Fish Chris

In fact, depending on how this "death star" would leave the planet "after" all human beings were gone, {if the Earth could recover} it might in fact, be a "life star"........ Just for the record, I have nothing but love and respect for all of the self thinking individuals on this planet. It's the human species in general, that is the most despicable, devastating species to ever walk the Earth. Fish

Eh..... What difference, really ? Just as it is with the people who want to live totally green, recycling everything, electric cars, etc, to save the earth, of course is commendable, but with the human population @ 7 billion, and climbing, the Earth, and every living thing on it, is pretty much screwed either way. All these kinds of efforts are just pis&ing in the wind. Fish

Those big Northerns are SOOO cool ! I'm envious ! Fish

Thank you Goose But quite honestly, anyone could do it. Its really not such a big deal, once you have done it a few X's, and you realize that its so doable. The drag system, along with the fact that in the water, even a huge fish weighs practically zero, is really the whole deal in a nutshell Peace, Fish

And considering that these are pigeons, I'd have to say that these are pretty good sized Kitties too http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/45134/catfish+found+to+beach+themselves+orca-like+to+catch+land+birds/ Fish

I'm sorry ww2, didn't mean to hijack the thread. That's a nice fish you have there ! Keep after' em... Fish

Thank you JF and Boca. Boca, exactly. It's kind of funny, most guys around here use much heavier gear than I do for Sturgies, typically 50-80 lb braid, and because of this, they can land "most" of the big ones they hook, without pulling the anchor, and chasing the fish.... But the key word there is "most". This gives the anglers a false sense of security, then, when they finally hook that monster of a lifetime, they get spooled, because they were not ready to pull the anchor, and get after the fish with motor power. Even when I fish heavier gear, I still have my float attached to the spare anchor line, and only held onto a cleat with one half hitch. Super easy to cut loose from... with one hand Be prepared, or be sorry, right ?

Well, the rod is a G-Loomis SR720 rated for 1-4 lb mono. It's a 6ft, 1 piece, true micro-light. LOVE these rods. Of course I use nothing but braid {real fishing line } so my main line is 2/10 micro braid. Looks like sewing thread Works great on a 1000 series reel, as its so thin, you can put close to 200 yards on...... not that I ever need that much, as I always use my t-motor, or gas motor, to chase down big fish anyway. BTW, for people who don't use braid, please don't try to compare 10 lb braid, straight across to 10 lb mono. It's just apples and oranges. With zero stretch, 10 lb braid is much less forgiving than 10 lb mono. If one were to put 10 lb braid on a medium weight rod, and treat it like 10 lb mono, they would likely break fish off on hooksets and such. I probably put about as much pressure on a fish with 2/10 braid, as I might, with say 6 lb mono ? But that's enough anyway. You don't wear the fish out. The fish wears itself out. It's not about being stronger than the fisah. Its about being smarter Peace, Fish

I did I caught that 90", 220 lb (chart weight) Sturgeon on my micro-light. Not my biggest all time Sturgy (2nd biggest) but the biggest for that gear... and of course, it was the biggest of any species of fish I've ever caught on that gear. Aside from this ^ the closest I got to any other PB's, was with a 3.05 lb Redear Sunfish, edging up towards my PB of 3.2 lbs.... Worst year for trophy bass ever ! Oh well. Maybe 2013 ? Peace, Fish

rmc Agreed, except not usually under a bobber for me. Funny thing is, while in certain X's and places, crawlers can be unbelievable for numbers of smaller fish, they can also be the ticket for a monster..... again, in the right time and place, and of course, fished the right way Peace, Fish

There you go ! Couldn't have said it better myself Heck, I can (and have, on too many occasions to count) gone out and caught a few, or a bunch of small fish, and when the trip is over, I feel pretty much skunked anyway. Dinks just don't count for anything, Fish

Hey Sam, swimming is fantastic for cardio ! Low impact, high results ! That candy bar every now and again is fine too > if your not a recovering food addict like I am. But if you are not already, I'd also suggest a little resistence training thrown in, to mix things up. It's kind of funny, some people love cardio, and hate weightlifting.... Then you have guys like me, who love weightlifting, and really don't care too much for cardio...... at least actually "doing it", although I usually feel great afterwards. But the reality is, everybody needs at least a little of both cardio, and resistence training. These things just work together in the most beneficial ways.... Peace, Fish

