Fish Chris

Okay now, I had said all Summer, that this Fall, I was not going to let those dino-fish (Sturgeon) distract me from the Stripers, as I REALLY want to stick a monster Striper.... 30's would be nice, but I have wanted a 40 plus SO bad, for SO long ! So, I spent 3 beautiful days on the water last week, and stuck a good handful of Stripers from 5 to 12 lbs, several of which were on my tiny little micro-light rod :-) That was fun. But the whole time while I was fishing on the shallow, shelf side of the slough, I was watching BIG Sturgeon jumping about 200 feet from me, over the channel on the other side ! I mean, a lot of those fish are surely 100 lbs or more ! Geez, I know I said, "No Sturgy fishing"..... but maybe just a little ??? .....just until some big Stripers start coming ? Am I wussing out ? Come on guys..... How can you just ignore 100 jumping Sturgeon per day, for 3 days straight, ranging from 40 to 100 plus lbs ??? Just going crazy over here.... Fish

I think Bluegill is very close. Of course there are so many variables... like the place, the lures I'm using, the technique, etc, etc. Plus, if I'm allowed to throw out that occasional 6" incher that grabs a crawler, or Huddlebug ;-) But yes.... I'd say, of the fish that count, probably 8 to 9 lb average. Course like I always say, anybody here who fished as much as I do, in the places I do, would surely do at least as well..... Peace, Fish

I've never thrown mine in the lake, or purposely submerged them, but they has been through several big rains, big splashes over the boat, and I even took a garden hose (with spray nozzle to them) to wash over the salt water, and they have never leaked a drop. You realize that they have a life time guarantee, right ? If I ever had one leak, I'd just send it back for a replacement. Love my Pelicans :-) Might just have to test mine soon..... Peace, Fish

Hey LBH, first off, I'm sorry we missed each other on your trip out here..... But yes, we do have some pretty stable weather out here from about April to September. A rain during these months is rare, and almost always just a sprinkle, or quick, shower. Either way, our days always start out with low light, and end up that way too :-) So, I have the pre-set set up for typical daylight, but if its early morning, or late evening, I simply bump up the flash one notch, and widen the aperature from F6.3, to say F5.6, or F5. If I was smoking them one evening, I could then hit, save settings, and those new changes would be saved..... Or, I could leave it alone, and the next day, it would remember my regular daylight settings. BTW, one of the "biggest" plusses of this "C" mode, is in being able to remember your manual focus distance !!! This is important, because almost all digi-cams will focus the instant you hit the shutter. So, if you have the camera on a tripod, and your not out in front of it yet, when you hit the shutter, it will focus on the other side of the lake...... Then you go pose with the fish, and it will not refocus on you and the fish. Luckily for many people, fixed lens cameras do have a very great depth of focus, so many shots might still apperar to be "almost" in focos. But I still can't help but wonder about this when I hear people ask, "How come my shots don't come our razor sharp......" Hey Burly, DSLR's are GREAT for a lot of things. I really want a nice one, and some great lenses too..... But IMPO, they make lousy self taken fish photo cameras. They just require a lot of work, and just the right lens, to get all of you and the fish in focus (typically a very shallow DOF). Also, you will run into the same issue with the camera focusing the instant you hit the shutter, instead of when you get out in front of it to pose with the fish..... But because of the narrow DOF, this is a much greater problerm, that with a fixed lens camera. I had an aquaintence who bought a really nice DSLR, then tried to get swome good fish photos with it. Turns out he never could (or at least, never figured out how to) and the only photos we ever saw from that cam, were those that were taken of him, by his wife. Those did have excellent photo quality though. Doh ! I gotta' go ! The Stripers are calling me :-) Peace, Fish

and hey Infidel, that was the East Bay, at the mouth of the Montezuma slough, and Suisin Bay, to be exact. BTW, I caught 7 of them yesterday, but none over 8 lbs. I only had one 13" Split Tail, and about 6, 6" to 8" ones..... Which was fun, because I scaled the Spit Tail gear all the way down to my micro-light :-) (the same rod I use to catch the Spit Tails in the first place !) My buddy was telling me that I was going to be messing around with that micro-light, and tie into that long sought after 40 plus ! I told him, I don't care, I'll land it anyway :-) In fact, in thinking ahead, I have actually been using my float buoy on the slack end up my anchor line :-) They want a chase ? I'll give em' a chase ! :-) Peace, Fish

