Bass Junke

Without a doubt Dottie was the greatest fish ever caught, but it isn't a record, sorry. Once again I am not trying to hype up Massachusetts, believe me, there is nothing to see here. Let's forget about Bryan's fish also. It was not supposed to be a debate on the true weight of his fish. We have all read endless post about how I have a picture but I didn't weight it. How much does it weigh? Bottom line, can't tell from a photo. Can we all agree that the state record is legit? What this was really supposed to be about is, why hasn't a larger northern been caught in a state that has a more optimal habitat? I asked earlier what made her grow so large. Forage, age, genetics, all of the above? The more I think about it the more I lean to genetics. She was just a total freak of nature. The only other factor I can think of would be pressure. Massachusetts isn't the fishing capitol of the world, don't think it ever will be. They just don't get caught as much. Don't see as many lures swimming by them.

Me also.

I have a digital scale at work, I often bring in baits to get weights on them. My lightest spinnerbait has a 1/4oz. head. Once all the hardware is on it weights 1/2oz. Plus the trailer, usually between 12 and 20 grams. Spinnerbait weights add up fast. 1/2oz. spinners end up weighing 26-28 grams by the time all the hardware is on. Bigger blades add more weight. 28g.=1oz.

Thank you for researching that and posting it. Good stuff.

If I was to make guess or better yet if I was a NLMB I think I would want to live in Tennessee. Tennessee would be my answer to my last question. So you guys keep disputing Bryan's fish and I am not advocating that his fish is or isn't 14lbs. It definitely does not have a 30" girth that is crazy. IMO don't blame Bryan for the poorly written article and and the fact that Mark Blazis got all the details wrong. Bryan weighted his fish on a scale, realized what he had, don't know how hard he tried to get it certified, but finally came to the conclusion that it was Sunday and nothing was open so he threw the fish back. Did he try his hardest to get the fish certified, we will never know. Bryan seems like an angler of some skill, I'm thinking he knows how to read a scale so no matter what it looks like in the photo, when we are talking about the accuracy of a scale, usually we are talking about ounces not pounds.

Okay guys I agree that Bryan's fish does not look 14lbs. The article accompanying it does it no justice as Mark Blazis outdoors does not seem very knowledgeable about the great outdoors. Well not about fishing anyway. How many times on this site have disputed photos? How many times have we come to the conclusion that it is difficult to judge a fishes weight by a photo? The point of this post was not to dispute the weight of Bryan's fish or admire the Mass. state record. IMO the big bass factories seem to be drying up. California- Quote " there are even bigger ones swimming around" Japan- Quote "there are even bigger ones swimming around" Manabu's bass was caught in 2009. Seems to me that those bigger ones swimming around should have been caught by now. Where are they? Fish stories? My point was if these 2 fish can be caught in Mass, then there is no reason a WR FLMB can't be caught anywhere they live. One more question. What part of the country has the ideal growing conditions for a NLMB?

That is an FLMB. He has posted his largest NLMB before and it is 14. something.

I agree with both statements. Hardest thing with the metric system is mental visualization. I can picture in my head what 6 feet looks like. Much harder to picture 2 meters even though it is the same.

Wow! I just received a bunch of jigs from you. Had great fun skirting them ( need to post some pics). Can't wait to use those Shake2 shakey heads. Those things are awesome. I dropped one on the floor from about 4', it landed hook up. Tough to pass up those jack hammers at that price. Darn bait monkey.

Who here wishes that the fishing industry in America would switch to the metric system? Conversion chart? Not needed. Wait is 5/8ths heavier or lighter than 9/16ths? I can figure it out but really. Lets try this. Is 9 grams heavier than 8 grams? Way easier (easier to type also BTW). When I was in elementary school back in the 70's we were told that in 10 years the U.S. will have converted to the metric system. I'm still waiting.

I have been looking for a new leash system. I love those cable cuffs, and they don't scratch the blank. I was using bungie cord, tie wrap, and a split ring/key ring. The tie wrap and ring slide around the blank. Not scratched yet but looking for something better. Thank you.

