king fisher

I have always thought of tackle as an investment for my retirement. Instead of investing in a 401 K I have invested in a 401 C. 401 COLORS of Senko,s, Rattle traps etc. My brother brags about how much his retirement account has gone up, and I brag about how many big bass my retirement account has caught. The big difference is My friends like to look at the pictures of the results of my investments, and all he has is a piece of paper with numbers on it. Why bother even taking pictures of that. Now that I'm thinking about it, I need to order a couple new colors of Rattle traps for my 401 C while they are on sale.

They are too expensive to waste on tuna. Besides they are sold out, some guy from an off the map place called Menderchuck has horded every last one.

Do those work for pike?

Lures are like a football team. You may only start 11, but some day, the last man on the bench, may become the MVP. I have a very large bench.

Doesn't matter to me, I can backlash both.

I use 7'6" rods every time I go fishing in my kayak. I have even used a 9 foot rod with no problems. My only complaint with long rods in my kayak are when I am fishing around trees and if I'm not careful the rods that are stored vertically will catch in tree branches. I'm not sure if shorter rods would even make much of a difference. Even a six foot rod will stick up high enough to catch a branch if I'm not careful.

When I was growing up I used both. The Rapala minnows were expensive( Megabass changed my definition of expensive) so I didn't buy them as much as the Rebel. Most of the time the Rebel worked as well as the Rapala. Sometimes I still prefer the Rebel, like when I want to fish them on a baitcaster, or make longer casts with a spinning rod. Both are lures I should use more now. There are times when the bass will only hit the Original Rapala, and only the bass know why and they aren't talking.

Can you get a couple of strong people to help you twice a year? In Alaska we would store dozens of aluminum boats on the shore for the winter all over Western Alaska. In the fall we would drive full speed on to the tundra. The kick up lock on the motor would be left open to allow the motor to kick up when we hit the shore, and would hit the kill switch at the moment of contact with the bank. We would then take the motor off and put it in the float plane. If we were at a location where we were afraid the spring high water would take the boat away, we would bring some extra people to drag the boat farther up the bank. Then flip the boat over and wait until spring to put the boat back in the water. Many of out boats were stored this way unharmed for 20 years. I even new of one old man that would take the motor off and leave it under the boat. He would retrieve and drive the same boat and motor over one hundred miles down river for king season for 15 years. It only takes three people to pull an 18 foot aluminum jon boat over boggy tundra for a few yards. If you can find help twice a year you can store your boat.

I can remember when all Rapala lures only came in 4 colors. Silver with a black back, Silver with a chartreuse back, gold with a black back, and gold with an orange back. These colors caught numerous species of fish all over the world and still do. Add a red, brown to imitate crayfish, a fire tiger color for dirty water and a mostly white color to imitate shad everything else is fluff.

Pretending there isn't a difference between 8 and 9 ducks will easily get you the same reward from the same friendly folks in WA. This happened to a friend of mine. We both started first grade at the same school together. I still count on my fingers, he got an A in math and doesn't use his fingers. It cost him $100.

My crew and I hard at work catching dinner last week.

I haven't had a chance to bass fish since June. I was able to get away for two days giving me one last chance to catch a DD in 2025. I hooked a couple that may have made the grade, but I guess the big ones always get away. Early on the first morning I did catch this skinny 7.4 pound bass. It inhaled a Storm Arishi Cover Pop so far that half of the lure was outside the backside of the gills. Amazingly the gills were not damaged and no sign of bleeding. I gently removed the remainder of the lure out the back side of the gill. I have removed single hooks this way, but never a full size lure with two sets of treble hooks. I released the bass unharmed, to hopefully gain some weight. I wish I would have taken a picture, but I was in a hurry to get in on more of the topwater bite.

I got an award from the state of WA in 1983. It was a $50 citation for fishing with an expired fishing license. It was easy to get, but I haven't tried to get another one.

Never

When it comes to reels, I have learned the hard way, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

When I was young living in Alaska, I Ice fished without a shelter when the temperature was 20 degrees below zero. Now I consider it cold if I don't run my AC in my car on the way to the lake, and I have to wear a long sleeve shirt for the first hour in the morning.

