OCdockskipper

Elton John - "Hold me closer, Tony Danza" KISS - "I want to rock & roll all night, and part of every day" TOTO - "I guess it rains down in Africa"

It was a one word question - "Bacon?"

Then I stand corrected. Congrats on the new PB.

I am going to get yelled at for this post by many, so let me preface it by saying that is a great bass. Congratulations on catching a huge fish, one that any member of this forum would be proud of. My initial reaction when I saw the pictures was that that hawg was in the 7-9 lb class. When you mentioned the fish was over 27" long, it took me back a little because my impression from the photo's was that it was shorter than that. The first photo is a little tough to judge because of the way that it is being held out towards the camera. The second picture includes your hand and the reel, so that gives us some perspective. The fish appears to be about 6 1/2 times longer than your index finger and about 4 1/2 times longer than your spinning reel. Most adult men's index fingers are about 3.5" long and most spinning reels are about 5" long, both of which end up putting the fish in the 22"-23" range (which puts it in the 7-8 lb range). If I am wrong about this, I apologize up front. I'm not trying to embarrass you or call you out, rather just pointing out what (to me) jumped out as kind of obvious and what I believe many others may have thought when they read these posts. Once again, congratulations on catching that monster, very impressive.

Tom, unless you have been awarded a well deserved and long overdue doctorate in bass fishing and are addressing the rest of us as your convalescents, I believe the word you are looking for is patience... . In any case, your information is spot on.

Another example of the dangers of sunbathing. I bet not a single one of those dead bass was using sunscreen...

Any chance the bass was playing opossum?

A gun, to shoot myself for having to downsize to a single Plano 3700 tackle box.

Like many have already posted, for me it is a "depends on..." answer. The earlier post where a person asked "What are you doing out here?" is an example that I would take positively. That sounds like a person curious to learn, wanting to understand what is happening and not necessarily infringing on the person fishing. My response would have been the same, tell him what is underwater and invite him to fish it with me. It is the "entitlement" questions, the grilling for information, that rubs me the wrong way. Normally, I will give any & all information to youngsters who are fishing, but even some of them can be jerks. Just yesterday, I was 70 yards away from a designated shoreline fishing area when a young teen yelled as loud as he could "Are you catching anything?". Keep in mind this is a small lake surrounded by homes and it was still early morning, so I am assuming the nearby neighbors were still sleeping. I responded with a thumbs up, not wanting to encourage the kid to keep yelling. No such luck, he then yelled "What are you using?". There were other people fishing where he was and I didn't want to motor over there & disturb their spot to answer him & I sure as heck wasn't going to yell back, so I just held up the Ned rig. Kid must have eagle eyes, because he then yelled "What color?". That was enough for me, I just waved, turned my back and went the opposite direction.

Good luck. I hope you have a great time and I look forward to hearing about your experience.

The method for removing gut hooked bass per the diagram above works amazingly well. It doesn't take much time to flip the hook around and then pop it up out of their mouth, so they aren't out of the water that long. Once you do it, you get a feel for it real quick. I caught a bass this past weekend hooked in a way I had never seen before. He hit a Tiny Torpedo & when I got him to the boat, I found that the lure was outside his mouth under his jaw. The rear treble hook was completely in his mouth, all 3 hooks in the mouth near the tongue (pointed down). I have no idea how this fish hooked himself this way and even less guesses as to how I could have removed the hook intact, so I just snipped each hook loose (destroying the treble) and pulled it down through his jaw in order to release him.

It was a dog, a miniature Dachshaund (sp?). I think a cat would have freaked out being that close to the water.

A neighbors dog, with a face only a mother could love (cool dog nonetheless)...

Disrespectful people, specifically when they are doing something in public that effects others yet they are completely oblivious. Examples include driving slower than the rest of traffic while in the fast lane, standing in the middle of a walkway as people are trying to pass, being loud and obnoxious in a place where others can't escape your noise (plane, restaurant, etc).

I use HDX superglue, it is the in-house brand for Home Depot. I prefer liquid over gel because I also use it on leader knots. It performs really well and is cheap, 4 small tubes for $1.97. I prefer multiple small tubes because if you mess up & accidently glue the cap on, you aren't throwing away a big bottle of it. 4 tubes last me 6 to 8 months.

I recently changed from that to an app for my phone (Android) called "Thing Counter" because it lets me count catch per lure type. It also gives voice feedback, which I smile at every time I add a fish & hear that robotic voice say "5 Ned Rig" or "3 Shakey Craw".

