Fish Chris

Wow And only 54. He was an unbelievably talented artist ! I remember going to a whole gallery of his, many years ago. I believe Mom bought one of his paintings. I know she had several. RIP Thomas Kinkade, Fish

Wow ! That's really sad. But he had a fantastic life ! He loved what he did, and did it a bunch ! RIP Jose, Fish

Right on ! Those are some awesome salt water catches too ! And JF, those Browns are SOO cool BTW, I know of a guy who used to be like a world class Brown chaser. Later he started chasing trophy Largemouth's, and he became super successful at this too. Now he says, trophy bass are "sooo easy" compared to big Browns. Guess I'll have to take his word for it. My biggest Brown was probably about 3 lbs Peace, Fish

When I see a nice white trucks, I always think, man, that's a nice truck > but they forgot to paint it ? Fish

Wow ! Great replies guys Thank you. JF, that German Brown is absolutely awesome !!! I am SO envious of that catch there buddy Dwight, you really are the man ! What I wouldn't give to catch any of those awesome sportfish your holding there ! Especially the first two Goose, those White Amurs are (from what I've heard) some of the hardest pulling fish you will ever find ! Fast ! Strong ! I saw HUGE ones in some of the lakes I fished in LA and AR, but never could get one to bite anything Keep after those big strong suckers Keep em' coming guys. Doesn't have to be huge, just a good one, but not a bass Fish

I know some of you are pretty much multi-species anglers, which is cool. So am I But even for those of you that only fish for bass, your still going to stick a nice bonus fish, of a different species now and then, right ? Well anyway, not to put down some nice Stripers and Sturgeon I've caught in the last few years.... But without hardly a second thought, I'm still kind of blown away by those monster Red Ear Sunfish I was sticking last Summer ! I've wanted to get into some giant sunnies for years, and it finally happened. I'm SOOO hoping to get into them again Fantastic eating too.... {sensible, selective harvest, of course} Come on 4lb + ! 3.2 lbs, 14 3/4" 3.1 lbs Come on babies ! Bite me again this year ! Peace, Fish

Thank you JF HookSetDon, that is a beast ! What a frame on that monster ! Cool Fish

Here's a couple from last Spring. I've caught several bigger ones, but these are my most recent good ones + I thought the photos came out spot on Took these shots of myself, by myself 6.3 lbs 7.2 lbs Peace, Fish

Hey Bob, first off, only female can get to over 10 lbs.... or for that matter, over 4 or 5 lbs. Then, among the fish that are left, even in a totally natural setting, in waters that receive zero fishing pressure, a relatively small % of Largemouth bass will grow to over 10 lbs. Some don't make it because they don't have the genes for it. But many more won't make it because of the natural mortality factor. All of this said, to be honest Catt, although leaving the fish with the best genes in the lake is certainly a good idea, I personally believe that "this one 10 lb + fish, is far more valuable than any / all of its offspring", reason being, it has already beaten the odds to get really big. It might produce 200,000 eggs in its lifetime..... maybe 2000 of which had "the potential" to get to over 10 lbs, but still, its possible that none of them ever will" ? To put a huge value on all the that fry, is like counting your bass before the eggs hatch. Fish

Hey tiptruck Aren't instant power with no lag, strong enough points to make it all worth it ? Cheaper ? I don't think this guy was worried about "cheaper"...... If he was, I could have sold him my Hyundai Aside from all that, I'd still love to drive this thing Peace, Fish

I really don't get all flipped out, unless the fish is a huge one..... But even so, I always fight the urge to get all goofy over a catch > until it is actually caught, and in the boat ! Once it's in my livewell, and I can see how much space its taking up, then I might get giggly, and goofy, and maybe scream a little bit.... Whooo Hooo ! Fish

I wouldn't doubt it. The guy seemed a little bit cocky LOL But what the hey, he sure has built a cool azz car Peace, Fish

Tom, selective harvest "can be" a good thing > in a place that is overpopulated with small fish. To be honest though, most of my favorite trophy lakes are not overpopulated with small fish, which is why they are good trophy lakes to begin with. And the top end in these lakes will not be helped with any harvest of bass, of any size. As for bass loving to eat there own..... eh.... They will, if they don't have many options, but I think given the choice, there are many other sources of forage that a bass greatly prefers over smaller bass; worms, minnows, crawdads, and trout, to name a few. In any case, the fish we are talking about keeping for the wall, are trophy sized already, and IMPO, their is never a good reason to kill a fish like this. Heck, if C/R a 15 lb'er, which was already near the end of its lifespan, and it shrunk to 14 lbs before you caught caught it a couple months later, I bet you'd still be pretty happy with a 14 'er, huh ? Peace, Fish

If you keep a bass for the wall when it weighed 5 lbs, you will have single handedly hurt your own chances of catching a 6 lb'er next year. Pretty much everyone who plays this game long enough, will eventually come to the same conclusion, which is that it is not only possible to re-catch trophy bass, after a release, but in reality, it's quite probable...... Unless, of course, you hang it on the wall. No problem for me. I don't even fish the same waters you do. But why a person would want to hurt their own future odds of catching a bigger bass, I have no idea. If I release a big bass, and you catch it later, that's great ! Hat's off to you. But I'm not going to kid you...... I didn't release that fish to help "your odds" of catching a big bass.... I released it to help my own ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anyway, replicas are where it's at. Here's a shot of the replicas for my 18.4 and my 16.5 BTW, if these were skin mounts, I'd probably be too embarrassed to post photos of them here. Peace, Fish

