Fish Chris

Hello HPBB. I agree with you that those hydro-foils make a HUGE difference....... Only problem is, I put one of those on the old Honda within the first few weeks of its life, and while it certainly helped it get on plane, it was still always the slowest 12ft aluminum on the water. With my new Yamaha G3, I put a 'fin' on it in the first week also, and while it might have helped it just a little bit with planing, the fact is, my new boat has a 25hp, which is the max for my 14 1/2ft aluminum, and so I can pretty much power it right up on plane, even without adjusting my power trim. But changing the prop pitch made a MUCH larger difference with my RPM's. BTW, you can get pretty decent alminum props for these smaller motors, for only $50 or $60..... And heck, I think its a good idea to have an extra prop (your old one) around anyway. Peace, Fish

Hey LBH, those are some absolutely beautiful Northerns you got there..... And the video quality is outstanding ! I'm sure you have already answered this, but what kind of video camera are you using ? That thing does an awesome job ! Geeez, how I would love to have some video footage of some Cali giants...... but 1) I have no idea where I could find a camera man who wanted to tag along with me for 10 hour trip, after 10 hour trip.... and maybe not getting any usable footage, for 1 or 2, or heck, even 5 or more trips in a row ! (except maybe for like the fill in, scenery type of stuff)...... and 2) having a camera guy looking over my shoulder all day would throw me off so bad, I'd have no fun fishing whatsoever, and would probably 'never' stick a pig worth filming. I did see some 'self taken video' from one So Cal big bass guy (who BTW, always fishes by himself, and pretty much throws nothing but the Hud), who had like a wide angle camera, way on the other end of his boat, which he just ran constantly, all day, every day, then, every hour or two, he would simply clear the memory, and start it again. When he finally got one, he would put that memory card aside, and start with a fresh one. He had several 15 lb plus Bass on video. I think I saw those on a private forum..... But if I can find them anywhere publicly, I will post some links. Again, your vids look fantastic ! Keep after em' ! Fish

Personally speaking, I'd save the $65 for gas money. Even without knowing what tackle you have, I bet you already have enough to stick a bunch of fish, and probably even a monster ! :-) Kick that bait monkey to the curb :-) Fish PS, But a BPS would still be fun to browse through on a bad weather / high wind day.... especially if they had the big aquariums. Those are so cool ! :-) (and yes, I can 'easily' walk through a tackle store with a wallet full of $$$, like with a friend that needs something for himself, and never buy a thing)

Regarding this post, as well as your Minnow reproduction post, you might want to check out some of the rersources on this site, having to do with Ray Scott and "Pond Boss". http://bassresource.com/fish_biology/selective_harvest_bass.html I think you might find that in many situations, the fertilizing of your pond, might be as beneficial, or more so, than actually feeding it. Peace, Fish

Hey Speedbead, that's a very nice fish ! I think it could be even bigger than anyones guessing here, based on the fact that you have it pulled pretty close to yourself, and like me, your a big guy..... But I wouldn't even want to put a number with it. That said, I'm almost glad Avid beat me to it this time.... As I hate to always be the one to bring up scales. They are pretty cheap, and they remove all the guesswork though. So anyway, first get yourself a scale, then go stick one which is enough bigger than this one, that you have no doubts... Then weigh it, and there you go ! You will then have a number to beat :-) Continued success to you, Fish

In-Fisherman is #1 ! Bass West is a very good mag, with lots of trophy bass stuff too.... But as the name implies, its almost nothing but Western related stuff. Fish

Ya' know, I agree that the taller pedastal will make it a bit less stable than if you were to be sitting lower.... But I think it would really depend on how stable your boat was to begin with. My little 12 ft v-hull was very stable, and so I put one of those 7" pedastals on top of my rear bench like you mentioned, and proceeded to take the thing in all kinds of waters, including saltwater, although some of the roughest water I ever got caught in was on big lakes, and being downwind of a big storm blowing in uexpectedly. I did that about 5 times in 10 years ! Really scary, but I never rolled it. Those pedastals are not too expensive. You could always get one at Wal-Mart and see.... Then if it was just too tipsy, you could always bring it back, for a refund. Peace, Fish

