The fish were a little whacky. Not sure if they are starting to get into the post spawn funkiness, OR if they were just beat on so hard over the weekend, that they still had shell shock.

Either way, I did not catch any fish on a swimbait, in spite of how hard I tried.

ALL of my fish, I think 10 of them, with about 7 of them going 4 to 7.1 lbs, were caught on live lined crawlers.... Which of course makes it fun because of the UL gear, but their is really something to be said for nailing them on a big swimbait and heavy gear, which allows you to feel the power of the fish much more. Hmmm. Maybe tommorrow.

Anyway, 1 interesting (and a bit spooky) instance, was when I caught this 4.9 lb Spotted Bass ! {the photo doesn't show the size well, huh ?) This is the first Spot I've caught from this lake in my 5 years of fishing it ! But I figured their had to be a few. Heck, the lake right below this one, is over ran with a bazillion dinky, cookie cutter Spots (read: It USED TO BE a great Northern Largemouth and Smallmouth fishery too.... before the Spots got introduced ! )

So anyway, it fought great. I put it in the livewell for about 3 hours, while I tried contemplated what to do with it. Probably should have just tossed it in a trash can.... But instead, I released it. I sure hope it doesn't make any babies.

If the colors look weird, don't let this throw you off... A LOT of the fish in this lake have unusal coloring. I think it's the diet.

Anyway, and this was the 7.1. What a beautful fish, huh ? As I was fighting it in the crystal clear water, it had another fishing running around chasing it (isn't that weird how they do this ?) that was probably 9'ish.

And I saw these guys on a nest. Too bad this was not great light, and a heavy crop. Still, such COOOL birds

Peace,

Fish

Those are awesome looking fish Chris! And the Eagle photo is great as well, WTG

Big O

www.ragetail.com

Im headed to California to fish with Chris........

Back to reality...sure wish I could!

Jeff

PS> Those fish are just BEAUTIFUL!!!

fish chris. i think my pm might be messing up. i sent you one a couple of days ago. did u get it?

you're fish are incredible. evryone of them are just as gorgeous as could be. i would have guessed it was a smallmouth. still haven't completely ruled it out.

could it be a hybrid?

Much thanks guys

Hey Brushhoggin, definitely not a Smallie. The Smallies in this lake are almost always really deep (from back tro belly) and laterally compressed (flat) like a Bluegill. This fish, on the other hand, was darn near as wide side to side, as it was tall. Almost cylindrical in shape. + I forgot to mention, but it had the signature "tooth patch" on it's tongue as well.

I thought hybrid for just a minute, but now I strongly lean toward a straight up Spotted Bass. BTW, I have seen spots this exact color, although admittedly, most of them from these parts are the exact same color as the Largemouth I posted the shot of here, just with a different pattern.

Peace,

Fish

Great looking fish as usual, I always enjoy your posts

Great lookin fish.

Great fish and pics. Love the pic of the eagle. Congrats