Pumpkin Lizard

Bass Talk Live which usually has a level headed take on things says there is a ton below the surface on this matter that will come out. That's good enough for me. I don't care for the guy but he should get treated fairly. This won't affect Ben's involvement in the new Angler's Review Group or whatever it is called with BASS. It's going to take months for the legal process to work itself out.

Yeah he's from up your way. I pull for the CT guys too. Yankees can catch bass too.

That's really going out on a limb LOL! He's a freaking machine. He's like the first pick in the NFL Draft and then some.

Jake Paul is the perfect analogy. Ben always rubbed me the wrong way. I watched him way back when I still used facebook. He'd buy different small animals intended as pets from a pet store and feed them to the bass he kept in his garage. It just seemed stupid, pointless and inappropriate for some reason. After that I didn't have much use for him.

A national fishing license would be fantastic. That being said. You can buy a license while on your boat with a cellphone and a credit card.

And how many videos has Milliken already made about this? He’s a professional fisherman. If he didn’t have a valid license when he was fishing then that’s not good. Contest or not. Professionals keep their paperwork up to date. At this point he has to let the legal process play out. He has a very lucrative YouTube Channel it’s not like he doesn’t have the means to procure one. He makes enough money that he can basically fund his own Elite Series career independently which is to his credit. But it makes you wonder about him. These days it takes 5 minutes on a website to get one. This is on him. He’s not being targeted that’s ridiculous.

It's not really any different than a golf club paying the PGA a sanctioning fee, or a promoter paying IndyCar, NASCAR or F1 a fee to host an event.

I caught a half dozen channels incidental to bass fishing this year. A huge one (by my standards) on a Bellows Gill. That bait smells like rotten fritos so that makes sense. Another few on Rage Bugs. And a couple on a Magdraft. One was foul hooked, but it wasn't a pure snag.

Something lives in it though. In Wisconsin there was a section of a river below a dam that ran through a park. It was on the way home from work and it was easy fishing. Mowed grass for a few hundred yards. I took out my favorite 4 weight thinking maybe I would run into a carp or two since the carp run was really strong. Turned out to be loaded with Brown Trout. There was even a sign posted that stated that Musky were in there and they had to be released or something. Since there was never anything behind me it was a perfect night fishing spot. There was no need to wade and it really wasn't wadeable conveniently because of the snags.

When I was in the Army we spent a bunch of time talking about Operational Art. The Art was how you chose to employ the science. So I say art. When we are fishing we are we are drawing on our experience to put together some sound tactics to work best on a given day. We're artists.

Other species wrap up. I caught this Channel Cat on a Bellows Gill. I have no idea how heavy it was. It was bigger than 30 inches. Son caught a nice stocker rainbow. He prefers bass! Swimbait wipers. They fight harder than anything I have caught in freshwater other than a Steelhead. Impressive.

The lakes around here just seem stupid with shad. I guess they just need to eat enough so that they shad don't out compete the juvenile game fish. I've been told that chicken gizzards fished on the bottom like you would go after catfish works well. Although I have zero desire to fish that way.

I caught a 24 inch Wiper on a Magdraft this year. They like big swimbaits too. They put wipers in the lakes in NW Missouri to curb out of control Shad and Carp populations.

It's not complicated. Bass are everywhere. Chasing them is fun. And generally more fun than other species. I never eat fish. I also fly fish for trout and sometimes steelhead. That's a really fun game too. They fight much harder than bass but they aren't nearly as available.