Every DD bass I have caught has been on the first cast to a piece of cover or structure. If I make a poor cast on the first cast I will stay until I feel I have made the best presentation I am capable of making. I realize I miss many opportunities by not being patient and thoroughly working a good area over, but I also don't waste my time casting to empty water, or bass that don't like me. I will come back to prime spots numerous times in a day to try a few more casts or a different lure. Run and Gun is the road I have always been, on and I'm too old to change my ways. Both methods work, but I simply have zero patience.

Have you ever tried a blade bait with a single hooks instead of trebles. I would assume single hooks would foul less. I used them for lake trout with single hooks, never noticed a difference in hook ups, and lost fewer fish that were hooked. Same results with spoons. I haven't fished blade baits for bass much, so I wouldn't know if singles would result in fewer hook ups, but it might be worth a try.

Here in Mexico, when my hand gets cold, I put my beer in a Koozie.

The only thing I know for certain is the bass are in the water, and even then, for some unknown reason sometimes I try to catch them far up the bank on dry land, or in the tops of trees 30 feet out of the water. I also know without a doubt there is a magic lure that will catch bass on every cast on any lake at any time and I'm going to find it the next time I order tackle.

Where I fish I consider a 10 pound bass a giant. I know there are bigger bass, but I have yet to break the 11 pound mark. I think the most important factor for catching giant bass is to fish where the giant bass are located. This sounds obvious, but I have spent and continue to spend way too much time fishing the wrong places. When I first started fishing my favorite lake I fished the shoreline where a friend that told me about the lake had landed a bass that looked to be around 12 pounds. I would catch an occasional 3 pound bass and lots of baby bass weighing less than a pound. Spinnerbaits worked best, but almost any lure would catch the smaller bass. I was desperate to catch a new PB which only had to be over 5.5 pounds. I assumed I was fishing in the right location, I only needed to fish different lures, moon phases, speed, time of day, or a combination of many different factors. I assumed because I was catching bass that I was fishing in the right place. I asked for advice and was always recommended trying jigs, slowing down, fishing at night, using bigger lures, and many other suggestions, that people had used for success catching giant bass on their favorite waters. I was ready to make the Bait Monkey jump for joy and buy every lure recommended for big bass. I am lucky I live in Mexico, and wasn't able to simply order a fortune in new tackle. I was in the process of making plans to get a large order of gear down to me, when I went to the lake for the fourth time. On this trip the water had dropped low enough to expose a couple of trees in the middle of the lake. First cast with a spinnerbait I hooked and lost a bass that was bigger than anything I had ever seen. The next week I went back planning on only fishing newly exposed trees. When I got there at daylight I was surprised to see a dozen tree tops all over the middle of the lake. I went to the one I had hooked the big bass the week before and landed a bass over ten pounds on the first cast with a Rebel jumpin minnow. After making a few cast at the same tree with a variety of lures with zero luck, I pedaled over to another tree and landed the bass in my Avatar on the first cast with a spinnerbait. At another tree I hooked another bass of the same size on a crankbait, but it came off when it jumped. I did fished the trees for most of the day and only hooked a few baby bass. I didn't catch anymore giant bass, but I did lose a couple that may have been giants, but I never saw them to confirm their size. Later in the day I did try the shoreline and landed a dozen or more baby bass on a variety of lures, without a sing strike from a bass over one pound. I have fished that lake now vor 5 years, and have been fortunate enough to catch my share of giant bass there. I have caught some of DD bass along the shoreline, but all during the high water time of year. When the water is low I don't go near the shore. When the water is high I don't fish offshore at all. I have caught DD bass on a variety of lures, and they all are the same baits that I have used and caught smaller bass on my whole life. Topwater works well in the morning, Spinnerbaits work well in the afternoon wind, plastic worms work well before the wind picks up, and crankbaits work well anytime I can keep from losing them. Some days a number 3 inline spinner works the best, and I would never think of that as a big bass lure. Once I realized the giant bass will bite the lures I have, I started concentrating on becoming better at fishing those lures and only fishing them where I think the big bass live. I prefer spinnerbaits, but I'm sure an expert jig fisherman could catch as many or more giant bass at my lake, or someone who can work a glide bait would do well too. It's all about being able to effectively work the bait I have tied on. I'm not a great jig fisherman, but I can finesse a square bill through cover that many would only fish a T rig in. If I catch a few small bass, and don't get any giants to bite, I don't assume I am in the right place, and need to change my baits. I know I'm in the wrong place and need to move. A giant bass needs to eat, and will bite a variety of lures that are presented properly. Sometime I get bored chasing the bigger bass and go beat up on small bass for awhile, but it doesn't take long for me to leave the small bass alone, and chase the big ones. Fishing for giant bass is an addiction for me and I am lucky enough to live in a place that has big unpressured bass.

