Fish Chris

Okay, I hear you on this aspect. I just think they have been pretty good at keeping most of the pesticides off of / out of the produce we take home to eat. As for pollution of our waterways, whether it be from agricultural runoff, or any one of a million other things, that is a problem that will only continue to get worse, and all because of one simple fact.... 7 billion, and climbing Fish

pabass > when you buy local, no GMOs or organic its not just healthy for you, but your home, and your fishes homes.. Ehhh.... The factual evidence for this is just not conclusive. But again, I agree that Monsanto, as a Corp, might be (is probably) doing all kinds of shady things, in the name of profit / power, as do pretty much all large Corps. I'm just not up on political stuff like this, to make any comment. Raider > As for hormones in meat. What type are we talking? I could go for some test loaded steak. I joke about this all the time. When they say, "No added hormones" I always say, "Ahh, that sucks ! I was hoping it would be loaded with them, and some of them might rub off on me" ! LOL Peace, Fish

Alright, I think most of you guys know about my whole health turn around thing.... so now my diet is like a constant science experiment, along with all the workout stuff.... But organic ? Ha ! My biggest problem with eating organic, is that the evidence to show this will help you in some tangible way, simply does not exist. Meanwhile, a lot of the people who are so worried that they might eat a trace amount of pesticides, are eating too many cals / carbs, and not exercising nearly enough. And I wonder how many drink excessively, and / or smoke, as well ? And almost nobody disputes that this is going to be bad for any body's health ! In a nut shell, I think a lot of people are wasting time splitting hairs over vague possibilities, yet they are ignoring the obvious. I recently found this article, and this author just nails everything I've been thinking about organic, to the 'T" http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/the-organic-false-dichotomy/ The responses are pretty great too. Most totally agreed. A couple disagreed so strongly, they acted like the author was the anti-Christ. I'd call that, great writing ~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, GMO's ? {genetically modified organisms} Nearly all the food we eat has been altered, in one way or the other, and thank God ! Otherwise, it would be smaller, blander, less shelf life, and more expensive ! Quite simply, less appealing. Not to mention, their has never been any proof of GMO foods causing any sickness, or death. In any case, I feel the same about GMO foods as I do organic. It might give you cancer ? Okay, so might a million other things.... I just still believe that while diet and exercise are right there within our grasp > getting cancer from non-organic, or GMO foods, or from anything else under the sun, for that matter, is so hit and miss, so mysterious, and just so hard to put your finger on..... Peace, Fish PS, If you read nothing else of that article I posted the link for, at least read the conclusion. Spot on !

It's all good man I've just been in an ornery @$$ mood all day ! LOL Recently, somebody was telling me about a phone that had like a 12mp camera !? Can't imagine how long it would take to send a 12mp pic somewhere from the phone though ? Peace, Fish

Bassmaster, I hear you. I guess if I had never been able to "get used to" fishing weekdays, I might not know any different.... But after 16 years of working weekends, and having weekdays off, if suddenly I found myself at a Mon-Fri job, I'd have to either look for a different job, or quit fishing altogether. No seriously. I fish for enjoyment. It would just be zero fun, to fight the crowds. Oh but anyway, I worked 10 hours today (Memorial day, on a Monday... my normal day off) but I made some good $$$ As it turns out, I probably wouldn't have made as much on the Friday I traded for So it worked out for the best, all the way around ! Whooo Hooo ! I am so stoked for Friday to get here ! Peace, Fish

X's 3... but I shoot for even less. Fish

Friends don't let friends use camera phones ! Now wait.... you said that was a bird, right ? LOL Fish

Right in, Alpine Sounds like you have a workable plan there. We really don't have very much "river" fishing in these parts.... well, maybe the Sacramento River, which I al;ways hear mentioned, pertaining to Stripers and Sturgeon, and since I can go find great Striper and Sturgeon fishing, WAY closer to home, I've never even tried it.... On the other hand though, if it were only a few weeks later, their is this one little lake I go to for GIANT Red Ear Sunfish and Bluegills, and because it does not allow any bodily contact (drinking water) nor skiing, + has a 10 hp max for all boats, it really knocks down the crowds. On a busy weekend, you might have 5 small aluminums, and 6 or 8 kayaks And if any of these are fishing at all, its often for fake fish... Oh, I'm sorry, I meant, "hatchery trout" {otherwise known as, bass candy} Oh... its 600 acres. Peace, Fish

