king fisher

In the spring of 2020 I was looking for a place I could take my kayak, and hopefully catch some big Mexican bass. A year earlier in April my wife had booked me two days of bass fishing at a lodge on Lake Aguamilpa for my birthday and my interest in bass fishing had been rekindled. I only caught small bass on that trip but the numbers were good. I met an angler at the lodge that lived in Chapala and told call him if I wanted to catch some bigger bass. I contacted him in the fall, and we went fishing with a guide a couple of times. I landed some bass around 5 pounds, which only made me want to get something bigger. I quickly realized I wouldn't have the time or money to go to Chapala on guided trips more than a few times a year. So I decided to buy a kayak and bass fish on my own. I needed to find a place closer to PV where I live. The guy that runs the local tackle shop, told me about a secret lake his wife caught a 11 pound bass at and he gave me directions on how to get there. I went fishing at this lake in April and May of 2000 three times without much success. Lots of baby bass, and a couple of fish around 2 pounds were all I caught. At the end of day three, I hooked a big bass by a tree that was just becoming visible as the water receded. The big bass jumped off, but it gave me new hope. I went there a couple of weeks later, the water had dropped, and there were a many trees sticking above the water now. I had already decided I wasn't going to fish the shoreline at all. I would live and die fishing the trees out in the middle of the lake and was pleasantly surprised to see I would have more than one tree to fish. At first light I was within casting range of the tree where the big one jumped off the last time there. My first cast with a Rebel Jumpin Minnow was hit and missed by a small bass. I paused the bait to see if the small bass would bite again, and a giant bass inhaled it. After a short fight I reached down and lipped the biggest bass I had ever seen. It was then I realized I had forgot my camera in the car. I didn't have a scale, or tape measure with me so I used a piece of my anchor line to measure the length of the bass, and let her go. I had no idea how big the bass was, but I did know it was significantly bigger than my old PB of 5.5 pounds caught in the summer of 1977. I didn't get any more strikes at that tree, so I peddled over to the next one. First cast with a spinnerbait and I caught another bass that looked like a twin to the first one. I decided I just had to get a picture. I made a stringer, and slowly made my way to the launch, towing the giant bass behind me. When I got to the car I got my camera and went to take a picture. A man was standing by the bank, and I asked if to take a photo or two. He didn't know a word of English but with my little Spanish and some sign language he understood what I wanted, and I got a photo with me, and then one with him. When I went to release the bass he almost fainted. I realized he did not want to see the bass release, so I handed him the fish, and he walked away with a huge smile on his face. It wasn't until a few weeks later when my wife was with my at the lake, that I learned he was the manager of the lake, and did not want any bass released. He was trying to eliminate all the bass in the lake, to keep them for eating the Tilapia which are fished for commercially with gill nets. If I had not given him the bass, there would be a good chance I would not have been allowed to fish there. He told my wife to tell me to keep all the bass I catch. The second bass was a quarter inch shorter than the first one but looked about the same to me. This process had taken some time, and I was worried the bite had stopped, so I peddled as hard as I could to the closest tree from the launch. Nothing bit my spinnerbait, so I bounced a square bill through the middle of the tree, hitting every limb I could. Just as the bait made it through the tangle of branches, another bass as big as the other two hit. It jumped twice and sent my bait flying back at me. I wasn't to upset about loosing that bass. After all I didn't loose my square bill, and like the old song say's two out of three aint bad. I didn't catch any more big bass that day, and I left when the wind picked up in the afternoon. Since then I have learned to stay and fish when the wind picks up but at the time fishing in the middle of big trees with treble hooked lures, out of a kayak in 25 knot winds, was not something I even considered. When I got home I measured the piece of anchor line, I used to get the length of the first bass. It was a little over 26 inches. The bass I took the picture of was 25 3/4 inches. I Googled bass length to weight on my computer and it was then I realized I had landed two bass over 10 pounds and lost a third bass that was probably just as big. The picture of the second bass is the one I use in my profile and I have included a picture of the lake manager holding that same bass. I have had many great days of bass fishing some I have landed far more bass, but the day I shattered a 43 year old PB twice, stands out as my most memorable.

Welcome to the club.

1- 3/4 oz spinnerbait White, White/chart. Black/chart. 2- 1/2 oz bladed jig. White/chart. 3- Balsa square bill crankbait, Chart/black back 4- Academy sports H2O square bill shad. 5-6th Sense mini mag square bill Chart./black back 6- DT 10 DT 16 something with chart. and some type of shad 7- Spro Rock crawler any color 8- Zoom Ole Monster, Zoom magnum trick worm Junebug 9-Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper purple smoke 10- Magnum Ragebug Okeechobee craw.

The bass don't care what kind of rod you fish with, but you do. If you enjoy fishing with a move expensive rod, than buy a more expensive rod. Go to a store, find a rod in your price range you think you will like, buy it, fish with it, and if you like it buy more. Eventually you will find the sweet spot between, sensitivity and divorce.

