RSM789

A couple of BPS gift cards, a on board battery charger for my Pond Prowler (I kinda gave her the model number), a new fishing shirt, a new fishing hat & a new cooler that fits my boat. The hat was a surprise because it is one of the B.A.S.S. camo hats that you can only get when you sign up as a member. I really like the fit of it, but my current one is about 10 years old & shows the wear & tear of such. My son found one on eBay, apparently by a someone who is ashamed to be a member or just doesn't like the hat. My wife wants me to hold off wearing the new one until May when I marshal the Elite tournament on Havasu, but I may just have to break it before that...

Although I have only fished it about a dozen times, I live about a mile from Lake Mission Viejo & have been closely following the story of the Golden Algae bloom they had there recently. For those who don't know, it is estimated that over 90% of the fish were killed by the bloom, including dozens & dozens of DD Largemouth. An attempted trout stocking on Monday resulted in the stocked trout dying almost immediately. This world class fishery has been devastated. My question involves something my wife asked me, how long does it take for a bloom to occur? Was this something that happened with no warning or are there signs hours, days, weeks before hand that point to a coming bloom? I believe this is relevant for Lake Mission Viejo since the homeowners pay quite a bit of money to manage that lake. if I understand correctly, a biologist is part of the team that handles the day to day activities there. Is this something a biologist should have caught or does it happen so fast there is no stopping it? I don't ask in order to point fingers or blame, but to know more & possibly help the people who manage my home lake. They aren't biologists, but are on the water every day and I believe the more they know, the better prepared they would be to combat a bloom before it occurs.

I'm like most everyone else, preferring to not sit when bank fishing. However, wouldn't one of those golf spectator seats work in this situation? http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/351253025669?lpid=82 It might make you carry one less rod, but would give you something to lean against while casting. Just don't lean on it too hard when setting the hook, you would probably flip over

Nein, nein.

Roboworm 6" texas-rigged instead of dropshot.

I believe you are spot on. I think what happens is after catching a certain number of bass, the tendency is to stop measuring or weighing them because we believe we know just by looking. After this thread came out, I started to test my estimates against reality. I kept a bump board & scale near the front of the boat and would guess length & weight of a majority of the bass I caught. Not just the big ones, the average ones as well. My length estimates were close, but the weight was typically lower than expected. Most 12" fish have to have a little pooch to weigh a pound and a solid 2 lb fish is normally about 16" long. Unless you are like Tom and literally forgoing numbers in order to fish for size (and having the goose eggs to prove it), I would suggest the true average for most people is closer to 12" & a pound.

The carp here in Southern California fight like a manhole cover. It is like winching up dead weight. Channel catfish are my number 2 gamefish. Ones over 8 lbs can drag my boat around

I put a subfloor & carpet in my 10 ft Pond Prowler & it is extremely stable when standing. An advantage to a subloor is that you can replace the factory seats with a pedestal seat if you want (attached to the subfloor instead of the rails).

I own a home theater company & last December, a commercial client of mine who had two 55" TV's in their showroom had a break-in. One of the TV's was literally ripped off the mount, brute force as opposed to a professional thief. I replaced it and the company added a siren to their alarm system. About 10 days later, they were broken in to again, this time the other TV was stolen. Again it was ripped off the mount, not removed. The police said most likely it was someone swiping them to trade for drugs & that they would increase patrols in the area. 2 weeks later, my customer gets a call from the police at 4 in the morning, they caught someone who had broken into his building and again stolen a TV. They didn't catch the guy in the store, rather they found him about a 1/2 mile away, riding away from the scene on a bicycle while holding on to the 55" TV. When he saw the cops, he ditched the TV into the bushes (breaking the screen) and tried to get away, but the cops nabbed him. He was a meth head and although he never confessed to the other 2 break-ins, the police believe he was responsible for all 3.

Are we fishing from a boat or the bank?

So last night, my (adult) children have an ugly sweater Christmas party at our house and they end up playing beer pong outside. Within minutes, one of the ping pong balls bounces sideways off the table right into the koi pond. Instantly Mr. Bass grabs it and settles back down to the bottom. After about a 3 count, he opens his mouth, spits it out and the ball floats to the surface. Now that in & of itself isn't a huge deal, unless someone is thinking of attaching treble hooks to a ping pong ball. What was amazing about that is just 2 hours earlier, I had fed Mr. Bass ten (10) goldfish. Here he is, in 50 odd degree water, a full stomach of goldfish and he instantly smashes a ping pong ball like he is Forrest Gump. With that, I have decided to finally name him Blutarsky, because to paraphrase the blond coed from Animal House "That bass is a P-I-G, pig!!"

