Fish Chris

I just have one to add..... "the easy 10 pounder" is most often caught by the guy that doesn't carry a scale ! Oh yea'.... that's 10 pounds for sure :-) LOL Peace, Fish

Hey Live, funny I was just talking with a buddy about this. Bass age varies with a lot of factors. Northern strains live longer than Floridas. Florida bass in more moderate climates, like say Nor Cal and So cal, live a bit longer too. As opposed to Mexico bass, which grow very fast, but which are subject to burnout. I believe that Florida bass in my parts, if they have good, strong genes, good water, and plentiful food throughout their whole lives, can live about 13 or 14 years. They do grow for 'almost' their entire lives, the exception being right at the tail end of there lifespan, when they get to a point where they can't catch their food (trout) anymore, and then they go downhill really fast, from there. All of this said, if I had to guess, I'd say my 17.1 was probably about 11 years old...... but I'd like to think she was just a fast growing girl, and was only 10...... 9 would be even more awesome (Largemouths have been shown to grow up to 2 1/2 lbs in a year, but this would be during the fastest growth years of say, years 5 through 8.... big enough to swallow a trout no problem, but fast as lightening too ;-) Anyway, if I catch her as the new WRB, at 22-6, 5 years from now, we will know why she looked so healthy, young, and clean, at 17.10 lbs :-) Cuz she was only 9 years old !!! :-) Peace, Fish

Good questions. 1) Once in a great, great while, I will fish for smaller bass. That would be like (on average) 1 trip a year to Clear Lk. {yes, Clear Lk. California... the 'supposed' big bass capitol of the West} I will go there with an icebox full of tiny to medium sized live crawdads, and my little micro-light rod, and plan to catch 15 to 30, 3 to 7 lb'ers... maybe an 8 if I'm lucky.... a 9 if I'm 'real' lucky..... But a 10 lb'er of of that place ??? Their are just so many other places that will give me a better shot at a DD bass. 2) Depends. If it's a new lake, or a Northern strain, or the first swimbait fish of the year, or some other outstanding point, an 8 lb'er might do it :-) Otherwise, yes, at least 10 to even make the heartbeat rise a bit. A 13 to get pretty darn stoked. A 15 to get flat out jittery with adrenalin. And a 17.1 to be completely beside myself..... I mean like, heart pounding out of my chest... so whacked out I don't know what to do next.... my hair feels like its tingling.... my mouth is so dry I can barely swallow..... Whoooo ! Hoooo !!! :-) 3) Hmmmm. I've always considered myself to be a type "A" kind of guy (probably the only fat one you will ever meet :-) Their are certainly times and places where I have very little patience.... Like when I'm on my way to the lake and I have grandpa in front of me driving 20mph !!! But being on the water..... especially on a day with very little boat traffic... nice weather... by myself... really seems to calm me down, and increases my patience big time. Aside from all of this, I guess I have somewhat conditioned myself to being more patient as well. Then their are times when I just have to flat out force myself to be patient..... Like sight fishing for a monster. 4) Fishing for giants after the spawn can certainly be tougher... But a lot of that depends on the places you fish. I caught a 14.40 and a 15.60 last year, after the spawn. Back in the day, I caught all kinds of teeners after the spawn, including a 16.50 in November. So, it's still possible... But nowadays, I'm ususally off to the ocean for Halibut, Bat Rays, and Leopard Sharks... and come Fall, I'm fishing the Delta for Sturgeon and Stripers. 5) I always "wanted" to catch a big bass..... and "I thought" I was fishing for them. But after catching my first double digit bass of my life in 98" (mostly out of pure luck), and then starting to study big bass, and the guys that caught them consistently, I came to find out that (like many people) I had not been "fishing for big bass afterall, but rather, I had been fishing for small to medium bass, and 'hoping' for big ones". That was the turning point. Once I found out that I could actually fish specifically for big bass..... "and catch them too" ;-) It was ON !!! :-) Great fishing to all, Fish