Right on. Me too. I'd be glad to tell you what has worked for me. Peace, Fish

Well I think your a lot younger than me (?) so that is part of it too. Younger guys just have a bigger appetite > especially when they are working out ! Then, just going by my personal experiences, after the first two years, of my three year journey, it seemed like I would be ravenous hungry constantly, for the rest of my life ! But finally, now I can honestly say, I am not thinking about food or hunger most of the time, unless I'm really burning it, and "need" to eat more. It's weird.... Yesterday was one of those rare days, when I didn't work, or workout. So I made my daily lunchbox, then ended up not even eating half of it ? So I make my normal dinner, and actually had a hard time shoveling it all down. Whereas on a work day, or workout day, or often both, I hammer down a 2000-2300 cal dinner no problem Stay at it bro Fish

Brussel's are bomb-bass-tick ! People who think they don't like Brussels, have not had mine And yea', fresh off the stalk is SOO much better / fresher. Peace, Fish

I'm going to bet that nobody on this forum has as extreme a diet as I do Check this out, I eat ZERO bread, pasta, rice, or potatoes. Then, with the exception of a 6 oz Yogurt most days, I eat ZERO dairy {that's right, no cheese} I also eat ZERO fast food, deep fried food, candy, chips, or pretty much anything heavily processed....... But here's the thing that might surprise you..... In spite of all of this stuff ^ that I DON'T eat, I still end up eating about 4000 cals a day ! Tons of fruits and veggies, tons of lean chicken breasts, and pork tenderloin {just a little red meat... maybe once every 1-2 weeks} Nuts of all kinds, and lots of PB Olives, olive oil, avacados.... For breakfast, I always eat 10 jumbo egg whites. I sometimes leave 1 or 2 yolks if I'm not trying to cut fat. .....and one cup rolled oats with my breakfast (with PB, and Silk chocolate light soy milk...Mmmmm ) .....and one cup oatmeal every night with dinner too. Oatmeal is the only "grain based" thing I eat. Chosen because it is the least processed, so it takes longer to break down < longer lasting fuel. Oh, and a protein shake with lunch too. Here's a few of my typical dinners..... Beef Rib-eye, Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions and garlic, and PB banana oatmeal. Terryaki Pineapple chicken, fresh green beans, and oatmeal with vanilla Silk and craisens. Pork tenderloin, corn {corn is not so nutritionally great. I just eat it for a treat, if I'm not cutting fat} Brussels, and oatmeal with Silk vanilla light, and fresh strawberries. Anyway, nowadays, I get up every single morning, make my awesome breakfast {don't ask me why I can eat the same exact breakfast every day, and it still tastes awesome to me ? Good thing for me though } then put together my lunch, and my in between snacks. Then come home every day, and cook a dinner like these ^. I kind of enjoy cooking most of the time, and that's a good thing, because their ain't nobody going to cook for me. Heck, even if I had a wife or GF, I can't imagine her making all of this stuff ^ exactly the way I do..... and anything else just flat out wouldn't cut it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anyway, after a life time of food addiction, its actually fun now, to eat stuff I really need > purpose driven It's also nice that after nearly 20 years of severe IBS, my stomach now works like a food processing machine !!! After losing 100+ lbs of fat, and putting on 40+ lbs of lean muscle, to say that I feel freaking great, would be the understatement of the century ! Peace, Fish

Great job bro ! Keep at it ! Don't ever stop. Believe me, its way better to just stay in great shape, than to wait until you are old and semi-worn out (like me ) and then to try to get back into good shape ! Peace, Fish

Thanks guys Yea', I just wish I could have seen it. I'm sure it was huge. Once again, it just goes to show, as long as you have a line in the water, you never know what you might catch.... or how ! Peace, Fish