One more thing I should add..... If I do switch baits, it's not likely to be some tiny little change, like from blue to purple, or from 3" to 4"..... But the most common switch for me, would be to pull up to a spot, fan cast it with an 8" swimbait on heavy gear, and 50# braid.... then, to turn around, pick up my micro-light, and live line a crawler Now this is different enough, that it stands a pretty good chance of making something good happen Peace, Fish

True, but a Bugatti Veyron weighs 4162 lbs...... nearly twice as heavy as this car, meaning this car has a much higher HP to weight ratio than a Veyron. Fish

Twin turbo charged + Supercharged + alcohol injection (all in the same vehicle) over 700hp's in a 2150 lb vehicle ! (from a 1.8L 4 cyl !) 680 hp at the rear wheels ! Whoooo Hoooo Fish

Ha ! LOL Hey, this reminds me of a recent, true story.... So I was at a US Post office, returning a fur hat that didn't fit right. So the lady asks me, "Anything fragile, liquid, hazardous, etc" ? And so, without really thinking, I said, "Nah.... It's just a bomber hat ! Doh ! I then I immediatly came back with..... "It's just a fur hat ! Like this one I have on: The lady just laughed, and said, "I think that will be fine" Fish Probably not a great idea to mention "bombers" at a post office, or on an airliner LOL

That is one bad @$$ ride I could fit a heck of a stereo system in that thing LOL IMPO, the new GM's are the nicest looking trucks and SUV's on the road today ! Sweetest interiors too......and this, coming from a guy who also loves his ford To be honest though, if somebody were handing out new Tundra's, or Dodge's, heck, I'll take one of those too I love trucks and SUV's .... oh, and sports carts, and speedboats as well Take care of that beauty. Fish

Welcome What part of Cali ? Best state on the planet for big bass BTW Fish

Probably a lot longer than most. I believe that most people put waaay too much emphasis on the lure they are throwing, instead of the time, place, and presentation < all usually far more important than the exact lure... and especially more important than the color of said lure. I can, and often do fish all freaking day with one lure, never get a touch, and not once do I start to worry I'm throwing the wrong lure. I know what works when the fish are on. If they are not on, the lure choice most likely won't make a difference anyway. I think some guys spend 4 hours, of 8 hours on the water, changing lures.... and sometimes, they would have had twice the chance by just using the same lure for 8 straight hours. Fish Ehhh..... If you fish like 99% of the people out there, you will likely catch the kind of fish that 99% of the anglers catch. If that's enough for you, then by all means..... Personally speaking, if 99% of the anglers are doing it one way, that is the best reason in the entire fishing world, for me to do it differently.

I can / do fish from the back of the boat, the side, the front... wherever. As long as their is nobody else in the boat, it's all good Fish

Well Tom, being a poor guy, I agree that anything that costs more $, kind of sucks. But then again, I'd rather pay a big, fat day use fee, to be able to fish at a place where I have a really good shot at a 10-13 lb Northern Strain Largemouth, or an 8-9 lb Smallmouth, or a 15-18 lb Florida bass... than to fish for free, for the rest of my life, and never even have a chance at a fish like these. Packard, that might save you a few dollars (mostly in gas).... but at the "good" places around here, they would still charge you for day use and fishing... and maybe even boat launch. And again, most of my cost is in gas for my truck.... which would be very close to the same, whether I used my little 14ft aluminum, or a kayak. Oh, and it would also cost me 80% to 95% as much, at any other state in the country. Fish PS, I should also add, the rediculous cost of gas is yet another reason I would never even consider fishing out of a high-per bass boat.

I really don't care to eat Bass... maybe some small Spotted Bass (which overpopulate around here so easily anyway) but those giant Red Ear Sunfish I was catching last year were absolutely screamin' good ! 2 of them in the 1 1/2 to 2 lb range, made four fillets that filled me pretty well... and I eat a LOT, especially the protein portion of my meal. Oh, and I kept a couple 10 to 14 lb Stripers, but released a whole bunch of bigger ones, up to 29.8 lbs Oh.... and right at the end of the Sunfish bite, I finally bought an electric knife to fillet them (the ribs on those big sunfish were brutal !) and then Bam. The Sunfish are gone. So the knife is just waiting anxiously Urg.... Getting kind of sick of farm raised Tilapia.... I need to start fishing for Orange Roughy, or Yellowfin tuna... or heck, Salmon, if we had any left ? Peace, Fish PS, About those giant Sunfish, I had heard their was a 20 fish limit. Never saw anybody there to enforce it anyway. However, I believe I caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 Sunnies {for about 220 lbs } in about 6 trips, and yet, even as tasty as they were, I released probably 115 of them.... especially the 2 lb plus ones. I couldn't sleep good, knowing that I just annihilated an entire spawning bed. Besides, I wanted to be able do it again this year, and the next.....

.......again. We had a couple small rain storms waaay back in December.... then nothing. And more nothing, and now it's time to be Spring, heck, it already felt like Spring ! And Bam ! Our weather pattern decides to go straight to Winter !!! Nothing but rain, and colder, all the way through the extended forecast I mean yea', we needed water... but we needed it Dec through March ! Not all the way through Spring ! The last time we had this messed up pattern, it rained, and was often cold, all the way through June ! And then gas ??? WTH ? One day at my favorite Spring bass lake, is going to cost me $120 in gas and day use fees ....and my boat won't use 3 gallons running around all day ! This is not looking good for my bass fishing year Fish