Who needs to draw?

While I have never been there myself, maybe some of the members who make the trips down to the Mexican resort lakes can chime in. Their reports from those lakes seem to have both numbers (80 fish days) as well as size (plenty in the 6-12 lb range). I believe these are world class waters not because they have a low population density, but because they have low fishing pressure combined with the right environment to grow larger than average bass. Your comment regarding counting fish being lame is interesting when you later give the definition of a "red letter day" being a certain number of a certain sized fish. In that scenario, you too are counting fish, but only those within your parameters. To summarily dismiss what interests others as lame and try to classify your preference as worthwhile is wholly subjective. If someone felt spending 5 days on the water for 1 bite from a double digit bass was lame, they would be wrong. Not because that kind of trophy hunting is somehow more worthwhile, but because for most of us, bass fishing is recreation, something we do to relax & enjoy ourselves. Who am I or you to declare that an activity that accomplishes that for someone else is lame just because we don't like it? I count the number of keepers I catch because I enjoy recording such information and looking back at it over the years, both for recollection and for comparison purposes. I enjoy every fish I catch, no matter the size - each one is different and I never get tired of checking them out. I will use the techniques and methods designed specifically for larger fish, but I won't do it at the exclusion of catching as many keepers as I can figure out how to. I don't begrudge what interests you, I won't call it lame, it is your deal & I am glad you enjoy that. As an aside, my older brother is similar to you in regards to fishing. He has very little interest in fresh water fishing, he instead loves to go after Marlin, Sailfish & big tuna. He spends a lot of money to pursue this passion, but enjoys every bit of the process. Different strokes for different folks.

Kennedy sank me as well. Justin Lucas had made something like 26 cuts in 30 events prior to the start of this year. He has missed all 4 so far in 2017 & I had him in 2 of them.

The great news is you don't have to make that trade. Large fish are indeed different than smaller fish, but they do exist in the same lake and bite lures that you have on your deck.

No offense Roger, but I am going to disagree with you. Those stereotypes you list are often repeated by the guy who gets skunked every other trip, but rationalizes it by saying "I'm targeting the biggest fish in the lake". Odds are that guy could throw a Ned rig all day and still end up with an empty live well. While it is true that specific techniques or specific places will tend to produce higher numbers or larger sizes of fish, they are not mutually exclusive. On the Elite & MLF tours, how often have you seen KVD have days where he catch's large numbers of fish as well as the biggest five (or has the biggest average)? Personally, last July I had my highest number day for the year (60 keepers). That number included a 8.0 (second largest of the year for me) and a 5.5, which were both caught on what some folks describe as "numbers only" baits (Zman TRD & a GYB 4" Senko, respectively). I fully understand when someone like WRB talks about the methods he used to catch some of the historically large bass in his resume, that is indeed trading numbers for size. However, those were fish of a lifetime, fish that no longer exist in the lakes that Tom visits. I would say that history is more of an exception, a specialty, that most fisherman wouldn't do even if presented the opportunity.

No, once a week or so on a lake that is closed to the public. It is completely surrounded by about 300 homes whose residents all have access to it, but less than a handful of those homes have anyone there who fishes for bass. For 2017 I am averaging about 20 bass per trip. That is down from over 26 bass per trip in 2015 & 2016. Those numbers reflect the fishery more than my prowess...

I never take one, but I fish sitting down, in a small boat low to the water, so I can reach the fish without having to kneel, move or run to the back of the boat like Ike. Lipping the larger fish is easy, however if they are small or there are treble hooks involved I have found that belly landing, grabbing them around the head or lifting the lure (if possible) all tend to immobilize the bass. I do carry a pair of Boga grips that I use for the occasional big catfish, I guess I could use it on a bass if needed.

Numbers caught really is relative, depending on how much you fish, your experience and where you fish. Don't be intimidated by large numbers that others may post, their circumstances may be different than yours. If you like the goal you set, that's cool. That said, my 2017 totals as of today are 349 in California, 52 in Georgia & 11 in Texas, for a total of 412. My California numbers are down about 30% from the past few years, my home lake has been a bit off since a weed abatement program was done late last year.

The Ned Rig got some TV time on the most recent episode, first from Kevin Short & then from Mark Rose. Short kept calling it the "turd bait" and explained that he uses 1/2 of a Strike King Zero, while Rose said he uses 1/2 of an Ocho. No love for ZMan...