Excellent point ! So then, since we are sure this isn't GP's fish, this makes me all the more curious what the scoop on this fish is ??? Hmmmm, Fish

Is this the "supposed" photo of GP's world record, that surfaced a couple years ago ? I found it on a Google photo search and it had no captions. Either way, this is certainly a giant bass from the old days. It doesn't look like a super fat trout-eater (which of course, GP's bass would not have been) but it does have a massive frame, and looks like it could be 20'ish to me. 22-4 ? .....well, we all know how photos can be so misleading, to the high, or low side..... Hmmmm. I dunno'...... But I'd take one like this today. How about you guys ? :-) Anyone know more about this photo ? Fish

Very nice stuff ! I like the critters :-) The ice is nice to look at.... but I sure couldn't handle living there ! No ice fishing for me. My luck, I'd have a 10" hole, and stick a fish that was 12 inches in diameter ! :-) Peace, Fish

your photography looks great too ! Hey ls1jay, all of your stuff looks really good, but I especially like the frogs :-) Peace, Fish

I have done WAY better on a 9" MSslammer, than anything else. I know, I know.... it looks like a couple chunks of broomstick with hooks attached to it, right ? But these things flat out catch fish ! Oh, and don't think because your fishing for numbers of medium sized fish, that the 6" Slammer should be okay. It sucks compared to the 9", even for smaller fish. The 12" never worked very well for me either...... BTW, I have one of the 3:16 wakebait Juniors that Branuss posted the photo of. Beautful lure, huh ? Too bad I've yet to get a touch on the thing.... Plus its like $90. I can get 3 MSslammers for that. The Hud 90% of the time. The MSslammer the other 10%. Peace, Fish

I dunno'..... I hear some of those 10 year olds are pretty bad dudes ! ;-) LOL Fish PS, Speaking of which..... My buddies and I always joke about some of those female kickboxers, and WEC fighters.... Would you fight one of them in front of the whole world, for like $100K ? And how would you explain getting your butt kicked by a women ??? :-) LOL And their is this one mexican WEC fighter (forget her name) but really fit, and pretty darn hot ! But how would it work out, going out with a girl who could tell you flat out, "Nope. Your not going fishing today...... as she steps in front of your fishing tackle, and turns at a 45 degree fighting angle ! Doh ! Next, what would you tell your buddies about why you didn't make it to the lake that day ? That would just be all bad, huh ? :-) LOL

some of the guys on this site are impressed with my catches. CJ certainly has me beat ! :-) Welcome aboard Teria :-) Fish Chris

I have this Misc. page on my website, that I use for posting photos on line, when they need to published to the Internet first. So, tonight I was scrolling back through some of my photography stuff, from my new Olympus DSLR camera I got last Winter. I was really starting to have fun with it (getting some successful shots)............ and then it was time for the Spring Bass bite ! Just not enough time in a lifetime. So what's a guy gonna' do ? But anyway, here's some of my photography stuff. Hope you enjoy it. Peace, Fish

First off, I'm a HUGE fan of MMA. So much training, talents, and skill involved. Nobody gets in that ring that doesn't want to, and nobody that doesn't want to watch it, is being forced to. With that said, I think karate, wrestling, boxing, etc. with proper protective gear and supervision, and with stricter guidelines (less chance for serious physical injury) is okay for young kids.... But I don't believe that straight up, blood drenching, knock the guys teeth out, and break his bones, UFC fighting is okay for young children. I believe that if the kid really gets into his karate, wrestling, boxing, etc (if it becomes more to his life than just a passing fad) that by the time he becomes 18, he should be allowed to knock a guys teeth out, break his bones, split his face open, and / or recieve the same treatment from another fully willing opponent. But I believe that straight up UFC is, and should be, a mans game. Just my .02 cents, Fish UFC baby ! :-) Anderson Silva is da' man ! Who can beat him right now ? PS, I said, "until he's 18"..... but how about if the guidelines just become progressively less strict, until they are completely lifted (at least to the normal regulations of adult MMA / UFC) at the age of 18.....