Okay, so I have been chasing the dino-fish again lately, and sticking some monsters too, on the micro-light gear of course I caught an 84" and a 90" (chart weight, 220) a couple weeks ago. Sorry I can't show you any photos, as oversizers are not allowed on the boat.... But anyway, I'm out there today and I get the classic slow Sturgy pull down, set the hook, and the little micro-light folds in half Fish on ! Yea' buddies ! And it felt like a good one too. So I get to my bow, toss out my anchor with buoy, and start drifting with the fish. About then, it seemed like I started gaining line really easy. I could still feel the fish, but something was goofy. About then, I start seeing my leader line, and.... WT ??? There's my hook, bait, and weight, hovering out of the water, because its hooked around another broken off line, 80lb braid no less ! So I get that line in my hands. The right side came easily, but I didn't know if it was 20 feet, or 200ft ! The left side felt snagged. So I got up over the top of it and pulled really hard, and suddenly, it lunged ! Holy #%$#% ! And talk about a directly connected feeling ! Forget the high mod rods ! This was braid straight to my hand ! LOL So the thing precedes to take off and it was all I could do to keep it from cutting my hand off, or taking me in the water ! But after a bit, I started getting after it pretty good with the t-motor ! Man, I had been battling it for at least 30 minutes.... it had blown a bunch of huge bubbles twice already, so I really was starting to feel like I would win this one.... when suddenly...... {remember the other end of that line that went off into the water ?} my t-motor seizes I knew exactly what it was So I thought about the gas motor, but then saw some more of that darn 80 lb braid wrapped back there too Amazingly, I got the t-motor up, and out of the way, then just got as close the bow as possible, and still had the fish on for another 8-10 minutes with it just dragging the boat. It even drug the boat against the tide at one point, at which time it blew bubbles for the 3rd time ! I felt so close to beating this fish ! And pop ! I pulled in everything, the leader, the hook, swivel. Apparently it just came unbuttoned. Anyway, I can sure see how that monster spooled somebody, if they were not ready / prepared to toss the anchor, and get after it. Honestly, I've pulled on a 200+ lb'er recently, by my 50 lb braided leader. I know what that feels like. This fish felt MUCH bigger. 300 ? 400 ? Darnit.... That one would have been fun on the micro-light + I hooked it at about 1 pm, so I'd have had 3hrs of light if need be to land it....... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So hey, I don't even know if I could have said "I caught that fish" if I had caught it. It wasn't on my hook, or bait ? It didn't even sniff mine ??? In the end, it was good for the Sturgy though. Now its not out there dragging 200 yards of 80 lb braid, by an 8/0 Kahle hook in its mouth ! Just unbelievable. Peace, Fish

One of my favorites I need to get it redone though. Too much time in the sun....... Peace, Fish

Twinkies went to crap a long time ago anyway, but nobody seems to have noticed. The reason I know this, is that back in my old life, I used to eat tons of Twinkies, along with every other kind of sugary garbage and junk food you could imagine. One time about 4 or 5 years ago, I got a big family pack of them, and they had shrunk way down, by like 30%. Now, that in itself, would almost be expected. But they probably didn't get any lighter. Instead, they were just overly moist, like they hadn't risen properly. I assumed I had just gotten a bad box. Got another box the next week.... Same lousy, shrunken, dense, overly moist pieces of garbage. No sponginess whatsoever. I contacted Hostess, and of course they told me they hadn't changed anything, and sent me some free Twinkie coupons. So, I waited a few months, and bought some more. They were lousy too. I never ate another Twinkie. And so now, 3 years after my complete life change / body swap, I wouldn't even consider eating a twinkie, nor anything like it, regardless of how they make them.... ever again, anyway. Fish

Well usually, I get invited to a T-day dinner, which is really nice, and much appreciated,,,, But I never look for a somewhere to have a T-day dinner, and that way, if nobody asks, Whoo Hoo ! I can go Striper or Sturgeon fishing ....which is what I did yesterday. Unfortunately, after fishing all day, I finally hooked a 150-200 lb'er, fought it for about 3-4 min, at which point, it ran for the surface, threw a $#!+ fit, and then threw my hook / bait right back at me Oh well, if I had stayed hooked up, I'd have been coming home in the dark. I'll land that monster (or its big brother) Monday Peace, Fish

I think I already posted a few pics in this thread way back.... But WOW ! That 8lb 10oz'er is so bad **** What a tank ! And pretty too. And he got me by 2 oz ! Hats off to him Peace, Fish

So glad you asked. I say this all the time, because its SOOO true > My knots NEVER fail, even though I tie all kinds of totally crappy knots ! {and the % seems to go up, the worse my eyesight gets... never remember my reading glasses} So why do my knots never fail ? Because what I am really good at, is knowing how to recognize a crappy knot, when I have tied one. And then, NO, that knot will never get wet, because I will cut it off and re-tie it.... 3 or 4 X's if need be, until that knot is as clean, and pretty as the ones you see in those knot tying guides I also won't use a hook that's not surgical sharp...... And I check my drag about 600 X's during a trip too. OCD at its finest Peace, Fish

Ha ! When one's hand-eye coordination is as screwed up as mine is, you don't improve your casting LOL Instead, I just try to fish in areas that the big ones don't have to swim too far to get to my bait / lure LOL Peace, Fish