Supermat

Thanks guys! It really has been a blast and I'm very, very grateful for those fish! Randall... my initial plan was to try and get together with both you and TritonMike while I was out there for some fishing but I just didn't have the time to get it together. Do me a favor and DON'T tell me how close i was to Varner so that I don't have to cry myself to sleep tonight. :'( Haha, you guys live in a gorgeous area and I'm sure I'll be back soon!

Thanks guys! Its been pretty wild. I've had 3 lakes going full bore for quite some time now and have been experiencing the best fishing I've had in years! As always, I'm sorry about the photoshop but there is a lot of fishing pressure out here. Now I'm sitting in a hotel in Georgia wondering if my fish will still be chewing when I get back out there!

Well, the last 10 days have been a pretty wild ride! Lots of 7-9 lbers on an array of baits were mixed into the bag but these ladies are the stars of the show. They are 10.0 , 10.1, 11.1, 12.3, and 12.7 lbs! If it were only like this the rest of the year... my head is still spinning! The neatest part of all is that in the midst of all this I had the pleasure of shooting a swimbait fishing show and we had 51 lbs for 5 fish! That will air on versus in another month or two as part of "Monster Fish". I'm headed to a conference for a few days, we'll see if they're still going when I get home... I can hope. 8-)

Geez, broken record... 20-30 lb P-Line CXX

Personally, I use the Dobyns 734C. I LOVE the feel of this rod and the price fits right in your range at $249.

Love it! She's gorgeous buddy, way to stick the bite that mattered.

Thanks bro! You asking this year or total? Generally speaking, more than one or two and definetely not enough! This fall I thought I was losing the desire but now I find myself waking up, jumping out of bed, pulling open the blinds and either going, "its on!!!" or "Dangit, now I'm up and this weather sucks!!!" ...either way I'd say I got the bug back.

Thanks guys! Its been brutal for a long time, I just stumbled into some fish.

Well, its been a while since I posted a report. I guess its time. Honestly, the bite out here has been TOUGH for me up until recently. I've put in a fair number of days throwing both big baits and jigs but have come up quite short in terms of size or consistancy. Thankfully, things started going my way. Its still been touch and go... put in 4 trips and only caught fish during 3 of them but I finally got into some quality. All fish were caught on swimbaits or a finesse football jig. (link to jigs is in signature) Weather conditions have varied from trip to trip which is quite strange. I've caught fish under sunny skies with high winds, sun with no wind, and clouds/rain. Water temps are still in the mid to low 40's so I really don't know why these fish are so active but hey, I'm not complaining! Fish ranged in size from 6-11 lbs.

My choices vary but my two of my most common colors are "Curt's Craw" and "Dirt Nap" from Dirtyjigstackle They're both variations of craw colors but I've never seen anything else like them.

I throw a lot of the watermelon swirl trick stick as well and love it! I've caught a lot of nice fish on them. As for jigs, I was actually playing with this yesterday. You take the Cinnamon/Purple Finesse Football (or custom order a different model in the same color) www.dirtyjigstackle.com And you combine them with the "sprayed grass" color of Reaction Innovations Sweetbeaver in size "420". http://www.***.com/descpage-RISB.html# When you combine those colors the bait looks so much like that watermelon Purple Swirl its incredible!

Dobyns 735 will do great with those baits! I was out at Clearlake a couple weeks ago throwing various 6" swimbaits on the 735 coupled with a Shimano Curado 200 and 20 lb mono and it worked great! I had plenty of control and sensitivity with this rod and didn't have to deal with the lack of sensitivity that some "big bait rods" will provide.

I've caught quite a few in the 3-5 lb range on Mattlures 6" trout swimbaits. The smallmouth just pound them!

When did you talk to them? Curt and I had a long talk about him making a rubber jig and its happening. He's sending me some. Definetely get in contact with him again. The rubber jigs will be offered in the "toad jig" first. Its like a skinny bear/bass patrol on steroids, the quality is unmatched!

Gone Fishin' Marine in Dixon, CA still carries a small assortment. Your best bet is to call Bob Higgins of "Limit Out" in Clearlake Oaks, CA. He's got a great supply of their products.

Dirty Jigs Tackle doesn't make any smaller than 1/4 oz. but if you decide that will do I can assure you that you'll never find better color combos ANYWHERE! Also, he's got a finesse jig on a ball head that is 3/16, but that's the lightest they go. If you settle on that 1/4 oz jig, go with the toad jig as they've got a killer little hook in them! www.dirtyjigstackle.com Matt

I would throw the Baitsmith 6" Blue Ghost hands down over any other bait. ( www.baitsmith.com) If I were throw a hardbait I'd go with the Wake Jr.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they are a waste of money. While they are sort of "old technology" they never stopped working. In the past I've done great with them. Matter of fact, I won a tourney on the shad a few years ago at Lake Don Pedro. In addtion to that I've caught and seen fish caught in the 5-7 lb range very often and I have a friend who stuck a 15+ on one. There is a lot of good stuff out there these days but I still carry a lot of these in my box for very specific conditions and I do still throw them when the time is right.

Awesome! Way to get the year started off right!

You don't want to skimp on quality when it comes to big fish! Just think, if your split shot rod was a little lower quality and you lost a dozen 2 lbers you'd never care. However, if you buy a lesser swimbait rod because you wanted to save a little $$$ and it ended up costing you a 7+ or worse yet, a 10+ lber, how bad will you feel? With that said, I don't think you can get a better rod for that particular bait than the Dobyns 806 ML. This rod is very lightweight, has a long handle that helps for throwing that bait, and most importantly, a great tip that will flex just enough to keep those hooks in place when that big girl gets the upper hand! http://www.***.com/descpageDCASTROD-DCMLR.html#

Yeah, I fish the delta quite a bit. Not as much as I'd like but I get out there.

Lost another, The paint holds up really well in rocks. I fish some very gnarly rocks out here where you can't help but break off jig after jig and they've held up really well in those conditions. Definitely keep them in mind, I've honestly not found another company that ties such detailed skirts with different colors. (We have a lot of amazing companies out here...I wouldn't be getting jigs shipped from Wisconsin to California if they weren't unique and worth every penny!)

Sweet beaver Double-Wide, Sweet Beaver, Zoom speed worm

I'll back that up, I LOVE football head jigs! The football is such a versatile design as it allows you to fish all sorts of conditions. About the only time you don't want it is in thick cover and that said, I just got back from fishing football head jigs on Fork so they'll even get the job done in cover. Anyway, here is the football head jig I use: http://dirtyjigstackle.com/products.php?cat=41 Whenever I can get away with it I'll use the finesse football as the lighter hook allows for lighter line and in turn, more bites!

The Dobyns 735 teamed with a Chronarch would be SWEET! That's basically the same setup I use except that I felt the need for a 7:1 reel. (My fish are fast coming out of the slop, lol!)