tmwadswo

There is nothing like waking up from a night of camping, going out catching a small bass or two, and hearing that frying pan sizzling and popping with the sounds of breakfast being prepared. I'm a simple man when it comes to cooking them, just oil, flour, cornmeal, milk, salt, and pepper. However, I'm definitely going to have to try doing bass the way some of you have described. My mouth is almost watering just reading the descriptions! And, as always, it's really great to hear from folks who have a good handle on the balance between harvesting fish and catch-and-release.

Thanks for the feedback, everybody (although it would be great if this hadn't turned into a C&R crusade for some folks, but I guess everyone has to have some sort of 'cause'). Note to all: If you're going to place a disclaimer in your post saying something like...."no offense meant, not trying to belittle you or make you feel attacked"...please make sure that your posts before and after do not include a statement like "I am sorry that releasing an 11lber is crazy to you." Such a statement does not logically make sense in light of the first statement. In saying that you are "sorry" someone holds a certain idea to be true, you are saying that you pity that individual because he holds that particular viewpoint. That is in fact belitting to that person. I think folks see that big fish being mounted and become upset because they assume someone who would mount a fish like that has to be completely anti-C&R, which is obviously not the case. Only one I've ever mounted, fellers.

Details... fish: on my wall above my head, as we speak. by far, my biggest lure: chatterbait, black/blue...first time i took it out of the package Keithscatch: that fish is alive and kickin in that second picture, boss. i had a 50gal trashcan available, so i filled it w/ enough water to cover the fish about 2 times his height, stuck him in the back of the truck and hauled him straight home where the pictures were taken. Replicas are about $220ish around here, and the mount was about $225. I did go to that link you posted and, to be honest with you, they don't look anywhere near as good as the actual mount I have hanging right here, in my opinion. They're 'too' perfect looking or something. This bass's tail is sort of chopped up in places, etc etc. Besides, how can a replica look "better" than the actual fish except if by "better" you mean "more perfect fins, no marks of any kind, etc etc"? The only real attraction I can see in a replica is the life expectancy I've never in my life mounted any animal, this is the only one, so i really don't feel as bad as I believe alot of people are trying to make me feel on here. I believe that catch and release, as well as selective harvest, are essential to the health of a fishery.....but there ain't no way i'm throwing an 11lb bass back when it's the only one i've ever caught and more than likely ever will catch, y'all are eatin them poppy seeds. Last week alone I caught 1 8lb bass, 2 6lb's, and 1 6.5lb and you will see none of those hanging in my room. Also, I probably eat about 2 or 3 1 pound bass per year, I'd say, so it's not like I'm depleting any fisheries (those are the only ones i keep at all). tmacdaddy: hey man, yeah i go to NCSU. doing my last year there this coming year. I graduated 2005 w/ electrical engineering and computer engineering degrees, and shortly i'll have the MS in electrical engineering. plenty of good places to fish, but i don't wanna post them out in the open, so post your email and i'll get w/ you, buddy. i caught this fish back home though, not in raleigh. ALL: sorry to upset some of you. just wanted to show you a picture of a pretty good lookin fish. i enjoy lookin at pics of big bass

Are these two fellers kin? Nah, jk. But I was really wondering...is the phrase "bait monkey" supposed to sound like "butt monkey" or is that just a coincidence?

dang, those things look beautiful. I live in north carolina and the water i usually fish is really stained or muddy. probably and average visibility in alot of it is about 2 or 3 feet, but there are TONS of bluegill. do y'all reckon that it would be worth it to invest in one of those bluegill swimbaits???

what did ESPN do w/ the co-anglers? i didn't know about that.

Yeah man, they're gettin uppity on us.

haha......i had no idea that the rest of the topic name would not show up ("....strikes again!"). But how appropriate anyway! haha

Yeah man, definitely a fair price. I really don't know what the solution is to all this. The problem is that all large corporations care about is making money....not providing a service. It doesn't matter what they say, all that it really comes down to is making money, and as much of it as possible. I hate that. It's no longer about providing a good service to the customer. I mean, they do have to provide something, or customers won't buy it (b/c of competition, ideally), but no one else is really established like ESPN is in the services they provide....plus, they own BASS, so no one else can give coverage of the events, etc. In the end, ESPN wins.

By the way, the topic name was supposed to be "BASS Insider (aka ESPN/"the man") strikes again" hahaha. that got messed up i reckon

Is it just me or is ESPN making BASS suck? I posted a topic early about how Bassmaster mag has changed and now that Insider is here, alot of the tips and whatnot are being published there, whereas BM mag is going towards more newsy type stuff. NOW, I bring up bassmaster.com this morning and I see that unless I either (A) subscribe to ESPN's broadband service or ( have paid for the "new level" of membership offered through BASSInsider, I won't be able see the live weigh-ins on saturday or sunday. Wow, what people won't do to get that extra dollar.

huh?

Right on, Rogue and Chris.

Nick, The more information one can gain from others about technique, baits, presentations, etc etc etc, the better. If one can expose himself to the broadest range of angling knowledge possible, the better off that person is when it comes to making decisions concernining the when's where's and what's of locating and catching bass. I read just about every article I can get my hands on and try to put what I read into practice or at least just take it into account when on the water. Even what you said about how big a difference changing the subtlest of details w/ your bait can make has been the subject of countless articles, the kinds that I enjoy reading. Those types of things can be put into magazines and the like.

Rogue, To what extent do you agree/disagree?