I hooked this bass on in the middle of a large tree with big horizontal limbs. I was working a T rigged worm over one of the branches about 10 feet deep in 30 feet of water. It had been a slow day, and I wasn't expecting a bite. I didn't have my kayak switched to reverse drive, and was basically just going through the motions. I got what felt like a good bite, and set the hook hard. I instantly knew I had a heavy bass, and tried to horse it out of the tree, but instead only pulled my kayak towards the bass. She had me wrapped around a branch in less than a second, more time than it took to pull the cord and put the kayak into reverse. I knew she was only wrapped a time or two, because I could still feel her fighting. When I got the kayak reversed I tried backing up and pulling her free. I could gain some line, then she would pull away back what I had gained. I could feel the line getting tighter on the branch, I couldn't feel her shake as much, and it was becoming more difficult to move the bass at all. I decided to give her some slack and reposition the kayak at a different angle. The same seesaw fight was then continued. I would gain a foot or two, and she would pull hard getting the two feet back. I would put as much pressure as possible without breaking the line, and she would pull hard enough that I was always force to let up and let her run. I repositioned a dozen times including trying from straight above the tree. Every time I changed angles I could feel the bass, but wasn't able to coax her out of the tree. After about 15 minutes I could no longer feel the bass. I could pull hard and nothing would give. I didn't even know if she was still on the line. I new she was a huge bass, but also realized I had to give up and start fishing again. I positioned my kayak straight above the bass wrapped the 15 pound Fluorocarbon around my hand and started to pull. The line was strong considering all the abrasion going on, and I had to take a few more wraps around my hand in order to break the line. At the moment I was sure the line would break I felt the weight of the bass. The tree branch had broke, and once again I was hooked directly to the bass. I pedaled backwards as fast as I could, let go of the line, and grabbed my rod out of the holder. The bass was as tired as me, and it only took a minuet to get her alongside my kayak. I reached down grabbed her lip and finally after a long fight landed my biggest bass of the year. How did I get a big bass out of a tree? I was unbelievably lucky. I will take luck over skill every time. If I hadn't been daydreaming, and been prepared, the fight would have been far less dramatic. I had been lazy and didn't pull the cord to put the kayak in to reverse mode before I made my cast. I wasn't prepared to get bit by a large bass, and if it wasn't for pure luck I would have paid the price for my lack of concentration. I also should have taken the time to tie the T rig to a heavier rod, with stronger line, before casting into a large tree. The 15 pound line to my surprise held, even when I tried to break it, but 20 pound would have been much appreciated at the time. A kayak with a peddle drive that works in reverse, simply by pedaling in reverse rather than having to pull a cord would be nice, but I like other advantages of my Hobie, and am willing to sacrifice the instant reverse to get them, but I wasn't singing any hobie pedal drive praises at the time. The best thing you can do to get a bass out of a laydown, is be prepared. Every cast can be your new PB and you have to be ready to win that first two seconds of the battle. Once the bass is out in the open, don't get in a hurry, especially at boatside, and the bass will be yours.

If a rule can't be enforced without the use of a polygraph, it shouldn't be a rule. If I get caught speeding, and an officer shows me the proof from radar, than I should and will pay a fine. If an officer stops me and says he thinks I was speeding, and he wants me to take a polygraph to find out, he will see me in court.

It will be interesting to here what you have to say about your winter break come February.