Bubba 460

Looks like "common water snakes" doing the Ooby Dooby.

A true redneck, I thought of the same thing. We must be related on my sisters side...

I beg to differ ~ I have the 190 Whopper Plopper as well and caught a two pound largemouth bass on it on the second cast out of the box. I consistently catch 14" to 22" smallmouth on the 130 (have witness). I have not thrown anything smaller than the 130 size in over eight years because I catch 12" to 14" bass on it and that is what I'm trying NOT to catch. Now I'm certainly not saying that a size 90 won't catch more fish (and big fish) ~ it will. I have the patience to throw the big whoppers for hours and most of the time I'm rewarded with a nice fish or two but always surprised (well not really anymore) at how many smaller bass will hit it. I like to throw bigger baits to start with, 6" bull shad, no problem for a healthy smallmouth~ I guess a smallmouth doesn't know he has a small mouth. If the big baits are not producing on certain days I down size to "normal" presentations and try to find out what IS working that day. 12" worms 8" swimbaits, big spinner baits have all produced for me and I don't live in California. How many times have I seen a dead or dying bass floating on the water with a WAY to big of a bluegill stuck in his mouth. If I was to live out the rest of my life catching dink bass I would stop fishing. It's that challenge, that possibility that a really nice bass is going to smack this huge bait that keeps me fishing... with big baits. 10.3 pound bass in my photo caught on a 7" swimbait, that's bigger than a 13O Whopper Plopper. Photo of one of my favorite baits, well used and well hit.

Amazing~ I have watched where a wild African elephant and even a tiger that were injured came and ask for help. I have rescued 3 dogs and 2 cats that were in dire need of help (starving, injured, weak) all while fishing or on the way back from fishing. They all live with us now. When I come home they just go NUTS!.... Well not the cats so much, with them it's just a look of "Whatup."

Pip-squeak, stop catching those little girly bass and get a man-sized Whopper Plopper 130.

Uh, you might want to add Mike Iaconelli to that list. He put his boat 50 feet into the woods. Good thing he was wearing his life vest and had kill switch engaged. Check out the WW II style shark teeth image on the front of his boat ~ maybe beaver teeth would have been more appropriate in this instance. https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/ikes-crash-landing#slide1

If a big snapper bit you in your face it would look like someone opened your face with old fashion fifty pound can opener.

8:00 AM~ On the water late. Following the shoreline, picking targets and casting in two to six feet of water. First big strike on the Whopper Plopper 130 five minutes into fishing. Big bass right at the bow of the boat just as I lifted the WP out of the water ~WHAM!... face and shirt wet, scared the snot out of me~ Okay, I'm awake now. About a hundred yards further an 18" bass smacks the Whopper Plopper ~ net'em, click'em, one down. Move into a new area of very shallow grass with deep drop-off on the edge, switch to the 6" floating Bull Shad and work the edge. BAM! Another 18" bass kicks water into the air, braid sings, a couple of jumps and it's over... two down. Next one is a dink, three down. Start working a log jammed shore line with bait fish breaking, switch to a five inch slow sinking swim bait. Second cast I lay into a three pounder, they can sure fight above their pay-grade at that weight! # four. As the sun comes up I lost my shaded shoreline so crossed over to the other side of the lake to fish some deeper water. Pick up a rod with a red 10" Texas rigged worm with pegged nose weight. Couple of bass pick up but I miss them on the swing. Then land another 18" bass on the worm Change out worm and a couple casts later my best fish of the day, a 21.5" bass~ YES!.. Now we're talking. Come into a large flat with grass averaging about 5 feet deep. Switch to a spinnerbait and finish out the day with a few more bass. Photos of lures I used today and the red worm in the bass's mouth. ~ (Several photos of bass did not take for some reason) Thanks for coming along!

Thanks ~ Me neither, life ain't fair

You need to ease off just a tad on those hook-sets.

Nope, a bass can not tell, usually, what it is that is going across thick pads or heavy mat (well maybe a snake). All they know is it's something "Tic Tac" shaped (UFO- unidentified floating object) with erratic behavior and it looks small enough to eat ~ the three criteria that checks off the boxes for a bass to strike. Below is about what a bass sees as something goes across the pads and he's locked-on.

Thanks ~ I have done several rainbow trout paintings both under water and airborne but don't have any photos of them.

