king fisher

I prefer to use mono for square bills, but do use straight 40 pound braid on a couple lakes. The lakes are full of old gill nets, and the strong braid saves me from loosing my baits to snags. I catch plenty of fish with the straight braid.

I caught my first perch in 1969. Started bass fishing in 1976. Moved to Alaska and started guiding anglers for trout an salmon, in 1988. Became a captain of a private sport fishing yacht based out of Puerto Vallarta MX. in 2006. Only bass fished while on vacation visiting family in Eastern WA from 1988 to 2018. Started bass fishing Mexican lakes in 2018. I continue to work as a captain, fishing for saltwater fish on the west coast of Mexico. I bass fish out of a kayak every chance I get.

I was told today, that my favorite big bass lake Presa Pocho, near Tepic Nayarit has been discovered by a lodge owner in the area. He has made arrangements with the local manager of the lake to get exclusive rights to the sport fishing. Commercial fishing was already on a permit basis. I'm not sure if he will be able to keep people from fishing on their own, or if he will only have exclusive rights for a commercial sport fishing operation. Either way I don't expect the fishery to be able to sustain the trophy numbers, with the extra pressure of a guiding operation. The lake is only a little over a mile long, and a half mile wide. Their are not many bass, but they grow big. I caught many more bass over 7 lbs. than 1 to 5 pounders. I don't know why but almost every bass I would catch was big. Four or five bites a day was a good day, but when one was over 10 pounds and the rest over 7 I considered it world class fishing. Most days I was the only sport angler, a couple other kayak fisherman would fish the lake once every couple months. The lodge owners home lake has incredible numbers, but no trophies. He wants a place to take people for a shot at a DD.bass. He said it will be catch and release, and he will only take a few people a week, but I'm sure his costumers will pressure him in to taking more people than the small lake can handle. Even if they catch and release, the camera mortality will be enough to hurt the fishing. Not to mention the bass will become educated to bass fishing techniques quickly. The lodge owner told a friend of mine, he wants to bring some bass from Baccarac, and plant them in the lake to improve the genetics of the bass. For the past 2.5 years I have landed a bass over 10 pounds one out of every four days I have fished there. I don't know how he plans on improving on those genetics. I know of one bass over 14 pounds taken in the last year by one of the two other kayak anglers that fished there, and I have hooked true giants that got away myself. I new this day would come due to the close proximity of the small lake to a large reservoir with multiple lodges. I was hoping to get a couple more years of incredible fishing before the end came. My wife and I bought a small piece of property near another lake with decent bass fishing, but no real trophy potential. I am looking forward to fishing the new lake often, but will always miss fishing my once hidden lake loaded with 10 pound bass that lived their whole life with out seeing a lure. I only wish I would have found the time to fish there more often. If I ever find a place like that again, I will fish it every chance I can possibly get. I will never again say I should have set aside more time to fish a lake, because I now realize time in paradise is limited.

Any lure that costs more than $10. I have bought lures that cost more( Jack Hammer, Spro Rat) and they have not caught more or bigger bass than similar lures, that cost less. Add to that, the fact I'm scared of loosing them, so I don't fish them in places the fish live, making them basically useless. If I can't catch a bass with one of the hundreds of lures I own, that cost $10 or less , it is because of my angling skill, not because I need a more expensive lure. I just remembered the A rig. I will make an exception for it.

I am curious if those who say they will do anything it takes to catch bass as long as it is legal, will you troll, or use live bait. Both are very effective, but many refuse to do either.

Call me pig headed, but I'm not going to fish a pink Helicopter lure on a Zebco Barbie rod, I don't care how many fish it catches.

I don't mind helping out with house work, as long as she gives me a break, by hanging out with the Bait Monkey looking at lure catalogues, and drinking beer.

What is amazing to me, is how I try and interpret a review with an open mind, and logic, and how the Bait Monkey interprets a review. A review of a crankbait could say -- Over priced, lousy hooks, doesn't stay tuned, colors fade, and bill broke after only one cast hit the bank. I did catch a 10 pound bass on this crank, before it broke. Me.-- Not worth the money, I already have more Crankbaits than I can fish. Bait Monkey. New crank, special hunting action triggers Double Digit bass feeding response. Don't be cheap. You only live once. How much is your PB bass worth? You need a replacement for the crankbait you lost last weekend. The negative part of the review is a trick. The angler doesn't want many people to start fishing with the bait. He only mentioned the DD bass because he couldn't miss an opportunity to brag. Get it before the good colors are on back order.

I was hoping to find a blue marlin, but I think they have all gone south. We were able to release a couple striped marlin, and catch some dorado for the freezer. I'm trying to talk the boss in to chasing the blue marlin bite south to Bara De Navidad next week. If not, I might have a day off to go bass fishing.

I don't need a spread sheet. I can remember every lure I have ever bought, what I caught on it, if I still have it, where I lost it, and if I need to buy more. My wife brings my fishing lure memory up, when ever I forget to stop at the store, or have to ask her where my keys, glasses, etc. are.