As an aside, why does someone with a location listed as Leon, GTO, Mexico write "this is America"? You don't happen to be a member of La Raza do you?

I had heard that about South Florida. More bass for you Another way to look at this is from a retail point of view. I often read on this forum about buying fishing gear from Dick's Sporting goods. Well, in Orange County, we have about 6 DSG's to serve a population of over 3 million people and only 1 of those stores carries any fishing gear. Not bass gear, ANY fishing gear. DSG believes the cost of allocating space for fishing gear in a majority of their stores here is not a good financial decision. Even more stunning is if you look at the So Cal counties of L.A., Orange & San Diego, population of over 16 million. All those people, home to 16 of the 25 largest bass ever caught and exactly zero Bass Pro Shops. The closest one is about 90 minutes inland from the coast, as you get closer to the local mountains. I'm sure there have been marketing studies done with Johnny Morris just sitting there reading them, shaking his head saying "A store in that location just won't make money..."

They would be the first to agree. Majority of fisherman in SoCal are either saltwater or (stocked) trout fishermen. Bass fishing is just not part of the culture here, especially compared to places like Texas or the south. While there are many reasons for it, I believe the biggest to be a genuine ignorance or dislike of the outdoors. They like the weather, they love the beach, but spending an entire day hunting or fishing is a foreign concept to most who live here.

You just did an excellent job of illustrating the difference between ignorance & stupidity. I have all the time in the world for the person who doesn't know, but is willing to listen & learn from someone who does (like the folks you mentioned). Accidental rudeness stemming from enthusiasm is not a problem. Stupidity or crassness, knowing better but not caring, is what I refuse to let slide. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about getting into an altercation over a fishing spot, like Hootie said, if you want the spot that bad, you can have it. I am just going to look that person in the eye and let them know what they did is B.S. I believe that a few won't care but that for most, the shame of being called out for being an ass will linger long enough for them to think twice before they do it to someone else.

The only public lake bigger than an urban pond around Santa Ana is Irvine lake & with the drought, it has sunk to pond size. Expect water temp to be mid 50's or higher in most Orange County waters in January. With a couple of sunny days in a row, the fish will go shallow and chase reaction baits. Otherwise, typical winter baits (jigs, dropshots, etc) will most likely be the formula. I couldn't recommend anything specific without knowing what lake (or lakes) you are planning to hit. As for Santa Ana, don't eat anything offered from a street vendor and avoid using the term "pendejo" in public.

Wait, so Marilyn Monroe was found dead while fishing with a Rapala? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention...

I agree. I look at my boat as a movable casting platform that carries all my gear so I don't have to. The electric motor are my robotic legs.

Most of my dock skipping is done with 4" or 5" Senko's (wacky rigged) or tubes (texas rigged with weight inside the tube). However, recently I had a day that was uncharacteristically calm the entire morning, not even a whisper of wind. For whatever reason, the Senko's just seemed out of place, making too much commotion on the eerily still surface as they skipped back under the docks. I wacky rigged one of the new Berkley Moneymakers and found their lighter weight made for a much quieter entry. Their sink rate (unweighted) is slower than the Senko's, but the bulbous ends still give off a shimmy as they sink. Caught 13 keepers, all of whom seemed to strike them in the same manner as the Senko's. In the afternoon, when a little wind began to blow, their lighter weight made skipping them a little more difficult, so I switched back to the Senko. I think the moneymaker will be a go to bait when I need some real quiet skipping on calm or small water.

Adding garlic scent to a bait causes it to attract Gumba bass, all of whom then ask you "What do you mean you think I am funny? Am I a clown, here to amuse you..."

In the first set of pictures, the only thing better than that bass was your S*** eating grin!!! Congratulations.

As a kid, I was fishing for catfish using a clam for bait (shell removed obviously). I caught a bigger clam...

I thought this was supposed to be about fishing...

You are correct that you are confused. Please don't mischaracterize my comments as "complaints", they aren't. They are an explanation of the different response you have to rude anglers compared to many of us. You choose to not confront the offender, instead to take defensive actions to keep the person away from your water in an apparent effort to have them go bother someone else. Some of us choose to confront the offender, in the same way one stands up to a bully in order to make them change their actions. Different strokes for different folks, but I apparently have ruffled your feathers by pointing out that your actions don't address the problem, but instead just pushes it off to someone else. I hope that clears it up for you.

Looks like a Senko with teeth.