king fisher

I give most of my fishing lures away to snags, I generally keep everything else.

I was born in 1963 and grew up in a small farming town of around 500 people. I took my girl friend now wife there a few years ago to visit. She couldn't believe it when I walked in to the bank, and took some money out of my savings account, and the teller didn't even ask for my ID, she asked my name and I told her, she replied I must be Camille's son that lives in Mexico now and how long was I going to be town for. My Mom didn't ever lock the house and I always left the car unlocked with the key in the ignition. My wife was in shock, she thought we had entered a time machine. It is always nice to go back there and see how little has changed. The star quarterback on the high school football team last name is Bluemenshien, everyone still has a shotgun, in the gunrack on their pick up( unless it is deer season, then it's a rifle.), I can go in to any store, buy something and say put it on my Moms bill, the best way to find some one isn't the internet, just ask some one at the store where so and so is, the key to the lock on the gate going down to my favorite fishing whole is still hid under the same rock, and the bass still hit a Hula Popper if cast properly to the rock pile on the opposite bank( much easier to do with gear I have now). It is still a small farming town of 500 people, only thing that has changed is peoples first names, and the walk to the river is a lot longer now. Some times I wonder why I ever left.

You are right. Unless your unit is hooked up to a separate compass the GPS boat icon will not show you which way the boat is pointed if you are not moving. The GPS will show you what compass heading the object is in relation to your boat, but the icon wont necessarily show the bow pointed in the direction it is actually pointed. Best way I have found with a Garmin unit is to scroll back and mark the structure as a waypoint on the fish finder screen. Then go to split navigation screen, and fish finder screen. Drive away from the waypoint. Turn around and drive directly over the way point. Throw out a marker the instant you see the structure you have marked appear on the fish finder screen. If you don't see it on the fish finder, do the same thing from a different direction. The GPS is very accurate and your waypoint is exactly where the map has it located. The problem is keeping the boats location in relation to the object without getting confused by looking at the little boat on the screen. I like to use markers because they are simple. Other anglers are proficient with other methods and there are many videos on U Tube that show those methods. The saltwater boat I work on has all the electronics connected to a compass. The boat icons are always pointing the exact magnetic heading regardless if moving or not.. It makes it way easier to stay on a a waypoint.

Forward scanning sonar would take all the fun out of finding rocks the old fashion way with your propeller.

Welcome. Any idea how your home town got it's name?

I respool often. I retie knots and change lures a lot, and when I do I always cut off a couple or more feet of line, plus what line is used up tying the knot. I don't like fishing with a reel half full, so some reels get new line after 3- 4 days of fishing. Mono gets changed even if I still have a full spool because it is cheap. Braid only gets changed when the spool runs low. Floro gets changed every time I switch back to mono and say never again. The Bait Monkey tried to convince me to buy more rods in order to save money on line. If I had more rods rigged with different lures, then I wouldn't have to change lures as often, therefore I wouldn't go through as much expensive line. I explained that investment theory to my wife. My wife told the Bait Monkey we could move to the lake and live in a tent with all the rods, reels, and line we wanted. I don't think she was trying to tell me she wanted to go camping.

Bob Toman is one of the most famous salmon steelhead guides in Oregon Washington, and Alaska. He started one of the first king camps on the Nushagak River in Bristol Bay in the early 80's. His son still runs the camp which is one of the best on the river. Down stream trolling inline spinners with blades called Magnum willow, or Oklahoma became popular in the late 90's. Bob decided to design his own mag willow spinners with a little different bend than other similar mag willow blades. His spinners have been the most popular spinner by far the past 10 years on many rivers in Alaska. Yakima Bait bought the rights to the spinners a few years later. They come in almost any color combination you can imagine. Half pink, half white on the outside, gold on the inside is probably the most popular blade. I haven't tried any for bass, but there is no reason why they wouldn't work as well as any other blade. King salmon sure prefer them over other blades.

I have a friend who I have fished with for 45 years. I can't remember a day either his older brother, or I have out fished him. He has always had lousy equipment, that he never maintains, never wants to get up early or stay late, doesn't even care if he catches more than he wants to clean, ( which is zero, unless I volunteer to clean the fish while he drinks beer), is basically lazy when it comes to fishing, has never read an article, about fishing, doesn't even know the basics like what water temperature, structure, type of cover any game fish prefer, but is the luckiest fisherman on the planet. I even saw him catch a brown trout out of a lake that never had brown trout, and to this day has never had another one. He wasn't catching fish on one of his only lures a Jitterbug, so he decided the bass were not on the top. I told him I would loan him one of my diving crankbaits. He refused my offer and instead put three rubber core sinkers on his line ahead of his Jitterbug to get it down. The lure had absolutely zero action. I'm not saying he slayed the bass, but he did catch a bigger one than me with that crazy idea. He is so lucky not only would he dominate as a tournament angler, they would have to ban him. The officials at BASS would rather bring the Alabama rig back, and allow explosives rather than let him enter a tournament.

I use all three types plus braid to leader, but if I could only use one it would be mono. I read an article by a pro who said he accidently hooked a big catfish while using floro. He applied maximum pressure on the fish to land it quickly so he wouldn't waste time. Because he stressed the line to it's limit he quit using that rod until he changed the line, because over stretching floro would weaken the line. That is when I realized why I have had great success with floro, and then have a line failure that I had no explanation for. I didn't know I couldn't stress the line. Isn't that what fishing is about? The most accurate rifle ever made isn't any good if every once in awhile it doesn't go bang for no apparent reason. I am back to using mono, for most of my bass fishing, straight braid, and braid to mono leader for some techniques. Only time I use floro, is for saltwater leaders. I'm sure I will be back to using floro again. It's not the first time I have been off the floro wagon, and probably wont be the last. After all the pros use it , and it's expensive, must be the best. I just need to learn another knot, and change the line every time I stress it too much. Berkley should just make a mono called Big Game Plus, priced just over the most expensive floro. They wouldn't have to actually change the line, just the name and price and I would be happy.