Mowing the lawn is for people that don't fish. Let the old mower break, problem solved.

Experience. By the time you become a Jedi Master at removing backlashes, you will also be a master at casting into the wind. You wont learn one, without learning the other. I have found swearing doesn't help with the cast, but can assist with the backlash removal. The good news is bass appreciate a good cast in to the wind.

I buy whatever the Monkey tells me to buy, when he tells me to buy it.

Where is the lake, all I see is a big flat with snow on it. Where is the water? No wonder I can't find Lake Menderchuck on a map.

It would take some research on your part, but I'm sure you could find someone to fly you and a friend in a smaller plane, such as a Cessnal 206, for less than $5000 round trip. You may even be able to find a bass head, with a plane that would do if for cost. Another option would be to fly to the boarder, walk across and rent a car. It would only take a day and a half to drive to Baccarac. I have driven from San Diego to PV in less time than that. You could also drive your own car, but that would be a long drive. If you give me all of your waypoints and a personally guided fishing trip on Lake Menderchuck, I will drive to to Texas, pick you up take you to Baccarac, bring you back to the boarder, and take you salt water fishing out of PV. for a day. I know you are very happy with the arrangements you have made in the past, I just wanted to make sure you know there are many other options available in your price range. Time is the biggest factor, and if you don't have extra time, than options are limited. A smaller plane private charter would be similar in time and price, but may take awhile to find. One thing you could do is call flight schools in Texas. Some of them may also use student planes for part 135 air taxi service. They would also most likely have experience flying in to Mexico.

I use Lurh Jensen Duo Lock snaps in size #2. I used to think I needed to tie directly to my lures to give them more action. I would laugh at friends who would use large brass snap swivels with their crankbaits. After a few years I noticed that I nor the bass could tell the difference between a crankbait tied direct or one with a snap swivel. I will never be able to get myself to use a snap swivel, but I make sure I keep my mouth shut around people that do. It isn't fun to have an old friend brag about the size of bass he just caught on his crankbaits with swivels, while I'm sitting there with a big skunk. I do tie loop knots directly to original Rapala Minnow's, but any other crankbait I use a snap.

The lakes I fish fluctuate 30 feet or more every year. When the rainy season comes, it only takes a coupe weeks for the lake to go from extremely low to full pool. The bass definitely follow the rising water, and move very shallow tight to the banks. This does not necessarily make for good fishing. The bass are far more spread out during the high water season. They may be on the bank, but the bank is huge. I may find one nice bass, and wont find another one for hundreds or more yards down the bank. They may also get tight to cover, which is everywhere. It takes time to work each piece of cover, and because of the high water there is thousands of pieces of cover. Some anglers like the high water because they are good at beating the banks. I prefer the low water, the bass may be harder to find when it is low, but once I locate them, they are concentrated and many bass can be caught from the same location. Either way love it or hate it, high water means chasing the bass into new flooded cover. When the water starts to recede, many times the bass don't follow the water down as it recedes, like they do when it rises. They will leave the shore and make long moves out to deep water instead of clinging to the changing shoreline. When the water first starts to fall is when I struggle the most.

I have more experience with bass running away from my lures.

When I was 13 years old, I caught a 2.5 pound bass on a Jitterbug, and at that very moment met my life long friend the Bait Monkey. If I had it do over again, I still would catch that same bass on the same Jitterbug, and try as I might, to avoid it, I'm sure the Monkey would latch on to my back just like he did all those years ago.

I fight a big bass until it is tired, slowly reach down and grab it by the lip. I have witnessed far to many fish of many species get away at the boat, or shore, simply because an angler gets in a hurry to land the fish. The line snaps, hook pulls, bumped off with the net, missed with a gaff etc. If it hasn't got off during the first part of the fight, it most likely wont get off at the end, as long as you don't horse the fish. Any fish will most likely go on at least one last desperation run when it gets close to the boat or bank. Be prepared to bow the rod to the fish, and don't have the drag cranked tight. That last desperation effort wont last long, the run wont take out miles line, but it will be intense, with every bit of strength the fish has. Being close with very little line out and no room to give way for any mistakes. Just take it easy, the bass is almost yours, don't get in a hurry, and get a good picture of your new PB.

Diawa BG. A little heavy, but bullet proof.

I take four rods with me. Usually 4 casting, but sometimes 3 casting and one spinning. One rod is in a holder in front of me, and the other three are stored vertical behind me. No order except no rods with treble hooked lures in the holder directly behind my seat. I have snagged a hook with my shirt before, and I can either take some time to get a treble unhooked without damage to my shirt, or grab my knife and get back to fishing. Being as I lack even minimal patience I opt for the knife. The problem is a new shirt costs as much as a crankbait, and my wife doesn't like it when I wear shirts with large holes in them. Because I compare every purchase I make to how many crankbaits I could have bought with the money, a few shirts can add up to many crankbaits or even a jackhamer or two. Being a slow learner it took me a few times getting hooked before I made it a habit to only place my T rigs in that rod holder.

