everythingthatswims

When I spent some time throwing "big baits", I learned that slowing down is how you make a following fish follow from a further distance. (big baits made me a better "normal" bait fisherman even though I didn't catch much with them). When a baitfish gets chased by a bass, he does NOT slow down. Not saying that you won't catch fish by slowing down, but typically two or three fast turns of the handle and a quick pause can trigger another strike.

Two days ago, I was kayak fishing a local lake and had an experience that reminded me of @OCdockskipper's thread. The lake is over 100 acres, and I was the only one on it for about 2 hours. Then, another kayak fishermen put his kayak in, and proceeded to come all the way across the lake, cutting me off, because he saw me catch a fish. Well I could see that he was throwing moving baits on the outsides of the standing timber, and I knew he wasn't going to do much. So, I maintained about a 75-100 yard berth and followed him down the bank, catching a decent number of bass pitching a texas rig into the trees he had just fished. I made sure to let them jump a few times, and the air was still, so the sound carried VERY well over water. I talked to him later that day in the parking lot, he said he hooked a huge fish on one of his favorite topwaters, and it broke him off when he got it up to the kayak. Do I believe in karma? Maybe I did show someone at the boat ramp how to fish a wacky rig, gave him a few jig heads and a pack of trick worms, and showed him how to fish them. The angel on my other shoulder prompted those actions.

There are a lot of channels out there with people who fit the stereotype that is being discussed in this thread, but there are a handful of fishermen on YouTube that I have learned a lot from, just like I learn on here.

I think y'all are upset that "kids" can catch them too

He's glowing from all that radiation

No gas, no trailer, no registration, you can fish ANYWHERE.... I can keep going

Their mouths don't get soft, they just fight harder. It's really easy to keep them hooked on cranks in water below 50 degrees because they almost get paralyzed when you hook them.

River largemouth almost always seem to have small mouths relative to their body

I am extremely guilty of this

@A-Jay Said it perfectly. If you catch a little one right next to the big one, she's probably not going to want to eat for a while.

All in the same body of water, where we only fish from a paddle boat: 8# class fish in July trolling a #5 Shad rap 15"er or so, trolling a flipping jig in 15 FOW Pink, green, and yellow skirted swim jig with a kandy corn colored senko as a trailer, caught many fish with this. Buddy caught a 12-15"er when he hit free spool to pull a loop out of his spool with a spinnerbait falling over the side of the boat. A willow blade spinnerbait, one that does NOT helicopter. We also sit directly on top of a beaver hut and drop jigs into the holes we can see. "You can never get too close to the hut".

Rick Clunn is the og, who is this Vincent guy?

Dude, go trout fishing

I caught a 15" largemouth that was chasing shad on the surface, and he had a 4/0 EWG hook in his gullet. There wasn't a speck of rust on the hook so it must have not been in there for very long, and he was already back at it with a belly full of shad.

Last trip into the blue before heading home, had another sail but it didn't stay buttoned

But were you vertical jigging it like that crazy guy Aaron Webe

You mean Uncle Chadd, grandparents on mom's side and dad's side, neighbors, friends, etc?

Line got so twisted from winding against drag that it got wrapped up around the camera and turned it sideways

I started carolina rigging a trick worm on a hand line when my line broke on a long cast, and continued to catch bass.

24" is an old fish regardless of what she's been eating before you caught her or what stage of the spawn she was in. And they don't get old by being dumb. Congrats!

Two days 18 Mahi 11 Kings 1 Sail

Here in the Outer Banks, most people make a 40 mile run to find pelagics.... We have found quite a few over the past two days within sight of the beach! I absolutely love it, catching these fish is comparable to no other type of fishing I have experienced. Lots of king mackerel and mahi, the one sailfish, and a few false albacore that have a very shiny belly that works well rigged on smaller trolling lures, the sailfish thought so! I think I could rig a ballyhoo in my sleep now too. So here's the story with the sailfish, I apologize if this fishing lingo is on another wavelength from bass stuff... We had all of our rods out, 9 of them, when one of the long riggers pops and we can see a huge bull mahi thrashing and jumping behind the spread. My brother grabs that rod and my other brother then tells him that he's crossed in the bird that we troll way behind everything else, but after sorting things out we now see that we have two very respectable mahis hooked up. I get ready to pull in the other rods when the short rigger to my right pops but goes slack. I quickly point the rod at the water and freespool it for a few seconds when I hear my brother (who is sitting on the t-top of our boat watching everything unfold while fighting his fish) say "he's got it!". I engage the reel and to our surprise here comes a gorgeous sailfish out of the water right in the middle of it all, and continues to jump 6 or 7 time before it peels 200 or so yards of line off the reel. So now you have middle brother on the t-top fighting a gaffer mahi, younger brother on the t-top fighting a mahi, older brother on the deck fighting a sailfish, 6 lines still in the water, dad trying to steer the boat, and mom trying to take picture of the whole thing. I start cranking in a line with my free hand while the sailfish is still running, and my dad scrambles to clear the others. One mahi comes off and the other one wraps in 2 daisy chains of squid. Somehow we gaffed that one and got it in the boat, and a few minutes later we were able to get the leader on my sailfish, I picked up a rag and grabbed the fish by the bill, brought it in the boat, and we got a photo before it started beating the life out of me. Quickly took the hook out and lowered the fish back in the water, I held it in the current for a few seconds but the fish didn't need it, she was already trying to shake free from my grip. Let her loose and watched her swim off to fight another day! This shows the colors of a mahi pretty well, they fade almost instantly when you bring them in the boat

Today, my brothers and I took our kayaks "beyond the breakers" for the first time, off the beach. We all trolled x-raps and other heavy duty jerk baits behind the kayaks, and the results were better than I had hoped! Within minutes of launching, my rod with the x-rap doubled over and drag started stripping out. After a short tussle, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice sized pompano underneath the kayak, visibility was at least 15 feet so I could see everything. The next fish that hit was a bluefish, which we were expecting to catch. The third bite I had was the real show stopper. I picked up the rod and it quickly became apparent that if I didn't move quickly in the direction the fish was heading, I was going to run out of line! I gained some line but the fish wrapped around my other line which I then accidentally wound into my spinning reel. I grabbed a knife and kissed the other bait goodbye so I could continue fighting the fish. It headed deep and for a minute or so I couldn't move it, but slowly, I started to bring the fish to the surface. To my dismay, I saw a skinny fellow in a grey suit with my x rap hanging out of his mouth! It was a fun fight on light tackle though, and after I took his picture, the hook pulled out and I didn't even have to deal with him. By now, dolphins, bluefish, and pelicans had pushed several schools of menhaden up against the beach and there was an onslaught taking place. When you're in a boat, you have to kee your distance, and many times the presence of a boat upsets the chaos, but in a kayak, you just become another predator taking advantage of the situation. It was WILD! We caught a bunch more bluefish before we decided to head in, catching them the whole time on our way back. We made it through the breaking waves without losing any tackle or flipping any kayaks so I would call it a successful first try!

4-6lb versions of those made my alabama rig rod look like a noodle, I can't even fathom how hard the ones you caught must have fought! I think people just wuss out when the jack makes many many hard runs instead of just one or two like most "sport fish"

We caught two great blue herons on a couple limb lines once. Needless to say we no longer used limb lines in shallow clear water after that I don't know how you managed that. I have witnessed those birds "eat" a LOT of goose shells and keep on trucking! Mute swans of course, on the nuisance species list with pigeons and starlings.