Fish Chris

Well first off, Florida strain bass, Northern Strain Bass, Spotted Bass, and Red Eye Bass, are "all" considered to be black bass. Florida bass do grow bigger / faster, but often have shorter lifespans than the slower growing Northern's. The best way to target Florida's, is to fish places know to hold only Florida's, or at least having been infused with a good amount of Florida genes to mix in with the Northern's. Florida bass also tend to be less predictable (on today, off tomorrow) compared to Northern's. Fish

I'd rather catch 1 bass over 10 lbs, than 5 of them from 4-7. Didn't see that choice on your list. It's been a long time (although I've been considering it lately ) but I used to be able to go to Clear Lake CA, with a box of tiny live dads, and crawlers, fished on a micro-light, and pretty much catch at least 5-10 fish, from 4-7 lbs, every trip, from say March, through August. It was fun, but the odds of a true double digit fish were always so slim. After about 150 trips to Clear Lk. like this ^, I started fishing the stocked trout lakes, with Swimbaits, and although I caught far fewer fish, I did end up with a LOT more really big 10+ lb fish. Aside from the fish though > I'd rather just be on the water fishing "regardless of what I'm catching", than at work ! Peace, Fish

this as actually last week, and @ the time, the trip itself (without any photos) didn't seem worth posting... But check this out... I found a bed, with a 3 3/4, and a 5-6 lb Smallmouth. I ended up sticking the 3 3/4 lb "male" twice ! ....but never could get the female to come into my boat So later, I pull up to an offshore hump and make a long cast with the Hud... crank... crank.... SLAM ! Fish on baby ! So it comes up and jumps, and its a really nice Northern strain bass... like maybe, 8 and change. Fight it all the way to the boat, reaching for the net, fish shakes loose... bye bye Ya' know, honestly, I can't remember losing a fish like that, and it bothering me less ? Don't get me wrong, I'd probably take a photo of a beautiful 8 lb NS Bass... a 10+ NS Bass would be better But I mean, the slamming hit, the jump, and the fight.... was what got my adrenalin pumping And that's what's all about anyway, right ? Just didn't have to get my hands wet LOL Alright, so from right on top of this hump, I look over, and see a bed with two bass on it, that look to be 5 and 7-8 lbs. Long story short, I stuck the smaller fish, a beautiful 4 3/4 lb "male" ??? Twice ! Again, I was trying to stick the larger female, who acted interested, but just would not commit {oh yea these fish would not eat a crawler, but ended up bighting a chartreuse huddlebug} Now, here's the thing that trips me out > In most of my Florida strain trophy bass lakes, you might see a 10-15 lb female, with 3 or 4 males swarming all over her. Granted, none might be over 2 lbs ? Then I go to a lake where a 10+ is not real common, and yet it has males going 5 lbs ! ? Oh, so I ended up making 8 catches, with 6 fish Smallies to 3 3/4, Largemouth to 4 3/4 Lotsa' fun though Fish

Prayers and positive energy sent. You will be okay bro. Peace, Fish

Well ya' know, I've taken a couple photos of big fish in my days. And I do a lot of "actual photography" {mostly nature, outdoors} as well. IMPO, I normally don't take a photo unless its a big fish (big, being relative to the species, among other things) Yes, a person can hold there arms stretched straight at the camera, then have the camera 1ft from the fish, and obviously, this will look goofy, and unnatural. On the other hand, SO many people will hold the fish too close to their bodies, then the clueless camera man will stand so far back, that he captures the birds in the trees, the guys fancy new boots, and 6 feet of property in front of them ! Of course the fish ends up being like 1% of the shot. It's like, "Hey... is that guy holding something ? I think its a fish ! Can you hand me my reading glasses ? Doh ! Then later, the angler says, with a sad look on his face, "But I swear.... we even weighed it ! It just looks so much smaller in this shot" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bottom line: I always say > I'm not holding this fish out to make it look "bigger than it did in real life"..... I'm holding it out to try "to make it look as big as it actually did, in real life". Do you know what a 13 or 15 lb bass looks like, when holding it 18" in front of your face ? Alright well, it looks pretty big. Peace, Fish PS, Please do shove that fish in my face. I think its "prettier than you are" LOL

It's a toss up..... or.... Fish

Put other hobbies on the back burner ??? Are you freaking kidding me ? For about 10 years, I put my entire life on the back burner for fishing. I would probably be dead by now, of obesity, heart disease, stroke, suicide, etc, etc.... If I hadn't done a 180, 4 years ago, and started putting fishing (and every other part of my life) on the backburner, so I could go overboard with health and fitness. With my wonderful combination of ADD and OCD, I either don't do something at all, or I do it "off the scale" BIG ! All kidding aside, Zero balance is the story of my life. Peace, Fish

Just senseless, and heart breaking. Fish

Come on you guys..... How are you going to let some extremist, goofball have the final word ? LOL Fish

Ha ! I haven't told most of you this, but after having worked around pizza for 16 years, quitting eating that cr@p was the easiest change in my diet I've ever made ! I was SOOO sick of pizza, I only ate it because it was convenient, and free ! I am SO glad I'll never have to choke down all that worthless saturated fat and carbs ever again LOL Pizza doesn't even look like "food" to me anymore. I might as well be cutting lumber LOL Peace, Fish PS, Do you guys remember those commercials for Tombstone pizza ? They used to ask, "What do you want on your tombstone"...... Ha ! They should have asked, "How soon do you want your tombstone" ? LOL

Well, I picked bacon, because I do not eat any dairy products. But then again, I bet I haven't eaten a total of a 2 lb package of bacon, in the last 3 years either. Fish PS, Yea' so I don't eat dairy, bread, pasta, rice, or potato's..... Yet I still probably eat more cals per day, than most of you here > 3500-4500 per day .....which works out to a BUNCH of healthy food