Where I live the weather is basically the same every day from Nov. until June. The bass bite well the day before I go fishing, get lock jaw the day I go fishing, and the bite turns back on the day after I go fishing. I don't know if the atmospheric pressure has anything to do with it, but it sure effects my blood pressure.

I have caught many species of fish on a Flatfish, and landed more King Salmon on a Flatfish copy Called a Kwik Fish than any other lure made. I have never tried a Lazy Ike, they were more of a midwestern lure, where as the kwikfish, and Flatfish were popular in the Northwest where I was from. A split shot rigged flatfish is deadly for bass if you can stand to fish a crankbait painfully slow and don't mind the terrible casting characteristics. Excellent bait for trolling all species.

I made this mistake for over 20 years. It wasn't until I tested all the knots that I new, that I found my Palamar knot was not as strong as I thought. Now that I know the correct way to tie a Palamar, I use it more often.

First of all you didn't loose the bass, you just opted to do a LDR ( Long Distance Release). Second, are you sure the bass wasn't a touch over 5 pounds?

I deal with reels the same way I do cars. By the time I get through using them, they are broken beyond repair, and I may have to pay some one to take them off my hands. If all the fishing gear I have bought over the years was a good investment, I would have reinvested my fortune more times than I could count. Instead I keep investing in fishing gear, and what I don't loose outright, I loose in value. When it comes to fishing, my moto is buy high and sell low. However the memories are priceless.

I forgot my scale when I caught the bass in my profile picture. It is another bass I think might have been over 11 pounds. I did measure it's length which was 25 3/4 inches. At the time I landed a bass over 25 inches almost every time I went to that lake. I didn't think it would be a problem to get a bigger bass, so I wasn't concerned about exact measurements and weights. If I forgot my scale no problem, I would try and remember to bring one the next time I went fishing. Now that the fishing has slowed at this lake, I wish I had bought a good scale, always had it with me, and taken length and girth measurements of a few of the bass I got the first couple years I fished the lake. I still hope to catch a bass that I can officially say is over 11 pounds, but it isn't going to be easy.

Other sports have rules that are not easy to enforce, but they don't use a polygraph test to enforce them. A pitcher in Baseball is not allowed to use any foreign substance on his fingers in order to enhance movement on a pitch. If he is caught throwing the old spit ball he will be punished. It doesn't matter if the batter and umpire suspect him of the infraction, he has to be caught red handed breaking the rule. How many pitchers would pass or fail a polygraph? It would be ridicules to give them the test. Sure there are pitchers that have found a way to get around the rule, but a polygraph is not the way to catch them. An umpire can inspect the ball, pockets, hair, hat and any other place a player may hide or apply foreign substance by the pitcher and catcher. They can stop the game walk out on the mound and check the ball any time they want. They can watch video and talk to coaches to see if they have noticed any infraction of the rules. They do not care what the players, fans, or a polygraph administrator think. The umpire looks for hard facts period. If a rule can not be enforced in any sport by hard facts, weather it's a pitcher in baseball or a mechanic altering a stock car, the rule either needs to be dropped, or changed to accommodate fare and logical enforcement. I say let them get all the information they want. Keep the no fishing rule on any lake in the schedule, because that is a rule than can be enforced. If they fish the lake and get caught they are out. Most of the time an angler would get to much information any way. They still have to go catch the bass. I don't know how many times I have had a hot tip, hurt my fishing. I spend half the day trying to make the great information I have pay off, rather than go find and catch my fish. If they could all solicit waypoints they would break the internet downloading all the waypoints people would give or sell. Then they would have to spend all practice trying to find out which way points were best, which is what they would do if they hadn't received information in the first place. The best anglers will still win. A guide could give me his secret honey hole location, and what bait to throw, and Jacob Wheeler is still going to make me look like the armature I am.

If the only way to enforce a rule is with a polygraph test, than the rule should not be be a rule. Either find a way to write the no information rules that allow for fair enforcement, or don't have the rule.

If any one would know how big a bass is it would be Tom. I wish I had a good scale that day. The wind was blowing 25 MPH when I caught the bass. I didn't have a cell phone, but had a regular camera. I tried to get a selfie with the camera, but it was difficult with the wind and no screen to look at. After a couple failed attempts of taking a selfie, my kayak was blown to shore. I decided to jump on to the bank with fish, lay it on the ground, place the tape on the bass take a quick picture and get the bass back in the water. If only I had been more prepared I might have some good pictures and know for sure what my PB is. The bass was never out of the water for more than 30 seconds. I kept putting it back in the water in-between trying to get a weight and pictures. It swam off as soon as I put it back in the lake. I don't know how long a bass lives, but I sure would like to catch that bass again.