Well, knock on wood... Went on a 8 person charter out of Homer Alaska for halibut. Of the eight of us on board all got horribly sea-sick except for me and my brother in law. Waves were about 3 feet and tight, just right to get you sick. They were puking over the side or laying down somewhere between puking over the side... yep, some real "chumming" going on. That just left me all the more room to fish.... 271 pound "barn door" halibut. Took me an hour and a half to get him to the boat. Fish was 8 foot 4" long. If there would have been six more lines out maybe I would not have been so lucky.

Back in the early 70's when Big O's were all the rage I use to burn the deep divers off the left or right side of points and just hammer 4 to 6 pound bass. I'm talking 20-25 bass in a hour sometimes. This was in the fall in VA. My buddy caught a 14.2 doing just that. I saw the photo of it, a beastly proportioned monster that looked like it would explode. These baits cranked hard felt like you already had a three pound bass on! I heard Popeye used to do a lot of speed crankin' ~ ya think? .

The reluctance to cast into the gnarly stuff and skip up under overhanging bushes and logs is overcome by doing just that. Sounds like for the light lures you're throwing a spinning rod will probably work better and have better results than a bait-caster (not saying you can't do it with a bait-caster). Being familiar with a rod and gaining accuracy in your casting comes with much on the job practice. If you're not getting hung up some, you're not going in deep enough. I think it was Confucius who said, "The journey of ten thousand cast starts with the first cast" (or something like that). Having confidence in your casting in tight situations helps in gaining that couple if extra inches sometimes needed to get that fish to commit. When you skip a wacky up under 8 feet of low hanging limbs and and it stops right at the bank and bass smacks it, it brings a smile to your face. With all of that said, it does not mean you will not get "hung-up"~ just not as much! I have NEVER caught a bass up in a bush or a tree but I still try to once and a while.... just to make sure, you know.

Had a pickerel bite off a wacky. Caught him ten minutes later on a jerkbait with wacky in his mouth ~ I'm kinda like that at a all you can eat buffet.

Some of my rods and reels are well past their prime, battered, thoroughly used and need to be replaced. So this week I went and bought a new 7' Saint Croix Triumph MH spinning rod. Then I ordered the new Shimano Ultegra in the 4000 size From Bass Pro, It came today~ beautiful. This is my first Shimano and I just have to say that I am very impressed with the smoothness of this reel, butter smooth and tight. Kind of like getting a custom model 1911 45 from a custom gun maker. I do believe this is the smoothest reel I have ever felt. I'll be throwing baits on this rig up to an ounce. I usually buy the Pflueger Patriarch model 9035 spinning reels but hard find right now in this country. I have no complaints with them, great reels and have lasted me near 10 years. If something goes wrong, Pflueger repairs them ~ no charge. What's not to like.

Hmmmm... I must have that same foul scent on my lures.

Nice western art ~ Thanks

Seen so many different kinds of smaller fish feeding, swirling, flipping, jumping on the surface on calm mornings and evenings. Shad, shiners, small bass feeding, bluegills, trout, crappy etc. Usually feeding on small bait fish or bugs or just having fun. It's not those fish so much that interest me... it what's under them. I don't put on a smaller bait and try to catch them, I use a mimic bait and try to catch what might be under them licking their lips. Speaking of surface activity... We have all seen those water striders and those little scudder bugs that are all over the water scooting and swimming every which way by the hundreds. NEVER in all my years have I EVER seen a fish hit one of those bugs. I have seen thousands of them jammed together thick as a carpet an not once did any get taken, even on evenings where there is heavy feeding taking place.

I agree with you about the Teckel Sprinker frogs they are just a killer bait in the right environment and my second favorite top water bait. Years ago I threw a lot of buzzbaits, they are super top water baits. But The deep "plopping" sound of the 130 and 190 whopper plopper is like the "SUE-EEEE" call to the pig. It just seems to work like no other for bass when the conditions are right. Plus you can stop & go, that in itself can bring on a strike as well. Personally I have caught so many more bass on the plopper than I use to catch on the buzzbait. I still throw a buzzbaits like over grass and light mat where whopper can't go.

Hands down, the River2Sea Whopper Plopper 130 in "loon" color (black). Anything else is just a knock off.

Thanks ~ yeah, good looking too! (but that was about 22 years ago)

I like big reels (4000), Med heavy & heavy spinning rods, big lures and stout line. Basically fishing with musky gear hoping for that Big'un. I do have lighter reels for jerkbaits and other "medium finesse" presentations. When Mr. BigShot comes I want to be ready...