king fisher

Any landing you walk away from is a good one.

I went fishing yesterday. I landed around 20 bass. Most of them were tiny, but I did manage 3 keepers. One around 4 pounds, one 5 pounds, and this one that went, 6.4 pounds 23 inches. Best lure was a spinnerbait, but the biggest was on a T rig Ole Monster. Lost a hawg on the spinnerbait, then proceeded to lose that bait, as well as the only other one like it that I had with me. I have over 100 spinnerbaits at home, but they didn't do me any good at home. The wind blew 25 mph. I snagged a brand new crankbait, and tried to save it with a plug knocker. I was trying to get over the top of the lure, but the wind made it difficult. I tried to anchor in place, and lost my anchor. After a real circus, I did manage to get my lure back. I then decided to try and snag my anchor line with the crankbait, in order to save my anchor. I didn't save the anchor, but managed to loose the crankbait. I'm sure glad I don't buy expensive crankbaits. If that had been a Megabass crankbait, I'm sure I would have lost the plug knocker, broke the rod, flipped the kayak, and still lost the bait, and my anchor. Because it was a dt 16 I gave up and broke the line, before I became a drowning statistic. After this fiasco, I tied on a spinnerbait, and began to catch bass. This trip cost me more in gear than all of my trips combined this year, but I buy the baits to use, and I didn't get skunked.

Vampire stakes.

1-If you catch a big bass, it is all skill. If your friend catches a big bass it is all luck. 2- If you don't catch bass, it is because you don't have the right lure. Buy more tackle. 3- If you do catch bass after buying more tackle, buy more tackle. 4- You can't own to many rods. 5- Bass bite better on cloudy days, except for the days they don't 6-Bass bite better on sunny days', except for the days they don't 7-If you are catching bass, it is the right moon phase, if you are not catching bass it is the wrong moon phase. 8-If you friend catches bass and you don't, it is because the moon shines on him a different way. 9- Only fish for bass on the days ending in the letter y. 10- Lake Menderchuck is impossible to find. 11- If purple is your favorite soft plastic color, you are old 12- If Green pumpkin is your favorite soft plastic color you are middle aged. 13- If you don't have a favorite soft plastic color, you are lying 14- If you have never had an argument over what line, or knot is best, you are not a bass fisherman. 15- If you put a Diawa reel on a Shimano rod stay away from any storm clouds. 16- No matter how much you pay for a lure, you must upgrade the hooks. 17-If you don't backlash your reel, you are not casting far enough 18- If you are not hung up, you are not bass fishing. 19- Don't set the hook to soon on a topwater bite. 20- Don't set the hook to late on a topwater bite 21- There is a world of difference between a green pumpkin with black flake worm, and one that is watermelon with black flake 22- Trout fisherman will fish pink worms, bass anglers fish bubble gum worms. 23- If fishing in the day time, spinnerbaits must be white with willow leaf blades, and if fishing at night, a spinnerbait must be black with Colorado blades. 24- Chatterbaits can be green pumpkin, but spinnerbaits can't 25- Black and Blue is a great color for jigs, but does not work with crankbaits. 26- Bass hide in shady spots under overhanging tree limbs, not in the tops of overhanging tree limbs. 27- Bass always bite on the other side of the lake 28- A day with one 10 inch bass is not a skunk, so don't lose it 29- Any day you catch more bass than lures lost, is considered a positive trade deficit. 30- If you pray a big bass doesn't jump, it is ok to curse when it does. 31- Bass bite at night, so do mosquitos. 32- You will never know what day post spawn turns in to pre spawn. 33- Most days all a person needs to catch bass is a 5 inch green pumpkin Senko. A good bass fisherman doesn't fish on most days. 34- You can bass fish, and you can do yard work, but you can't bass fish while doing yard work. 35- If you show your friends a picture of a 10 pound bass you caught, they will be highly impressed, if you show them a picture your freshly mowed lawn, not so much. 36- Bigger baits mean bigger bass, that 12 pound bass a kid caught on a crappie jig doesn't count. 37- Power fishing doesn't mean you have power, it only means you hate to use a dropshot. 38- There is always a need for one more rod reel combo. 39- Bass don't care how much a lure costs, but your wife might. 40- Mortgaging your home to buy a boat is sound financial planning, doing it to buy another glide bait proves you are way to late to worry about financial planning. 41- Wind from the East fishing at it's least, wind from the west fishing at it's best. Wind from the north or south you are fishing on the wrong lake. 42- Crankbaits catch bass, more crankbaits don't catch more bass. 43- Spinnerbaits work everywhere bass are found except the Tennessee River. 44- There are no rules in bass fishing.