My retired lures are all stuck on snags, at the bottom of the lake.

I'm a big fan of Alberto, and Uni to Uni, but for mono to mono, or mono to floro, I prefer either a surgeons knot or a Blood knot. Depending on the size of line one of those two is what I have used to make tapered fly leaders for 40 years.

You might consider a Hobie Outback. I transport mine on top of my car, fish standing up with no problem, and am able to launch in heavy surf.

I landed this 6.2 pound large mouth at Presa Corinchis. Biggest bass I have caught out of this lake. She had this Tilapia sticking out of her mouth. I might try a big swimbait next time I fish this lake.

I don't want scents to work for bass. I have guided fisherman for King Salmon in Alaska for 30 years. When I started guiding the best way to catch them was with cured salmon eggs. We used Borax to cure the eggs, and they worked great. Now every day I go guide I have eggs cured with at least four different egg cures, in a dozen different Ziplocs each one with a different commercial scent added. This is scent put on salmon eggs that already smell like what they are, salmon eggs. I wear robber gloves while curing the eggs, rigging all tackle, and while I fish. I don't know where it will end, but I suppose I will wear a space suite if that is what I think it will take to consistently catch the salmon. I enjoy fishing for bass with bare hands, and zero bottles of the latest elixir in the boat. So far I have refused to buy and try a commercial scent for bass. I am afraid it will work, and I will catch my PB. Then I might start slowly going down a river of no return.

Or purple for short?

Santa came late to my house, but I'm not complaining. I must have been good, because I got everything on my list.

I fished water with surface temp. of 67 degrees, and landed a DD. last Sunday. I spent this week working, watching fishing videos, and dreaming of ice fishing.

Shore lunch is still very popular in Alaska. I have cooked shore lunch with fresh salmon for 30 years. Many day's I tried my best to get the guests to skip the shore lunch and eat sandwiches, because of the time cooking takes time away from fishing. Most of the time my pleas fell on deaf ears. People didn't care about catching more fish, they wanted the shore lunch. I always thought it was was a stupid choice. A person can eat any time. You can only catch fish when your line is in the water. I guess that attitude is why I was the guide and they were the client. They spent their time making money, while I was out fishing. When it came time to spend their money, fishing was only part of what they wanted in an Alaska experience. It made no sense to me, but they couldn't understand why I drove a $500 car, lived in a cabin with no electricity, but had the Bait Monkey for a room mate.

Rebel Deep Wee- R

Last Sunday I was hiding from the wind behind some trees in 2 feet of water. I was tied tied to a tree, and could only cast one direction. I threw a chatterbait, and spinnerbait for 20 minuets with out a bite. I completely worked over that small area. First cast with a Senko I landed a 10 pound bass. I had to have ran both of the moving baits within inches of that bass and didn't spook her. The water was dirty, around a foot of vis. and lots of waves from the wind, so that might have helped. If I new exactly where a bass was, I think I would toss the finesse bait first. Why take a chance? If I am fishing blind, then I wouldn't hesitate to fish finesse after working a spot over power fishing.

I caught thousands of bass and other sportfish, on floating, and count down Rapala's, both reeling them strait , and trolling, years before they started calling them jerk baits.

I use floro for leaders with live bait in clear blue off shore Saltwater. ( Green inshore water it makes no difference). I have seen it make a big difference. Live baits on 100 pound floro, get hit and even dropping down to 60 pound mono they don't. Same baits, same rods, same mainline. Only difference was the leaders. When comparing leaders in the 60 to 200 pound class the negatives like knot strength and stiffness, of floro are not much of a factor. Price is a huge factor, but I'm am willing to spend the extra money for live bait leaders ( helps that I'm not actually the one paying the tackle bill). I have also tested the visibility factor in swimming pools. I am convinced floro is less visible than mono. Trolling lures, or dead baits in Saltwater I use mono. When trolling lures and baits I see no difference in bites between the two. I currently don't use floro for any bass fishing, and when I did visibility was not the reason I used it ( I'm a sucker for the low stretch, sensitivity marketing line). I wont say I will never use floro for bass fishing because I have said that too many times, then a month later am trying a new floro. Floro has a way of making me a hypocrite.

Find a store that will sell you Big Game for 5 times the normal price, then you will feel like you discovered a great new floro with good knot strength, and tangles less. Since it will be expensive, you can get the Floro Monkey off your back, and go back to just catching bass.

I was thinking of going fishing tomorrow, then I managed to come up with a dozen reasons why I couldn't go. After reading this thread, I realized none of my reasons were legitimate. The temps here are going to be a low of 48 degrees, and a high of 82. If others are going to go out in freezing temps. I should be able to deal with a long drive lack of sleep, and setting some work aside for another day. I have officially been shamed in to getting up at 3:00 AM and trying my luck. Even if at the end of the day, I'm exhausted and skunked, I wont be cold.