first off, any of you guys, given the same opportunities I have, would catch as many, or more, and as big, or bigger bass than I do. I just get to fish a lot, in places that have some really big bass. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But about why they look so big.... Over the years, the whole thing about how far to hold the bass from your body, and / or, how close to hold it to the camera comes up often. In fact, after posting a couple shots of my 17.1 on the photography forum I frequent, one guy responded > Nice fish, but I wish you had included a pic that has the fish closer to your body than close to the camera. Or is the fish really over 4 feet long? 'Cause it looks that big compared to your body height. > To which I replied > Thank you. That is a fairly common response, and so I've developed a fairly common reply :-) > I take my fish photos first, and foremost, for me, to remind me of what it was like to hold said fish. This fish was aprox. 30 inches in length. When I was holding this 30" fish, 20" from my face (I was never sure of this, so I just measured :-) this is a very accurate representation of how big the fish looked. So I guess the thing would be, if you want to see how big a 17 lb'er looks from 10 feet away, with somebody else holding it, that's all fine..... But I'd way rather see ME holding it :-) Interestingly, most people who are standing 10 feet, or more away from somebody else holding a big fish, will significantly underguess the actual weight. Most people holding big fish themselves, will significantly overguess the weight. Not to brag, but I've caught enough giant bass, that no matter who is holding it, I can ususally guess the weight within a pound.... often within a few ounces. In a nutshell, to show you a shot of this fish from 10 feet away, would be very misleading of what the fish would actually look like "if you were holding it" :-) Peace, Fish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So anyway, yes, a 30" bass, held 20" from your face, does in fact look 4ft long.... and personally speaking, I'm okay with that ;-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOH ! And went through that whole explanation, only to notice afterwards that my arms got stretched ! :-) LOL Pretty funny though :-)

That's okay.... A lot of people 'mistakenly' believe that ;-) How things 'seem' is one thing. How things 'really are', is often quite another. Speaking from thousands of hours of experience with both live bait and artificials. Peace, Fish

I see your from So Cal, and your holding a monster in your avatar ! How big ? Just curious... Peace, Fish

Huddleston trout ROF #12, in regular, or holdover trout pattern is all I need, for most of my bass fishing. The exception to that being Spring sightfishing, where I might use a Huddlebug, or a 6" Hud, or a Basstrix Bluegill. Peace, Fish

I was looking over the advice given above, and yes, I think a Senko would be a great choice ! {funny thing is, I've never thrown one in my life..... but I'm not normal, and I'm not fishing for normal bass ;-)} The thing is though, they do catch a LOT of fish. I wouldn't consider the color too awefully much. Get a green one, or rootbeer one, and don't worry about it. Oh, and somebody said a "beetlespin" :-) Yea' buddy ! Those little things will catch darn near anything ! Not neccessarily the biggest ones.... but it's hard to get skunked throwing a beetlespin on light gear. And finally, the most all around bait on the planet.... The lowly nightcrawler :-) Don't let anyone tell you that their is no skill involved fishing live bait. Their are actually countless tricks with live bait that can make all the difference in the world. Actually, I don't fish with live bait much anymore either..... because artificial lures (mainly big swimbaits) make it easier to catch the giants I'm after. However, for numbers of small to medium sized fish, live crawlers are hard to beat. Oh, and the best advice, keep coming here and asking lots of questions, but the more specific, the better. People tend to pass if the answer requires too much thought and / or typing :-) Hope this helps, Great fishing to you, Fish Chris

Sounds like you had fun :-) BTW, out of curiosity, what kind of 'junk fish' do you sometimes catch ? If it will bite my lure, and rip drag, it's all good for me, regardless of species :-) Stay on em', Fish

I agree :-) Done. Peace, Fish

sure I love to show off a monster catch just like the next guy..... But if you have any questions (riggings, techniques, etc) I can tell you, that "right after" I stuck a pig, is probably the best time to get juicy info out of me :-) Peace, Fish PS, Do you think I should use this fish for my avatar ? Not as fat as that 15.8... but probably prettier, and more proportional.... plus 1.3 lbs bigger ;-)