Well hey, after all my whining I did end up being able to do some schedule swapping (as long as the big boss is okay with it) so I could work tomorrow (Memorial day), and be off Friday The weather is supposed to get better every day through the weekend So, 4 days of no crowds + better weather, then it's my turn Hope the crowd enjoys those high 60's and showers tomorrow. Because I know I'll enjoy mid 80's on a beautiful, calm, fish-filled lake this Friday That's what they get for doing this whole thing on my day off ! They shoulda' checked with me first LOL Peace, Fish PS, Will post pics Oh BTW though.... lest anyone think I might get time and a half, for working on a holiday.... Ha ! Because of the nature of my job, and certain predictable aspects, I will likely lose $50-100 trading Monday for Fri But then the question arises... How bad do I want to go whack them on Clear Lk. again ? Answer; Bad enough to forfeit $50-100.... on top of the $60-70 gas costs (mostly in the truck)

Fowls > Everyone is allowed to have their fun on the water < Well, I worked my 5 days, but at least for this week "I am NOT allowed" to have my fun on the water Did I mention, 7 billion is WAAAY too freaking many Fish

Ya' know, I was thinking about driving my truck to the lake tomorrow, just to check out the sights, most especially, hawt girls in 2 pc bikinis And then I was thinking, I sure wish I had a GoPro ! I'd just about bet a paycheck, that drunken idiots (I still can't believe alcohol is legal... but don't get me started) will do plenty of things stupid enough, to be Youtube worthy LOL Peace, Fish

Blue, that's a cool story Reminds me of one time, at my home lake Berryessa, it was a Saturday, about right now... Now like I say, I always work weekends, but this was during one of my epic 3 week vacations... and since fishing all day, Mon-Fri apparently was not enough, I just had to go give it a shot As expected, it was ridiculous. On what would normally have been a flat calm day (not a breeze in the sky) the water looked like the ocean, with waves hitting, crossing, and colliding from every direction, all at once ! You couldn't even time them So I tried to drift up onto one of my favorite points, wanting to make a cast or two from shallow, out to deep water. I fire the cast, but as I look back, I see that the waves are pushing my 14ft aluminum way too fast, and I either have to just let my swimbait sink to the bottom while I reposition the boat, or I'm going to be slamming my motor into this rocky point, before I finish my retrieve Urggg ! So I flip my bail open, set the pole down, and spin around to the t-motor controls, to get myself away from the rocks. Once a safe distance, I pick up my pole and start reeling in the slack, hoping I had not snagged up from any dragging of the lure (an 8" Hud), on the rocky bottom. As it tightens, it starts to feel heavy, and I think... ahh, that sucks, I bet I am sna..... womp, womp.... not hard, mind you, but obviously not the bottom So I swing, Fish On ! Ends up being an 11.2 lb'er So yea, maybe the most screwed up PITA boat traffic I have ever experienced.... But I got a double digit bass for all of my efforts Was it worth it ? Need you ask Peace, Fish

Thanks guys For all of my jobs faults, at least I get my "weekdays" off Heck, from about 2002-2009, I only worked 4 days a week, with 3 consecutive days off. And I often fished 3 full days every week ! Now I have to work 5 days, to try to make as much $ as I did when I worked 4 Then, with all of my hill climbing / photography / workouts, etc, their is just not enough time left in a week. But then I have to remind myself... I fished a lot more then, but I felt terrible all the time with Fibro / IBS, etc, Nowadays, although I don't get to fish near as much, in my new body, it feels freaking so awesome when I do Its the quality vs quantity thing I guess Peace, Fish

First off, for what Memorial day represents, I want to send my most heart felt thank you, to all of the great Americans who have made freedom our reality. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That said, it just freaking KILLS me, when a holiday lands on one of my normal days off (like this Monday ) I mean, I would not even consider, fishing on a holiday. Are you kidding me ? This is typically even worse than fishing on a weekend !!! So then, the fact that any lake I might consider, will have been beat to death, for the 3 days straight, before my second day off... Tues. That would be a pretty lousy situation too. I'm going to try to switch my days off from Mon, to Fri. By then, things will have had a chance to settle back down. Kind of cooler (read lousier) weather Mon-Tues, anyway. So let the Memorial day crowd just have it. Guess I'll just have to wait until it warms back up, and everybody goes back to work.... and gets the heck out of my way LOL Fish