actually, I don't believe that most people who drown are ever knocked out. That was just one possible scenario that I gave. Maybe Bud can back me up on this, but I believe that most people who drown, do so because either they end up in the water, farther from the shore, than the distance they are able to swim...... and / or because of even a moderate current..... and / or because of cold water, and / or because of an injury, which although might not have left them unconscious, still might have left them unable to swim, like broken limbs, etc. So anyway, to answer your question, some of the better "auto-inflating PFD's" are actually that. They will inflate either because of becoming saturated, or better yet, from water pressure by being submerged more than a few inches under water, like when you first fall in. Peace, Fish PS, Bud, your post is about as straight forward, and simple as it gets ! I can't imagine how somebody could read that, and just right it off as not important to recognize.

Okay, not really a joke, but a true story that my buddies and I are still laughing about. One of my buddies just bought a big, heavy, fiberglass tri-hull, with a 351 Cleveland motor. It's an older boat, so he's trying to get all the buggs worked out. Okay, so you know about those accordian looking boots around the out drive unit, that get old, then crack, then start leaking ??? ...... so my buddies boat has been taking on water, and he says, "Yea', my mechanic said I probably have a crack in my boot"..... To which I instantly replied, "Well, that's better than having a boot in your crack" !!! Doh ! :-) LOL Peace, Fish

Hey LBH, I always here people talking about fishing in Alaska... and don't get me wrong, I'd love to go there too, but like you, I have always wanted to go to South America, to fish in the Amazon River ! Peacocks for sure.... But I couldn't leave without sticking a few giant South American catfish, 50 lb Pacus, etc, etc, etc ! :-) ....instead, being a poor guy, I just have to settle for these 300 lb plus Sturgeon :-) Speaking of which, "Is it Monday yet" ??? ;-) Fish

Okay, here's a possibility...... Its a beautiful day. Flat calm. No other boats on the water. No current. Only 8ft deep water. So why wear a life jacket, right ? So you accidentally snag the carpeting in your boat (or whatever you might snag in the floor of your boat). You squat down to the floor (and if you have a gut like mine, this is a bit of a task initself) You fiddle around for a bit.... then swear a bit... then fiddle some more... then swear some more..... (why can't you hook every big bass this well ?) Finally, after what seems like an hour, you get the darn lure undone. You stand quickly straight up. Rush of oxygen to the brain...... Splash, you are in the water, and completely disoriented, even if you do come to immediatly. People have drowned this way. Can't happen to you ? I'm sure those few unfortunate souls would have said the same thing. There is a reason why these things are called ACCIDENTS !!! Hey guys, I'm sure you know that I can be pretty freaking oppinionated..... But if you don't want to use the most expensive hooks, and change them constantly, or the best line (braid :-) that's all fine. I just don't want ANYBODY on this forum to end up drowning ! And besides, I just don't see any good reasons to NOT wear one of these super comfortable auto-inflatable PFD's. Please, Fish

Hey Matt, seeing that I am 6ft tall, I guess if I were fishing in only 4 ft of water (which I never do) that might be the exception...... But I'd probably forget the water was only 4ft, and put on my auto inflating PFD anyway :-) Peace, Fish PS, If I sound overly opinionated about PFD's, maybe its just something which gets driven home nearly EVERY FREAKING YEAR, when I hear of another angler drowning, only because he wasn't wearing a PFD. Sadly, this year was no exception.

Ya' know RatONastick, you don't have to convince me how much difference a pitch or two can make ! I learned that right off the batt, with my new Yamaha 25hp ! Crazy as it may sound, 1 pitch drop, causes an 800 RPM increase on my new boat, bringing it right to the 5500 peak performance RPMS's, at 80% throttle. My only concern was, that my old Honda might be so used to being over-propped, and never seeing more than 4300 or 4500 RPM's, that even raising it to the "proper RPM's" might be a shock to it..... But my auto mechanic said the same thing you did. In fact, he said that because of being overloaded, and "under revved for so long, it might be pretty carboned up too. He said that allowing it to spin to what it was designed for, might even clean out some of that carbon buildup, and cause it to run much better than it has in years ! I hope it doesn't run "TOOO" much better.... Or else I might be kicking myself in the arse for flat giving it away ! :-) ....not really. He's a cool kid.... Plus, I can still use it for certain stuff.... or heck, even as just a back up, should my new boat ever need to go to the shop for anything. Thank you guys, Peace, Fish