...hey LBH, did you mean to say, "Beautiful 'fish' FC" ? :-) You do check out my photos 'for the fish' right ? Just wanted to be clear on this ;D ;D ;D LOL Great fishing to all of you guys, Fish

just in case I get bumped off-line again, for like days at a time (stupid internet connection problems for 2 months now :-( Just didn't want anyone to think I was being rude to not reply, with thanks. Peace, Fish

that these photos do not ? Well, lets see :-) Caught this beautiful monster bass about 8 hours ago at one of the Nor Cal trout ponds. Sight fished her with a 6" Hud. It was easy too.... Only had to sit like a statue in one spot, for about 4 hours (sarcasm). Actually, I was fishing for a smaller one {I thought maybe 10 lbs at the time, but compared to this one, maybe 13) that was pretty much glued to the bed, but just wouldn't go (thank God), and this monster came meandering in for about 1 minute, once an hour. On her 4rth visit, she grabbed the tail of my Hud (rigged with a stinger hook for sightfishing) and after an estimated 7 minute battle on medium light tackle, I put the scoop on her.... But doh ! At the last second, she wrapped my anchor rope ! Yikes ! Thankfully, I was able to get the net around her, lift her up, and cut my line. Anyway, she ended up going 17.10 lbs on my certified scale, in front of a witness (who is a big bass stick himself). This is my biggest bass since my 18.4 PB on 4/10/03, and the second biggest of my life. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked :-) Peace, Fish PS, I just had to fill in the blank between my 16 and my 18.... So now that that's out of the way, I'm ready for my 19 :-)

I've used live Bluegills for bait in Louisiana and Arkansas... totally legal there too, but I didn't do very well with them. Seemed like the Gar and Bowfins ate them quicker than the bass. In-Fishermen actually did studies which showed that Bass much preferred other types of fish, especially longer, more slender, less spiny ones like Shiners.... Oh, and it's not surprising that Cali bass like to eat trout so well. It's funny, lots of guys over here on the West coast, mistakenly believe that Bluegill must be a "great" bait, and that must be why they are not legal. Yea' right. :-) LOL Anyway, I prefer crawdads or crawlers, but I'd use live shiners before I'd use Bluegills again (even if it were legal in Cali). Peace, Fish

First off, I'm not going to ask you where they are :-) Heck, I don't even care what lake they are on. I'm just curious if you guys have any spots which "really are secret"..... Like "nothing looking spots that basically nobody fishes"..... but which somehow you have stumbled across, and now, you stick them there every time you fish it ??? Well, most of my spots are definately community holes, that are fished by everyone and their grandmother. Of course on those spots, I have to try and do everything differently than the crowd, to try and stick the fish that the last 500 guys missed. However, a couple years ago, I was on one of my favorite lakes, and the fish were just coming up for the spawn. It was flat as glass one morning, so I got out and did my high-speed sightfishing thing.... That is, I used to gas motor to run the shoreline at a fast idol, covering as much water as quickly as I could. As I went down one long boring looking stretch, I was like, "Whoa ! That was a big bass" ! So, I circle back around and kill the motor. As I sat there for a few minutes, I was like, "There she is... Oh ! There's another ! ... And another" ! To make a long story short, I stuck an 8 and a 9 lb bass right there that day..... and probably more 8 to 10's on that one spot, in the last two years, than any other spot on that lake, that I have ever fished ! I'll tell you one thing, I have never seen another bass fisherman on this spot, period. Let alone throwing a swimbait. Tell you what else, I won't even fish the spot if their is another bass angler within my site.... and if I see / hear one coming (easy when they are driving 20 foot glitter rockets with 200 + hp motors) I put my pole down, and pretend like I'm messing with my t-motor or something :-) Geeeez, I wonder why this spot is so darn good ? Just never been able to make a connection. Sure would like to have about 5 more spots like this..... Anybody ? Peace, Fish