Must have been at least a nine pound smallmouth. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Set the hook

Because it is a list of all the top lakes in the US. BASS doesn't even no what planet Menderchuck is on. All those big brown bass can't possibly come from one place on Earth.

Don't even bother trying. I have that record, and it will never be bested.

I like fishing more than work, but work more than I fish. I would like to say, this is not fair.

I don't know, but if you want to stay ahead of game, I would be willing to sell you two helicopter lures glued together for $150.

That study was done with live crawfish. There are many aspects of a real live crawfish that would make a bass think it was real food. If the live craw didn't have claws that bass would still think it was real, and actually prefer it because having no claws makes a craw less capable of defending itself. The bass would not have any reason to think the craw was fake, because it was real, just like the thousands of craws it had eaten before. A plastic craw is not real. The purpose of the claws are to create action, which makes the bait look more like something alive. Take away the claws and the action may change enough that the bass does not think the craw is a real live meal. Most claws on artificial craws, do not look or move anything like the claws on the a live craw. They do however create movement, which makes the bait look like something alive. Of course movement can be imparted by the way an angler retrieves the bait, which is why bait with claws removed do work, but many times the extra action of claws can help trigger a strike. In the 1970's companies experimenting with plastic made artificial insects that were exact copies of the real thing. Trout anglers hoped these exact replicas would be the holly grail of fly fishing. They did not work. The fuzzy look of flies tied with thread and feathers, gives a fly the appearance of being the real thing. Even though the plastic fly looked more real sitting on a table, the fuzzy tied fly looked like something alive when drifting down the stream. The action of claws on a craw, may be similar to the feathers on a fly. Not as realistic, but they provide that important it factor. Besides, claws on craws, look good to me, and the fish will just have to like what I like, or go bite some other anglers line. I'm not going to spend my hard earned dollars on a craw with no claws. That might as well be a poop bait, and I'm not going to buy them either. I don't care how many scientific studies are done, or how many tournaments are won. I have to draw the line in the sand somewhere. I have to add a disclaimer. My line in the sand will disappear faster than a frog in the slop, if a fishing partner spanks my butt on a clawless craw. If that happens, I will gladly ripp every claw off of every bait I can get my hands on. This is my uneducated, bored fisherman's opinion, supported with zero scientific fact, and I'm sticking to it.

Where do put the hook? How much does it cost? Never say never.

I chose the size of my hooks by the size of plastic I'm fishing, and the thickness of the hook by the size of bass and the type of cover I will encounter. If I need a 2/0 hook for the size of the worm, and I'm fishing heavy line in thick cover, I will tie on a heavy duty 2/0. If I'm fishing open water, I prefer a lighter hook, because it will take less pressure to get a good hook set. I prefer VMC EWG for much of my fishing, because I feel they are a good bang for your buck hook and I haven't experienced poor hooksets, that many others have with EWG. Owner, Mustad, Gamakatsu, and Trokar all have great hooks in light wire, standard, and heavy duty, in a variety of sizes. I have tried various hooks from all these brands, and believe they all make exceptional hooks. You can also change to a different style of hook, while going up a size or two. A EWG 4/0 may be way to large for a trick worm, but a standard offset 4/0 while still a big hook, will not appear to be way oversize.

I have learned people catch big bass with it I have learned I want it. I have learned I can't afford it I have learned I don't have time enough to learn to use it even if I could afford to buy it I have learned some anglers are jealous of those who have perfected it I have learned I am one of the jealous anglers I have learned life is not fair I have learned to hate anyone that posts Youtube videos of giant bass caught while using it I have learned my Social Security check will not be enough to buy the boat and all the electronics I want. I have learned because of all these reasons, I can try and make myself feel better by claiming it is cheating, and that I fish the old fashioned way because I am a sportsman with a high level of skill that doesn't need a cheater box. I have learned lying to myself does not work, and I want it even more than the Monkey does.

Am I living in the twilight zone? $29 is now an inexpensive bait, and now the Monkey is all smiles. He just left my house in a big hurry. He should be at your door within seconds. I own a Burrito, that was $35 and not only does it never get cast into tree limbs, I don't even let it touch a rocky bottom. Of course it hasn't landed any bass, but looks good in my box. I'm being sarcastic. Thanks for the advice. I have been considering that very lure, but worry it may be a gateway drug.