I have gone to hollow braid on all my salt water reels. There are three major advantages to hollow braid. 1-- Cost. Hollow is more expensive with original purchase, but you will never have to replace it. You can splice hollow to hollow so well, that you will never even notice the splice. The splice is actually the strongest part of the line, because the line is doubled at the splice. FG knots are great, but are still the weakest link. As you loose line, due to changing lures or leaders, instead of refiling the spool with new line, you simply splice in another section of new line. You can even splice in different pound tests, making the last few yards stronger, or weaker than the main line. 2-- No leader knot. FG knots are small and strong, but again, not as strong, or small as a leader inserted inside hollow braid. 3-- Hollow braid lays flat, making it far less likely to dig in to itself on a reel spool. It is also less likely to cut your hands if you accidently grab the line. I have over 30 big game rods rigged with hollow braid, and floro or mono leaders, with a crimp used to attach hook, or swivel, making the whole set up complete without a single knot. The disadvantage is it takes time, practice and different size needles to make the splices. If I am in a hurray, I will simply tie a new leader on the hollow core with an FG, or Alberto knot, and splice a leader in when I have more time. Hollow core line in pound tests under 100 have only been available for a few years. I am interested to see if the new 50 and 60 pound versions ever catch on with bass fishermen. Solid braid is almost extinct in the west coast salt water world. I haven't tried it because I rarely use braid, for bass, and when I do I usually don't use a leader. Most of the time I use either use all mono, or floro. Next time I fill one of my bass reels, with braid I will use hollow simply because I will be able to change lures, and cut off top sections without worrying about having to replace the line, or put on some kind of backing. Just fill the spool with the braid, and splice more on when needed. I doubt I would bother splicing a leader. An Alberto works with hollow as well as solid braid, and I don't think it would be worth the bother. If you absolutely want the strongest slimmest leader connection possible, than give it a try.

Buzz Bait Frog spinnerbait

Spinnerbait. Fished fast on top, or slow rolled on the bottom, and everything in between. I'm lucky to be able to fish water that the bass have not seen many lures. If I had to fish pressured water, there is a good chance my confidence bait would change.

6th. Sense have great hooks on all of their crankbaits, and are mid priced.

Pictures of a new impeller for 70 horse Yamaha outboard, and one I just replaced on the water pump of a C32 Acert Caterpillar Diesel marine engine. I replace both every two years or sooner, depending on engine hours. The CAT impeller costs $700, a complete pump runs around $4000. Hope this makes outboard owners feel better about preventive water pump expenses.

Some guys got all the luck. Suppose he owns a brewery too.

Rapala DT series. 6th sense Cloud 9, Norman DD 22, bomber 7 A. Are some of my favorites. Buy two or three of many popular brands and colors. Then only buy one of another kind. The one you only buy one of will be the one the bass like and so will the snags.

My spinner baits catch lots of fish before retirement and I can still save the blades swivels beads and sometimes skirts. They will last as long as a few bags of soft plastics and I snag and lose my crank baits at about the same rate as my spinner baits get ruined. Nothing last forever if they’re bent that means they’re working just like baits with scratched up paint those are the good ones.

I usually carry four rods in my kayak. One medium fast casting, one medium heavy fast casting, one heavy flipping stick, One medium spinning rod. The flipping stick is having to do double duty now that I fish an Alabama rig. It works, but the bait monkey wants me to buy a specific rod for the a rig. Problem with buying a rod heavy enough to handle the Alabama rig is, It would also work great four giant swim and glide Baits. Not sure if I can afford to go down that road.

Have you ever used a gill net? Most gill nets are made of mono. Commercial fishermen change colors of mesh often depending on clarity and color of the water. Purse seine nets are made of braid because it doesn't matter if the fish see the net. Fish do learn to avoid gill nets. Proving a large brain is not required to learn basic survival instincts. I do not think bass will shy away from braided line where I fish(1-2 foot vis). I don't have experience fishing for bass in clear water. I will be interested to see what bass fishermen that do fish clear water think. Other species of fish in clear water are spooked by braid. I have seen this happen many times. I can only guess it is because braid is more visible.

I wish. I was trying to show a young guide it was possible to load a full propane tank into a float plane with out help. I got the tank in but also taught the guide how to tear tendons in a shoulder. An old hunting guide I know was fond of saying ,the first rule of guiding is, if you are going to be stupid you better be tough. Unfortunately, as I get older, I'm not any smarter, and not near as tough.

I haven’t been fishing since I hurt my shoulder in early July. I had surgery a month ago. Not getting any better I will need another surgery in a couple of weeks. This is the longest I’ve gone not hunting or fishing since I was 12 years old starting to go crazy.

Fall here means afternoon thunder showers Flooded grass buzz baits frogs and big bass rain stops in November then the fishing gets even better. I hope to be able to start fishing about the time the rain stops.

Congratulations on your new kayak. If you haven’t done so already, I recommend going out on a nice day flipping over and practice getting back in a few times. I know it is a very stable vessel but so was the titanic.

I was flying my cub to a river in AK. Winds were calm clear sky all was good allowing my mind to wonder. The engine sputtered. I Reflexively lowered the nose and switched fuel tanks. Engine went back to humming the way it should. My passenger woke up from his nap and asked what was up. I replied I was just wondering If we should start with fly or spinning.