Mattlures

Ebby I have a little constructive critisism for you. When doing a photo finish you will get a cleaner looking bait if you only put the photo on the sides. Dont try and make it go on the top and bottom. Do the sides and clear coat it, then paint the top an olive color and blend it just over the edge of the photo. Do the same on the belly except in white or off white. Then put one more coat of clear over that. Your bait will come out cleaner and you wont have all the little folded edges on your bait. BTW thats pretty darn good for you first atempt!!!

Salter scales are known as the most accurate hand helds. They are accepted by the IGFA. they weight to the half ounce

does anybody know what the all time record five fish limit is? I mean from anywhere like El Salto or Baccarac, etc... Any time from any place not just a tournament sack

throw swimbaits! I dont beleive I have ever gotten a bluegill bite on one. Also it is a good thing if you have that many gills in the pond. That means the bass will have plenty to eat. I dont know if you can have too much bass forage

Use a Falcon hook with them. I preferr a 4/0 1/8th -1/4th ounce. I fish them on light line 8-12lb test. and I prefer spinning gear. Use the bait for its strenght's. They are extremly weedless!(just like all the paddletail tubes) and when you rig them properly you will hardly see any hook at all.

Congrats on a big beautiful fish. The way you worked the male to get to her is EXACTLY how I use my gill to get the females to bite. Well at least its the technique I us the most. I love the releas pis. Those always look cool

Big old bass are not always the hardest fighting fish but they are the smartest fighting fish alive. They will instantly head for cover. The first thing I do is troll the boat to open water if I can while fighting the fish. The big fish I have caught rarley clear the water but they all come up shaking thier heads. When I feel them come up, I sweep my rod hard to the side and try and turn them just before they break the surface. If you can do this, you parachute their mouthes. Their mouthes are stuck open from the pressuer of you cranking them in. Dont try this with regular gear. First off you CANT turn them and second you will break off.

I dont totaly disagree with you Matt. To me it is 2 diffent games. Kind of like football and baseball. The thing is Mike Long plays both and domintaes both. Yes I know he is not ARod in Baseball but he is Joe Montana in football. The tournaments he fishes are not the elite series but they are not little club tourny's either and he dominates those. Yes they did have 1 tournament for the trohpy guys and a few big fish were caught with a 10 being the biggest. However the weather on that day was absolutly brutal. They will have more of them and you will see alot more big fish caught. Muddy, Mike L fishes So Cal Tounaments but His Partner John Kerr went to Mead in NV and won his first ever pro event against a ton of big names like Martins and Kline and Clunn etc. Trust they could compete on the big tour if they chose to. Actualy John plans to go full on pro soon. Mike does not want to. He has a wife and kids and a good job and he has to put them through college soon. that was his answer when I asked him why he doesnt go big time pro. Again guys I am partialy joking when I say the tounament guys are the masters at small fish. I understand the game and they play to win it. It is just my opinion that sombody that is the best at both Trophy hunting and is dominating at the semi pro level of tounament fishing is a better bass fisherman the the best tournament guys. Trust me I have much respect for Clunn, KVD, Roland,etc.

I just love stirring the pot on the greatest angler debates. To me big fish are more impresive than tournament wins but thats just my opinion. Just cause guys like Clunn or KVD win a bunch of T's does not make them better bass fisherman. It makes them better Tournament fisherman. Between Mike and Butch they have caught more bass over 10lbs than all current touring pros combined. I dont have the #s but I am pretty sure of it. I think Butch is around 1000 and Mike is up there also. Mike also has about 60 bass over 15lbs and holds many lake records. Oh and Muddy to partialy answer your question. Mike fishes the Won bass and a few other circuts in so cal and dominates them. He has won a bunch of team tournaments fishing by himself or with his kid. The only guy who can compete with him is his best friend John Kerr and they fish one circut as partners. Of course they have won AOY like 8 years in a row. Its kind of funny. They often beat 2nd place by 8-10lbs. Either of them could compete on the big stage. John Actualy won his first Major he fished in. The US open. John traveled to another state and fished against a ton of big names and beat them all in his first time out. As for the master of small fish (tournament anglers) Clunn is the legendary best and KVD is the current king. Just for the record I do know those Top Tourny guys are monster studs. They deserve the credit they get. I would just like to see a couple of the big Trophy hunters getting their due also.

You guys are cool!

All those anglers on your list are great and are in a class of their own, right below Butch Brown and Mike Long. Actualy Mike L is on step up from Butch so all the guys on the list are 2 steps down. But hey they are the greatest at catching small bass.

for anybody doubting the fish are all diferent you need to look closer. Check all the cuts and nicks in the tail fins and anal fins. If your still not convinced look at any specific body marking like a dark scale or a break in the pattern and compare it to the other fish. Sombody owes Fourbizz an apology

Fourbizz you know you have arived when you have haters. Unfortunatly it comes with the teritory. Just ignore it and dont stop posting. I am inspired by your posts to actualy get out and fish! As a matter of fact I have never actualy weighed out my best 5 fish sack but Its probably around 30lbs. I can get single big fish but rarely do I get more than 1. Now I have a goal to get 40. Also I meant no disrespect to Butch, He is one of my heros too I just know its an honor to be compaired to him and you deserve the compliment.

Dang Congrats guys! Butch Brown who? Fourbizz is the man!

This time of year the carp are spawning and thats what they do. They find what ever type of vegatation and thrash around in and on top of it. They are dificult to catch when they are doing this as they are more interested in breeeding than eating

From what I have read about FL it seems way too many big bass are kept. Out here in CA it is almost a crime to keep a large bass. The guys that know how to catch them always let them go. Ever 15lber that you have seen from CA was caught before when it was 1olbs and it was put back.

It is unfair to the rest of the "ordinary" people. The dont have a chance. They are not blessed with the name MATT. Very nice fish indeed

5lbs

I'm in. I gotta couple over 10 but I aint braggin untill I get my 20. Maybe this year.

619bassman That my be the most incorrect statement ever posted on this board! I know for a fact that alot of people recognize spots from pictures. I do it all the time. Thats why I usualy post a couple weeks after I catch a worthy fish. I also do not preferr the photo shopping but I definatly understand it. I myself like to go find a nice reed patch or something similar and pull right up to it and use it as my background. It just makes a nicer picture

You rig the MF like a texas rigged worm. Mickey recomends bending the hook a little to the left or right. It helps with the hook ups. Yes use the hook it came with. To clear the hole use a paperclip. and I recomend using heavy gear with this bait and setting the hook realy hard. You have a big hunk of rubber and you have to move that hook. I also recomend lubing the MF. The biggest complaint I have heard about this bait is it is dificult to hook fish with. Well use the right equipment and lube the bait and it will definatly increase your hook ups.

WRB you should see those lakes now. San V hardley ever produces anything over 10 and a teen from there is unheard of. Otay still produces good fish but not teens. I think that lake is actualy imroving though. Wholeford still kicks out giants evry once in a while. El Cap is dink city. Its the small lakes like Poway Dixon Jennings Murray that produce big fish. Even Mirramar never produces anything over 10 anymore. Did you ever fish with Murphy? Your styles sound similar.

Come on Randall I am counting on you to get Dan over the hump. I know you can get him a 10!!!

It took me about 20 years of real fishing to get my first. I caught it about 2-3 years after I decided to learn how to catch big bass and actualy target them.

If that 25.1 is still alive it would be over 17 years old. When Mike Long caught it in 01 it was 10 or 12years old ( I cant remember) so in 06 when it weighed 25.1 it would have been 15-17 years old.