Do not try a Zillion. I thought I liked soda pop, then I tried beer.

I went fishing yesterday, and noticed throughout the day about a dozen of these baits lying dead on the surface. They are some type of shad, and I have previously not seen them in my lake. I also witnessed a 1-5 pound bass spitting up one of these large bait fish. The picture is of one fish, that was dead on the shore where I launch my kayak. It had been there a very long time, and the sun had faded the color, and the black spot shad have was no longer visible. The Bait Monkey is screaming at me to buy some glide baits, while I type this post. The bass spend most of their time suspended in trees, and I'm not going to throw a glide bait in to the tree limbs. I also have a Bacca Burrito, that is not going to get lost in the trees, no matter what the Monkey says. I started to tie on an A rig, then did the numbers, and regained my sanity. The bass were definitely keyed in on these large shad, and didn't want smaller swimmbats either fished by themselves or with underspins. I did catch a few on large worms, but I also witnessed many of these big baits getting attacked, while ignoring all of my normal baits.( spinnerbaits, crankbaits etc.) I say I'm frugal, but the Monkey along with anyone I have ever met thinks I'm cheap. Any economy friendly ideas? I have had a slow year, and suspect this new bait fish addition to my lake is the cause of my troubles. I did consider using a glide bait over the top of the tree limbs in order to draw the big bass out and use a follow up bait, but the water clarity is between 1 and 2 feet, so I don't know if a glide bait would have much drawing power. The Monkey is big on this idea, and has already researched some baits. Should I tell the Monkey to get lost and fish the baits I already have ( which is more than any sane person should have) or should I mortgage the farm, and dive in to expensive swimbaits? Also adding a large degree to the difficulty of making this decision that could have far reaching effect on my financial stability, and marital status is, the fact that many of the bass eating these large baitfish, are well over 10 pounds.

Double Colorado Spinnerbaits, do not work anymore. All of the lakes I fish, bass will only hit willow leaf spinnerbaits, and if you happen to see me throwing double Colorado blades, either you need to get your eyes checked, or you should mind your own business.

I finally landed a bass over 1.5 pounds in 2026. I started fishing at 6:00 AM and by noon had only one 1 pound bass and I thought the 2026 curse might stretch in to 2027. Then I landed a 3.5 pounder, followed by one that was around 6 pounds. Definitely over 5, but not sure it would have made seven. I didn't measure get a weight, or take a picture, because it was hooked deep, and I wanted to get it back in the water immediately.

I would have bet money, you would say spinnerbait.

My wife has some very expensive scissors made in Switzerland, that my mom gave her. My Mom bought them at a fabric store,many years ago. At the time she said they were very expensive and that was at a time when My Dad claimed gas ever got over 65 cents a gallon, it would bankrupt the world. I was never allowed to use them for anything while growing up. Even after a turned 50 I didn't dare ask. Now My wife now has them, and I'm trying to think of a way they can spend some time in my kayak. My Mom simply threatened me with my life, if I ever touched them, and she meant it. My wife does not believe in violence, but I'm not yet ready to question her beliefs. Bait Monkey is zero help with this one. He doesn't even talk with his cousin the Fabric Monkey, and flat refuses to think of any tool other than a knife or pliers as made for fishing.

I use Maxima Ultragreen. Has been my favorite leader line for years. Very popular in the Northwest.

I have tried many, and never found one I that I thought was bad. For bass fishing, I have been using J Braid for a few years now. It works well and costs less than other brands I have tried. In Saltwater I use hollow braid, and Jerry Brown is expensive but worth the cost. When I do use solid braid for saltwater fishing, I prefer J Braid.

I currently use a Tatula 7'6" heavy fast for frogs and flipping. A bit light for heavy punching and two heavy for me to cast frogs. It does work for both applications, but I would like to be able to cast the frogs further with a little less effort. If Frogs were 1 oz it would be a perfect frog rod. It sounds like everyone uses a heavy fast rod for frogging. How do anglers get the rod to load with only a 1/2 oz frog? Does anyone else have difficulty casting frogs with a heavy rod?

A wider angle lense makes things that are close look big compared to something that is further away. Telephoto lense will make something far away look big compared to something close. If you want to take a picture of a person with a big mountain in the background, use a telephoto lense and stand a ways back from the person when you take the picture. If you want to make a fish look big, use a wide angle lense, have the person hold the fish as far out as possible, and get as close as possible with the camera when you take the picture.