Don't worry, I'll stick one for you next week :-) Peace, Fish

Goldfish are illegal in most of Cali's waters also...... But its kind of silly, really, seeing as Cali already has a LARGE population of wild strain Glodfish in nearly every larger body of freshwater (as well as many smaller ponds) in the state. Wild strain Goldfish, however, are almost always misidentified by anglers, as common Carp. I have caught quite a few of them on night crawlers, up to a whopping 10 1/4 lbs ! Wildstrain ones, work great for Stripers in the Delta (and happen to be an exception to the law, in my home Delta waters) but I know guys who have bought the brightly colored, domesticated, feeder types and tried those for Stripers (illegal) and didn't catch a single Striper on them ??? Don't know if it was the smell, or what. Some were even the dull, bronze 'wild strain' color ? Peace, Fish

Okay, here's the deal; I had owned my old 12 ft aluminum, with a Honda 9.9 4 stroker, that I bought brand new, for 10 years. Lord knows, I put a TON of hours on that little motor. It was always dependable, but it was always the slowest darn 12 ft'er on the water. In fact, it often had a hard time getting plane with just my fat butt, and my tackle. Throw in another guy, and forget it. Now call me a slow learner, but it took me all 10 years to finally start to feel like maybe my boat would have benefitted from a lesser pitched prop. I never did have a tachometer (because I didn't find out about those little easily attachable tach / hour meters until a year ago) So, I ended up giving that boat and motor to a friend (on the stipulation that I could still use it at Bodega Bay next Summer..... Don't want to put my new baby in the salt). So anyway, here's my question..... After all of the thousands of hours on that old Honda, with darn near every one of them ran at the very close to the same top RPM..... even if that RPM was way lower than optimum..... would it be a good idea to turn around and drop the pitch down 1, 2, or 3 increments (depending on what the tachometer says its getting right now) and maybe bring those RPMs up 500, 1000, or even more than it has ever ran, in its whole long life already ? I know this sounds like a scary proposition, but keep in mind, if it were only able to get say, 4300 RPMs before, at full throttle, technically speaking, this is putting a lot more load on the motor, than a lesser pitched prop, which allows it to run up to 5500 RPMs (peak performance for most out boards) I guess in a nutshell I'm asking, is it better for this motor to run at a higher load "that its used to", or to jump up to an RPM level that its not used to, but which produces a much easier load on the motor ? Just trying to decide if I should recommend to my buddy, to get a tachometer, and possibly changing the pitch on the prop, after all these years ? He often goes out with his brother, and I'm sure it would really help to get them up on plane...... Your opinions please.... Fish

I checked "At all times" and here's why..... I have been using the auto-inflating type, for the last 3 years. First pair were SoSpenders, the latest set are Cabelas, in a cool Camo pattern. They are just so light, comfortable, and unrestricting, you put them on at the ramp, and you basically forget you have them on ! At the end of the day, I often head up to get my truck, and doh ! I still have my life jacket on ! If a person doesn't care much about his own life, so be it. But at the very least, why not get a few auto inflating type jackets for family and / or friends ? Forcing a kid to wear those uncomfortable, bulky, orange pieces of garbage, doesn't seem like a very good way to show them the "joys" of boating / fishing.... Expensive ? How much did your boat cost ? How valuable are family and friends ??? Just MPO, Peace, Fish Be safe out there.

Sirmo, now of course I have to ask..... Where do you get to swim with these Stripers, and to take photos like this, yet you haven't stuck a few yet ??? It has to be off limits to fishing (I hate places like that :-)....... although it would be kind of cool to see them cruising around like they do) or else surely you would be sticking those suckers, huh ??? Curious, Fish

Hey Fishbear, unfortunately, YES ! We had / still have a huge problem with poachers..... and although I don't have a racist bone in my body, the CA DFG just nailed a big ring of Russian poachers last year..... like more than 20 guys ! (course it wouldn't have made a bit of difference if they were black, white, purple or green) Poachers SUCK !!! Back in the day, they used to just strip the caviar, and dump the fish, but apparently, now they are selling the meat as well ! If it weren't for all of the poachers, I think with strict slot limits and such, the Sturgies would really be coming back well..... Sighhhhhhhh...... Fish

