king fisher

I will be fishing the same 4 lakes I fished last year. All have Spanish names, and big bass.

The second one down is a Heddon River Runt, or River Runt knock off. If it is a River Runt, it would say Heddon, River Runt Spook Floater on the bottom of the lure. If it doesn't than it is a nock off, but a very good copy. The color and shape is exact to an original Heddon. The next one down is a knock off of a Cordel Big O. If it were an original Big O it wouldn't have the Japan on the lip. The color and shape are very close to the original Big O I don't know about the prop lure. It is two fat to be a torpedo. There are so many double prop baits that look similar, could be one of many originals or knock offs.

22-250 predators, cayote or smaller, 375 HH Magnum for bears, and moose, 458 Win Mag. for Cape Buffalo,and Elephant, 30-06 for everything in-between.

If I ever am fortunate enough to hook a 14 pound bass, that is wrapped on a tree, I am immediately going swimming, and wont care how many rods I may step on.

We took Redneck out for the first time in 2024 yesterday. We landed 3 tuna, and one Dorado. Tuna were all caught on live goggle eyes under helium balloons, Dorado was caught trolling a lure. Screen shot of high spot where the biggest tuna was caught. My wife is happy I have fresh tuna for her.

I am still young, my muscles are still strong, and my heart is up to any challenge, but my back and joints are not always up to the task. Some days just getting out of bed, walking the dogs, and going to work is a full work out, but as long as I can breath, I will be able to fish, and the bigger the fish the better.

Just remember you bought every lure you own for a logical specific reason. If you get rid of ten lures, one of those lures is going to be the only lure in whole world that will get the skunk out of the boat on a tough day, and another one would have caught you your PB. I recommend you reverse your strategy, and buy ten lures for everyone you loose. Not only will you have the benefit of more lures you can't possibly have time to use, but you will also not be fighting the very forces of nature that make the world stable. You can always buy your wife a new coat, which should solve the stove pellet problem, and remember there are many fisherman like me that would love to have a garage to fill with baits. Consider yourself lucky.

Thanks for the warning. I may have to paint my kayak camo colored, and hide in the bushes when I see a plane.

I don't anticipate any openings in my schedule to allow me time to bass fish until April. I'm sure to get some big bass then, but they will be post spawn, and not at their full potential on the scale. On a more positive note, I will probably be hooked up to a marlin before the this week is over. Good luck to all those anglers fortunate enough to catch bass early in the new year.

It is better to be lucky than good.

If you do this, don't let friends or family know. They may start questioning your over all mental health. The word obsession may start coming up often in casual conversation. I have been there and done that. If you do get caught, and they ask you what you expect to catch fishing in a bathtub. just tell them the same as when I'm fishing on a lake. Whatever will bite.

I watch all of AJ's videos, hoping to find a clue that will lead me to the location of Lake Menderchuck. I have tried Google Earth, it is not there.

The Bait Monkey is going to hate me, and I hope I don't get kicked off the forum, but I am a selfish person, who will argue we don't need to grow the sport. If bass fishing becomes less popular, there will be more bass for me to catch. Tackle companies will not grow, and develop new lures that catch bass, they may even go under because they can't sell the lure's they already produce. Of course this is bad for the economy, but I already told you I was a selfish bass angler. If there are fewer people fishing for bass, but there are more less pressured bass, my old lures will continue to work just fine. Fishing license revenue will go down, limiting the money available for sound fisheries management. This of course should be a concern but if there are fewer people fishing, there is less need for management, offsetting the effects of depleted funds for fisheries departments. I live in Mexico where there is zero management, and few anglers. There are two reasons fishing is great here. One is the climate is perfect for largemouth bass. The other reason is there are very few anglers. Commercial fisherman catch most of the bass in gill nets, and the ones that live may learn to ovoid nets, but are dump as rocks when it comes to lures. I am certain in a couple lakes I fish, that many bass die of old age without ever encountering a lure. That is why an old school inexpensive Pop-R can catch as many big bass an expensive Magabass bait. If many Mexican bass lakes had 1/100th. the sport angler pressure that most big bass lakes in the US have, the average anger wouldn't be able to catch a single bass, let alone a quality five pound bag. I would need FF sonar, and $25 lures just to catch a dink. If Mexico promoted sport fishing for bass more and increased the numbers of fisherman, they would be forced to manage the bass fishing lakes for sport fishing over the commercial fishing interests. If they didn't, the bass population would switch from very few but big and stupid to very few big and smart bass. It wouldn't be long before an average angler such as my selfish self would be forced to look for bass in other places. The more bass anglers, the more need to manage the resource, the smarter the bass, and the more money it will take to catch the bass and the more dollars required to manage the resource. This is why even though I know it is a national past time to complain about fisheries management in the US, and many mistakes are made, all and all most departments should be commended for the work they do considering the challenge of not only managing the populations of sport fish, but to be able to do so with unbelievable pressure from many competing interests and balance all that with a limited budget, I even comp.ain about the lack of management on my favorite bass lake here, then I have to remind myself that it really can't get much better, and the best thing I can do is the hardest thing for me to do, which is keep my mouth shut. I understand why people want to grow the sport. I love bass fishing. I want to share that passion for bass fishing with my family, friends, and community. I want more bass in more lakes, and more of an opportunity to enjoy the bass with a large fishing community. It is only natural for someone to want to grow any sport they are part of. People like to do what is popular and be part of a growing community. That is why every town, state, country, and family considers growth a good thing. Being the selfish person that I am, I couldn't care less about growth. I have lived in remote locations much of my life, and was fine with zero growth, I even secretly wished people would leave. When wishing for the growth of bass fishing, remember you may get what you wished for, but it may not be what you want. Please don't take this reply in a bad way. I don't want the bass police nocking at my door at 3:00 AM. I do support the bass fishing industry, and have given the Bait Monkey a home well past the limit of my wife's patience. I release my bass, I dream of having a large boat with top of the line electronics, enough tackle to stock a Bass Pro shops store, and win a major bass tournament. I give old rods and tackle to kids, teach people how to fish, and encourage every one I know to give bass fishing a try. Deep down I do have to wonder if my selfish side isn't right. If bass fishing declined, the popularity went to almost zero, and fishing license sales went so low they quit even selling them. I could probably catch as many or more bass on poor tackle, have complete solitude while fishing, become rich investing the money I save, all while enjoying the sport as much as I do now. Just a thought. Happy New Year.