The Ca Delta #8 > I live literally on the edge of it, yet I "never" fish it for Largemouth's. The big ones are just too scattered throughout so much water. SOO many 5-8's, and yet anything over 10 lbs is SO rare. Why would I fish for 5-8 lb bass here, when I can go try for a 200+ lb Sturgeon (on the micro-light ) Clear Lk. CA. #10 > Again, TONS of 4-8's...... but probably even fewer legit double digit bass per acre, than the CA Delta. Anything but, a true trophy bass lake. These ^ are the places where the crowds go, to run around in their high per bass boats at 70mph, and maybe get a good number of 4-8 lb fish. But if a guy wants BIG fish, he needs to get away from all that madness, and go somewhere with fewer bass fishermen, hatchery trout, and fewer but "larger" bass Fish PS, To be honest, their were very few places on that entire list that would really interest me for bass.

Those people so rarely catch anything that would even interest me in the first place. It cracks me up how those people think they can sit in one spot, and let the fish come to them. Conceivable maybe, especially with catfish or certain other "roaming" species, but not likely that they will catch a bunch of anything, impressive. 99% of the time, I see people like this using their bucket for nothing more than a chair. Fish

I'm sure I replied to this thread sometime way back.... but since its been drug back from the dead, I just want to reiterate.... Private ponds are all fine and good, for good numbers, of good fish. But if a person is after a truly huge fish, they would almost certainly be better off, fishing waters that get hammered hard, all the time..... and which are stocked with trout. This means fewer bass, but with a larger top end, and a fantastic food supply. You just don't have this in private ponds. I have fished a good number of private ponds in CA. I believe my biggest bass from those places was about 6 lbs..... while ALL of my big fish, have come from public waters that get constantly blasted by anglers.... Peace, Fish

IMPO, to hold a fish straight at the camera, with arms completely stretched, looks goofy, and unnatural. On the other hand, to answer your question, "Why would you want to hold a fish (somewhat) out from your body" ?..... The answer is simple... > To "try" to make that fish look a little closer to how big it did, in real life, when using only a photo to convey the actual size of the fish. Can't tell you how many people I've talked to, who were bummed and dismayed that their "Personal best bass, which they even weighed on a scale, looked "SOOO" much bigger in real life" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't hold fish out to make them look "bigger than they really did"..... I hold them out to try to make them look "as big as they really did". Peace, Fish

Ahhhh geeez Doug Hannon was an amazing guy ! The guy really did know "how fish think". To this day, I often remember (and day dream) about a story that Doug use to tell, of arriving at a body of water, in Florida, in the 60's, that had "never" been fished before. He talked of throwing out a big top water plug, in the middle of an open clearing, and as soon as it hit, he could see huge wakes start cutting straight towards his lure, from 3 different sides of the clearing.... all three wakes being a huge bass, racing to get to his lure first ! How cool is that ? The guy lived an awesome life ! RIP Doug Hannon. Fish

You could be right.... this could be your mistake LOL Fishing from the shore, with Grandpa, I just couldn't see myself throwing artificials.... Fly-lined crawlers, or shiners under a bobber would probably be a great choice. Peace, Fish

My 18.4 lb PB, was 29 1/2". But fish over 20 lbs have been caught, which were the same length as mine, or even shorter. A crazy long, big headed, straight bellied 17 lb'er from Florida, might be 32" ? 33" ? Fish

Prayers sent. Fish

CPB, I'd probably be even more likely to ask a young guy... especially if he was fishing from shore.... how he was doing, and what he was throwing.... than I would, some tournament guy who was running and gunning, for mostly dinks LOL In reality, 99% of the the "secrets" the other anglers on the water might have, would be completely useless to me...... unless maybe it was something like, "they spotted a gimongous bass" in a certain spot.... I don't even care what they threw at it. Now its my turn Peace, Fish

Probably not bad ettiquette, but still, I'd probably just watch and see what they were throwing.... and chances are, it wouldn't be something I'd want to throw anyway. In fact, if the guy was fishing what most of the other guys in that tourney were fishing, I'd only want to know what that lure was, to make sure I wasn't throwing anything even remotely close to it. Peace, Fish PS, But then again, anytime I'm on the water, I do everything in my power to stay as far away from other people (fishermen, or otherwise) as I posibly can..... So I usually don't get close enough to ask or answer questions anyway... except maybe at the ramp, before or after the trip.

One of the first things I tell people, about targeting huge, trophy sized bass, is to always keep an open mind. Granted, I find live bait to be the best choice, less than half the time..... But for a person to to reduce their own odds the other 30% of the time, is simply not logical to me. It's all fine and dandy, for somebody to catch a bass, blindfolded, with one hand tied behind their back.... But what impresses me most, is to see somebody catch multiple HUGE fish, by stacking all the odds in their favor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wild strain Goldfish (and Koi) are present in nearly every body of water in Nor Cal. TONS of them in the CA Delta. Most run 2-5 lbs, but I caught one (not a Koi) that went 10 1/4 lbs once ! As for using them as bait... The wildstrain ones, caught in a legal manner, can be used "only" in some parts of the Delta, and are fantastic bait for Stripers. I have seen people use "store bought, feeder goldfish", and they barely worked.... if at all. Peace, Fish

Why didn't you lip it ??? LOL Fish

xxjoker, just curious, how did you hook 4 live shiners on 1 big hook ??? Tell you what though, I used to think that more than one crawler on a hook was goofy, and unnatural. Then, one time I was fishing for a big spawning catfish, with a blob of crawlers, and instead, a 4 lb bass ran in and grabbed it Peace, Fish

Thank you K_Mac. That's a really nice piece of writing. Fish