Well hey VT, of course ! You know, the second they come loose, they always double in weight ;-) Seriously though, the idea is, to do EVERYTHING within your powers to keep them from coming loose.... then, if they still come loose, you won't have to hate yourself for making any mistakes that caused it. Peace, Fish

Oh yea' ! And how did I forget Tarpon ?!?! Those things must just be incredible ! What's funny though, is they look just like a 100 to 200 lb baitstore shiner :-) Peace, Fish

Hello KFX. I would expect most people to think "its a bit unnecessary" to replace a hook, because its "only 95% as sharp as it was new"...... And ya' know what ? 95% of the time they would probably be right. But what if you hook the biggest fish of your life, on one of those 5% times, when it did matter, and you lose the fish because of this ??? Ya' know, people ask me all the time, how do you catch all of those big fish, and I'm sure they are looking for one hot tip.... or one "silver bullet". But in reality, there is no one single thing that makes "all" the difference in sticking a lot of fish and / or big fish. What their is, is 1001 little tiny things that all add up to evetual success in the end. Having an ultra-sharp hook at ALL times is just one of those little things. I check my drag litterally every one or two casts also. Is it neccessary ? Again, probably not about 98% of the time..... But for that other 2%, it could make all the difference between landing the biggest fish of my life..... Or, the big one that got away. Fishing will always involve the element of luck...... But for every little thing that is "within my control", I think its totally worth the time and effort. Oh BTW, some of the hooks I use.... like an Owner ST36 2/0 treble for my swimbaits, or an Owner SSW 8/0 Octopus, for Sturgeon fishing are actually a buck apiece ! I wouldn't call those cheap..... But I will still toss them just as quick, if they are not surgical at all times. Peace, Fish

Rarely do I sharpen a hook. I simply use an Owner to begin with. The problems with sharpening hooks are; 1) Even if you get it feeling super-duper surgical sharp, you might have changed the hook point angle by just a few degrees, and greatly reduced its hooking abilities "wlthout even knowing it" 2) You might have taken away metal from vital "strength areas" of the hook point (without even knowing it), so that when it hits a hard bony portion of a fishes mouth, instead of hooking in, the points simply bends over, and skips right out of the fishes mouth.... 3) and finally, sharpening can heat up the very tip of a hook, with friction, causing it to lose its temper, and become weak. This can also cause the point to bend over, instead of penetrate. Bottom line is...... Don't "RISK" a sharpend hook. Use one that is surgical sharp, right out of the package. Then check it 9000 times during the trip, and it it ever becomes only 95% as sharp as it was to begin with, toss it, and put on a new perfectly sharp one ! ........or lose more fish. Those are your choices. Peace, Fish Fanatical, yes, but I don't lose too many fish.

I have to admit something here..... Forgive me for being skeptical, but when I saw the title "3 lb Crappie" I kind of rolled my eyes a little bit.... You know, like when you here a guy say, "I caught a 10 lb Bass"..... and your thinking, "Oh yea ? So, was it 'exactly' 10 lbs" ? But anyway, a 3lb 3oz Crappie it certainly is !!! Holy #$#% ! That thing is HUGE, and just beautiful too ! I'm not worthy. Still looking for my 3.0....... Hey Dan, the next time you see this guy, give him a big congrats for me ! Fish

Thank you for all the replies, guys. If I had to choose between fresh and salt (even as much as I enjoy salt) I'd have to go fresh too.... But since I don't "have to choose............. :-) One thing to keep in mind about saltwater gear, is that with the advent of super-braided line, and super high-tech, super precision reels, one can use MUCH lighter tackle nowadays, for huge fish such as Marlin, and Tuna..... depending, of course, on the bait / lures needed for such fish. Remember, I often fish for Sturgeon, with MUCH lighter gear than I use to throw swimbaits on, for dinky little 10 to 18 lb Largemouth bass ;-) Anyway, IMPO, if it involves a line in the water, chasing anything that swims, it's going to be WAY more fun than work ! :-) Peace, Fish