I have to admit after reading the article, I was disappointed. I was hoping GPS numbers for Lake Menderchuck were going to be included in the article.

Tn River Don't come to Mexico with a resume like that, you may be deported, or worse forced to study the effects of Senkos on baby bass in the shallows.

Maybe if you could catch a bass on a spinnerbait, your ability to meet the criteria would increase.

I used a Pop-R more this year. I didn't go fishing often but the few times I did the popper was a big producer. A T rigged straight tail worm, was another bait I fished more than in years past. A T rigged Zoom Mag trick worm caught my biggest bass of 2023. The Pop -R got the most bass over 7 lbs. and a spinnerbait was responsible for my biggest bag of 5. I fish a spinnerbait every day, every year so no change there. Many years I don't even catch a fish on a popper, and T rigged worms have been getting more playing time every year.

All of them. I wasn't able to go fishing very often this year. When I did go fishing, I caught fewer fish on crankbaits than in years past. I still gave them a shot, but top water, spinnerbaits and worms were my best producers.

I can tell you one thing that is for sure going to happen. The Bait Monkey is going to quit hiding in the bushes at my house and move in with you.

Buy them, use them loose them repeat. That is how the game is played.

I usually try and pick off the bass that live in the tree limbs 10 feet above the water first. Than after loosing a lure or two casting for fish that live out of the water, I concentrate on at least getting my bait wet, By this time fishing close or far from the cover makes little difference.

Did you go fishing? If you did, when you got back home was the door locked with new locks and, all your belongings sitting on the lawn? If this is the case, you can go fishing tomorrow. If she was home and all is normal, buy her some flowers, and take her to dinner, she may tell you go fishing more often. Either way you get to go fishing again.

I watched it, and feel Milliken won the debate but Randy showed way more class. Ben was a good debater who brought facts, and statistics to the argument. He was organized and did a good job staying on track while trying to back up his position with proof. He is well educated, and showed excellent debating skills. Randy's argument was strictly emotional, with no statistical, provable statements, or facts. He wandered back and forth, and obviously has limited debate skills. He did show considerable passion, which can often overcome polished debate skills, and or logical provable opinions. Randy was also very gracious humble, and willing to admit he could not prove his case, but was willing to agree to disagree. He also did not personally attack anyone, and complimented Ben on his success, and skill as an angler, and wished him good luck on his future tournaments. Ben couldn't even bring himself to say thanks when Randy complimented him. I believe then and I believe now that FF Sonar should be allowed in tournaments, and recreational fishing. Bens arguments were spot on, and similar to the same opinions I have always had. Even though I am on Bens side, I lost a lot of respect for him, and gained respect for Blaukat. I have watched a few of Randy's videos, and have disagreed with much of what he has said, and do think he tries to increase drama in the sport in order to get views, and likes. An example would be having a video title say 95% of bass fisherman rig a T rig wrong, and if you watch the video, it is simply a video on how to rig a T rig. The title how to rig a T rig will not get as many views because there is no drama, but will still be educational. The drama was in the title and the video was instructional. After watching this After Dark video, I subscribed to Randy's channel, and will watch more of his video's in the future. Not because I agree with him all the time, but because I believe he is worth watching even if I disagree with what he has to say. Sometimes the people that have great passion for what they believe in, are worth listening to even if I think they are wrong. He may come off as a bit of a whiner, but I do feel he is authentic. I will continue to watch Milekan videos, because they can be very instructional, and will most likely help me catch bass, especially if I ever buy a boat and modern electronics. After watching him give Randy absolutely zero respect, or common curtesy. I highly doubt I will ever be entertained by watching his future videos, they will be educational only. He may be one of the best all time fisherman, highly successful businessman, and liked by thousands of people, but all of that doesn't matter to me, if he can't show some common courtesy, some respect, and say thanks, even to someone he doesn't like or agree with with.

I fish the México Ned. 3/8 oz ball head jig with a 7 inch Senko. I don’t have to finesse fish very often but when I do this works well.

Is that next to your spinnerbait box?