I have been thinking about the Mass state record lately. Now before everyone switches to a different thread or starts rolling on the floor laughing lets think about this. A pretty impressive fish from Massachusetts? Hardly optimum growing conditions. So I decided to do some research to at least find out how valid the catch was. Look what I found an article from Outdoor Life echoing my thoughts. https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gone-fishin’/2013/08/bass-fishing-greatest-record/ To my surprise the article mentions a 14.2lb. bass caught in Gardner in 2013. This is even more amazing IMO, anyone from Mass will tell you the climate in Gardner is very different from Carver. To kind of put it into perspective, right now, Carver is open water, not so sure about Gardner. I would suspect Lake Wampanoag is still under ice. Here is the Worcester Telegram article about Bryan Tuliano and the 14.2 fish he caught. I included it because it is a pretty cool story and Bryan seems like a stand up guy. Unfortunately the facts of the story are somewhat lacking to say the least. First if you use the weight calculator on BR and use the dims given in the story, Bryan might have broken the world record. Of course we can all tell that the bass in the picture does not have a 30" girth. I'm not so sure those water temps are correct either. Low 80's on June 23 in Gardner? Maybe. Anyway, here is the article. https://www.telegram.com/article/20130730/COLUMN10/107309945 https://www.thelocalhookupma.com/id42.html That last link has a photo of the state record mounted plus a few photos of some of the other state record fish. So all you southern folks that have access to waters with FLMB in them, the Mass state record brings hope. If we can catch NLMB in the 14 and 15 pound range in Massachusetts. Then the next 23lb. bass doesn't have to come from California, Texas, Mexico, Japan, or South Africa. Sure there is a good chance it will but I won't be surprised if a 23 pound bass shows up in Mississippi or Alabama some day. All us folks up north we are still up SC without a P. Nobody is catching any world records up here. State records, on the other hand, are swimming around. Unless we are talking about this fine state of Mass. Our chances of a state or world record are looking pretty bleak. So, a couple of questions to ponder. I hope WRB chimes in on this. How big would Walter's fish have been if it was caught like most other giant bass, during the spawn? Once again both of the bass in the article were not living in optimum growing conditions. How did they get so big? Age ,abundant forage, genetics. All of the above? This is the largest NLMB on record. Do you think a larger one was caught anywhere else? Lots of anglers would not know. If memory serves, WRB's largest NLMB was 14. something. Well I don't think this will make Massachusetts the fishing capitol of the world but it was nice to shine a little light over here. We get over-shadowed by Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York and rightly so they all have better fishing then we do. But, who's got the biggest bass?

Zowie! Nice fish.

I don't usually put rattles on my jigs but just wire wrap the skirt then take another small piece of wire and wrap on the rattle.

X2

Ha Ha! Well yes I was. You can get lead acid batteries pretty cheap now, definitely in the 20-30 dollar range, but they stink.

Sorry bro, brand new LiFe Po 12ah battery 110.00$. Add a USB port to your kayak. That quick port 3.0 charged my new phone fairly quickly. Came in handy when I lost power for 2 days at my house. Used it to charge my phone. Looked into a portable solar panel. Looked into building one, actually pretty easy. We are almost there, size of panel needed to be practical made it impractical, if that makes any sense. The first vid is the blueprint I used to wire my kayak. Second video he adds a solar panel to the battery box. Impractical, just get a second battery.

Saw some guys ice fishing on Monday. That ship has sailed here in southern Mass. Seeing lots of open water. Lunchtime fishing on Monday. Yea, winters here in southern Mass are not really that bad. We generally get about 10 really cold days a year. (below 15 degrees). Most winter days range between 30 and 40. We had about 3 weeks of hard water, and only 2 weeks of ice fishing. Now the closer you get to the cape and it is usually game on all season. Heck the golf courses down the cape rarely shut down during the winter.

24 gauge black coated copper wire.

Greetings. I'm in Plainville. Right next door. I generally kayak fish but I'm up for anything. Haven't fished Orrs pond yet. PM me we can do some bank fishing.

Good advise. This might have been helpful. Too bad the OP has not been back since October. Back to pan fishing because there are no bass where he lives. That's just crazy.

That is where I went LPO. Lure parts online. Nice stuff but your jigs are nicer and I did not do the math but it seems your tungsten is cheaper.

I just started building spinner and buzz baits. Your site was the first place I looked. Did not find any. Went to LPO. By all means clue me in because I saw your prices on tungsten. I need to send you an order for some more jig heads and some tungsten. I would be more than happy to add some spinner bait heads to the order.

6 rigs on my kayak. 2 spinning 4 casting. 2 flush mounts and 4 on my crate. Low overhanging obstructions are definitely my weakness. Been considering a different approach for this season, have not come up with any ideas though.

This is a lot of work but like Fin said it does work. I really like the o-ring method. Tape all the skirt strands together then slide the taped end through the o ring and use the o ring like a rubber skirt collar. Get the skirt into place, the o ring is nice for adjusting and evening out the skirt before you tie it permanently. Then use any method mentioned above. I like wire tying.