Tshare, welcome First off, that is a very nice bass, anywhere in the country My guess would be 7-8'ish ? But what I think, is that because you didn't weight it, you now have no idea how big your PB was.... nor what to shoot for, to top it. For a lot of people, this would not be a big deal. It would freaking kill me. I'm just very into stats. Plus, when some jealous hater says, "Yea'... but your holding it out to make it look bigger...." You can tell them, regardless of where I was holding it, it weighed xx.x lbs" Continued success to you Fish

I LOVE loud, clean music. Crank my 1600 wt system all the way to the lake But once I'm on the water, I don't want to hear anything but nature. With my ADD, my effectiveness would be cut in half, if I were listening to music, while trying to fish. Peace, Fish

Hey Deep, yea', my site has been down for a couple months. Might republish it one of these days, but I dunno..... Just a time and effort thing. Peace, Fish

Ya' know, this trip really got me to thinking... Sure, I have really enjoyed my "other special lake" for the giant Smallmouths, and lots of big Northern Largemouths, but it has fallen off so sharply in the last few years... And Clear Lk. was always just so consistent. So here I am, after my whole cycle of > I used to fish Clear Lk. a ton, way back in the day. Caught a $#$% ton of fish too, like hundreds of fish in the 5 to 8 lb range. But only like 4 double digits, up to 12-11. And of course, the giant channel cats But this all gave way to fishing the trout ponds, San Pablo Res., Rancho Seco, and others..... And I'm not even going to BS, if any of you had fished those waters, at that time, with big bass, baits / lures, you would almost have been certain to have caught a 13-15 LMB ! But times have changed. Pablo became over ran with dink Spotted bass. Rancho had some sort of a die off, or virus, that knocked those fish way down. And now my favorite giant Smallmouth place trying to fail me another year...... But Clear Lk. has always remained the one constant Not to mention, they bite all year at Clear Lk. CA as well I'm SOOO Sorry Clear Lk ! I always loved you ! If I promise to visit you more, will you please treat me kindly ? Peace, Fish

Thanks guys JH, ya' know, its not that I'm not a little concerned about skin cancer, it's just that I love the sun. This year I have been super careful to get completely drenched with sunscreen, before every outing, sometimes twice in a day. In fact, just got out of the shower, and covered my whole body (uncovered parts, anyway). But to be honest, I do this ^ more because I hate the soreness, and goofiness of being sunburnt. Skin cancer is just another one of the million things that might kill me. So if it doesn't, something else will. I feel fan-freaking-tastic this morning though Peace, Fish

Wow ! That is a great looking fish ! Bet it ripped :-) Yea' buddy Continued success to you Fish

Almost felt like the old days Went to Clear Lk. CA, and did pretty well. All on crawlers. Never had a touch on a swimbait. Ended up catching 12 bass, from 3 to 5.30 lbs, and 5 catfish from 8 to 14.8 lbs Whooo Hoo Love those big kitties ! Yep, I'm shoving this one in your face..... but even if I had held it behind my back, it still would have weighed 5.30 lbs LOL I knew when I hooked this one, that it had to be a kitty.... but of course I was hoping it would be a giant bass Peace, Fish

I don't know.... I haven't caught my biggest bass yet Fish

Tom, IMPO, bass migration has a lot more to do with the body of water in question. I believe in some systems, bass will travel, in mass, from one end of the lake, to the other {or at least, for many miles) at some point during the season, to adapt to changing conditions / food supply. In other lakes, they simply don't have to. I also believe a bass will NOT swim a long ways, just for the heck of it. They are inherently lazy, only putting out as much energy, as is required. And no, I do not consider a bass' daily movements from inshore feeding, to offshore suspended, and chilling out, to be a "migration". Just my .02 cents... Fish

Right on Along with the big three > LMB (Florida's and Northern's, of course), Smallie's, and Spots, I've also caught Guadalupe Bass (in the Gaudalupe River, TX) and Redeye Bass. Peace, Fish

My most important tip.... Find the big ones first ! The best way is to put on your polarized glasses, get out and throw a swimbait, or {especially in murky water} a big, obnoxious topwater, like a 10" MS Slammer, and watch that lure closely, as it comes into view, always looking for huge followers. I don't care if a big fish actually eats it or not. First, I just want to know where that big fish hangs out ! And nothing seems to pull them out from cover, to investigate, better than a big, loud topwater ...or a big, slow moving swim bait. Once I know where the big fish on a lake live, I'll go back to those same spots, again, and again, and eventually, I'll hit one of those spots, at the same time big Momma' decides to feed... and Bam ! I'm holding a trophy bass Peace, Fish PS, I "sight fish" at pretty much any time of the year, not just during the spawn.