the hospital for a sonogram, at which point the Dr. informed them that they were going to have another boy. The couple goes home, and tells their son that he is going to have a new baby brother very soon ! So they ask him what he thinks would be a good name for him...... He thinks about it for a little bit, then his face lights up, as he says, I know ! I think we should name him...... drumroll please..... "Spider" ! ;D ;D LOL Kids, huh ? Peace, Fish

BPS has always taken pretty good care of me. Although I usually get put on hold when I call BPS, while with Cabelas, it's almost a direct connect, right off the batt, every time. Also, I find Cabela's items to be "in stock" just a little more often. Still though, I'd have to give BPS a 9, and Cabelas a 9.5. Maybe I've just been lucky :-) But being lucky is fine too, right ? Peace, Fish

So I take it, your single ? Anyway, I like strippers too..... but dude, this is a fishing forum :-) Peace, Fish

The most sensitive rod on the planet, whatever rod that might be, being used in conjuction with monofilament, will not be as sensitive as a 40 year old, fiberglass rod, used in conjuction with braided line. If sensitivity is a big concern, then you should be using braid, for starters. You can worry about things of lesser concern (like the rod) later. Peace, Fish

Vyron, what the heck kind of fish is that in your avatar ? ....and is that you holding it ? Looks like a New Guniea Black Bass, or a Nile Perch, or something crazy ! I wanna' hook that on my micro-light ;-) LOL Peace, Fish

Well sure... everybody has made a small mistake here or there at the launch ramp. Try finding somebody who has been launching a boat for many years "who has never left the plug out a time or two" ! I hate it when that happens ! ;-) Here's REALLY bad one I witnessed though ! I was at a lake about 10 years ago, and had just launched my boat, fired it up, and was letting it warm up, while I got things organized for the trip. An old guy comes down with an old, but FLAWLESS bassboat ! I mean it was like a late 70's Ranger, but it was obviously completely restored, and just immaculate. The guy backs down on the ramp, gets out of his truck, and ties the end of a nice long, bow rope, to a tree right beside the ramp. He gets back in his truck and backs down until his boat drifts off of the trailer. He then pulls the trailer back out and as the trailer starts to leave the water, he gives it some gas. Problem was, the slack rope had drifted over part of the trailer (the fender I believe) without him knowing it. The guy had his windows up, and either had his stereo on, or just a little def...... And so he preceded to drag that pretty, shiny old bass boat darn near to the top of the ramp, over that super rough, pea gravel concrete ! First the bow made the most hideous sound..... Then the bottom of the outdrives started bucking, and jumping as it got drug up the concrete too ! Finally, the rope snapped ! The poor old guy still had no idea what had just happed.... until he came back to get into his boat. Darn, I thought the guy was going to cry :-( It jacked up his bow, and the skagg on his motor something terrible ! It took about 6 of us to litterally lift his boat up, and carry it back to the water, so he could get it on the trailer :-( Moral of this story is, make sure everything is clear, before you start punching on the gas ! Peace, Fish Ps, Oh, here's another dumb one by me.... I used to like to show off, and fly down to the ramp, with my little boat on the trailer, in reverse..... Slam it into the water.... yank the trailer back out and be good to go, in like 2 minutes or less. (I hate wating on somebody at a ramp, and so I don't like to keep people waiting on me either). Well one time, I was showing off my super-fast launching skills.... but hadn't noticed that their was some goofball surf board sailer (or whatever they call those things) down their. So as my truck gets onto the downward ramp itself, I see him in my rearview. Well sure.... My truck stopped just fine. But my boat slid off of the trailer just enough for it to tip down, so the skagg landed on the ramp ! Doh ! Lesson here is, being quick at the ramp is cool. Sliding your boat off of your trailer onto the ramp, quickly removes all coolness ;-) LOL

Hey Catt, I know. That's my point.... Either you guys are not away from food for 14 to 16 hours on a regular basis like I am, or you can go a REALLY long time without eating. A little snack wouldn't cut it for me.... Peace, Fish

I've broke 3 rods in 40 years. The first was while trying to stop an 11-11 Largemouth (my first double digit :-) from getting to some submerged trees. The important part their was, I stopped the fish, and landed it anyway ;-) + the rod had a life time guarantee. The next was when setting the hook into a very solid part of Nor CA, with braided line, and my drag (apparently) a little to tight. And finally, I broke a swimbait (spinning) rod at the handle, casting a 5oz Hud a couple years ago. Not bad, for as much as I fish, and the fact that I've used almost nothing but non-forgiving braided line for the last 15 years. Peace, Fish

The Palomar is a great knot, which I use often... But it's not for everything. I also use an improved clinch, and a bloodknot (for joining my mono leader to my braided mainline). I NEVER have problems with my knots slipping, or failing. Lord knows I tie "plenty" of poor knots..... But what I'm REALLY good at it, is recognizing a poor knot when I tie one. If it takes 3 or 4 tries for me to get one that cinches easily, completely, and looks clean and symetrical when finished, that's fine. But I won't ever let a poor knot meet the water. Oh... I do occasionally use a drop of superglue on the tag end of my braid, and the knot itself, but that's just for peace of mind. They never slip anyway. Peace, Fish

This would be reason #379 why I HATE monofilament. Peace, Fish

What, nobody here actually brings > food < ??? I mean some of you bring nothing.... and a lot of others just bring a "snack" ? I dunno'..... either you guys fish shorter average trips that I do, or you can go for 14 or 16 hours without eating ! Sure, I might only be on the water for 8 or 10 hours, but I usually eat breakfast an hour or two before I leave.... then maybe 3 to 4 hours of travel (for the round trip). So anyway, I bring a good sized icebox, with two sandwiches, chips, some kind of sweets, a banna or apple.... maybe a gatorade, and either way, a gallon jug of icewater. A "snack" is what I have > between < my two full meals (usually at about 11 am, and 5pm) while on the water ;-) Sure, I wish I were as skinny as some of you, but if I let myself get really hungry, next is the headache, and loss of energy, and that hurts my fishing effectiveness. And that's no acceptable. Hmmm, Peace, Fish

Hey Mitch, it's kind of a funny story.... You know I was sponsored by G3 right ? Well, they went through the whole "are you worth sponsoring" thing, reviewing my resume, photos, writings, etc, "first". Then, after everything has been considered, and they decided that I was worth sponsoring, they basically said, "Okay. Your in. What boat do you want" ? So I told them, I want this V143. To which they replied, "That's it ? You do realize that we will give you the same {very large} % off of whatever boat you choose, right" ? Well yes, I kind of assumed that..... But that V143, with electric start, and power trim, is pretty much my dream boat ! Anything bigger, and it would just be a cumbersome PITA (personally speaking) + the fact that anything that used more gas, would start to cut into my time on the water ! So they were like, "Uhhh.... Well okay. I don't think we have ever sponsored somebody with such a small light boat"...... To which I replied, "That's awesome :-) I prefer to be the oddball anyway" ;-) So yea', I know a lot of guys would find it hard to believe, but my 14ft aluminum (for most of the different types of fishing I do anyway) really is my dream boat ! Hand picked, from every boat I could find and research on the internet, and customized by me, for me :-) Peace, Fish

That was just all bad Very sad story. On the other hand, that was also the most "poorly written storey" I've read in a long time, as well. I hope the writer for that didn't actually get paid. Might have just been one of those things...... I forget what they call it, but somebody is interviewed on the spur of the moment, and everything they say is just put directly into print, stutters, repeats, and all. Peace, Fish