About 2 months ago I bought a Canon A630 (that was supposed to be my back up camera) and a Fuji S6000fd. The Fuji does have excellent photo quality... especially in low light. However, because of some of the special features (will explain) on the A630, it turned out to be a much better camera for self taken fish photos (although it is also great with somebody holding it for your photos too :-)) So, at one point I was going to get rid of the Fuji, and get another Canon A630.... But I took the Fuji on a straight up photography trip, and liked it so much, I just had to keep it too ! :-) What I ended up getting was another Canon, but it was the A640... almost identical to my A630, except 2 more mega pixels, and black body, instead of silver (color coded, so I can tell them apart). The cool thing about having two A-series Canons, is that I have the assurance of two cameras, but I only have to know one set of functions and features. Should I ever drop one in the lake, I can pick the other up, and not even have to think twice about how to set it up..... But speaking of set up, here's the feature I really want to explain...... Both of these cameras (the Canon A-series) have a feature called the "custom mode", or "C" on the dial. In this mode you can totally dial the camera in, with ALL of your settings.... ISO, F-stop, fill flash brightness, manual focus distance, self timer {which is totally customizable}... everything ! And you can do all of this at home in the back yard, under no pressure, with all the time you need. So, you take a few (or if your like me, a few hundred :-) test photos, until you get everything dialed in just right (for the typical bright, daylight conditions), and then you hit "save settings". Then, the next time your on the water and you stick a pig, you simply put the camera on a tripod, and turn the camera on in the "C" mode. Bam ! EVERYTHING is already set up for you ! Then just flip the screen over so you can see yourself (to line up the frame) and hit the shutter button ! I have mine set to count down 6 seconds, then take 3 consecutive shots, and since it takes a second or two to recharge for fill-flash, I can actually make small distance and framing adjustments between shots in a series. I'm telling you guys, the "C" mode, and the twist and tilt LCD screen are absolutely awesome ! I will never own another fish photo camera that doesn't have both of these features ! Here's a shot of my Pelican 1400, which holds both of my Canon A-series (taken with my Fuji ), and my certified Salter scale. If you bring a nice camera on the water, you just have to have a Pelican ! 100% waterproof, shock proof, dust proof.... Awesome ! :-) Peace, Fish PS, If any of you decide to get one of these cameras, I can help you get it dialed in for the "C" mode. Easy, once somebody guides you through it.

No big ones yet, but yesterday I finally had some decent Striper action, using live 12" to 13" Split Tails (they just look like a big, silvery minnow). I ended up with one about 8 lbs, a 10.5 lb'er, and a 12.1 lb'er. Will post a photo of the latter two here.... Anyway, supposedly the bigger ones are going to be following closely behind. Geeez, if I were a hard-core Striper guy, I think this would be the time to take a vacation ! (but I would not trade this time of year, for my April Largemouth's :-) BTW, I LOVE my new fish photo cameras. If your interested, I will post about them in the "everything else" section. Great fishing to all, Fish

Sorry I haven't been here in a while... My Largemouth fishing is pretty much over for the year, although I might do a Fall trip or two next month. I bought not 1.... not even 2... but 3 new cameras in the last 6 weeks, so I have been spending quite a bit of time on the Fuji and Canon forums. Besides all of that, I've just been getting my but kicked by the Stripers, while waiting for the big ones to come in. Problem is, I've been using 14" live Split Tails, and they are just too big for the 5 to 8 lb'ers that are already in. One buddy said, "You ought to drop down to 7" or 8" Split Tails".... To which I replied, "Why ? I really don't care if I catch those 5 to 8 lb Stripers anyway".... I'm looking for at least 20 plus lb'ers.... 30's would be better.... and a 40... Well, that's my goal :-) Hey, speaking of Stripers, here's a previously un-posted shot of my 31.2 lb'er from last year. It was actually a really poor shot to begin with.... but after a ton of photo-shopping, at least the small file size is acceptable for posting.... Will be back soon :-) Hope you guys are all sticking some good ones :-) Peace, Fish PS, Their must be a fish in this shot somewhere, huh ? ;-) This was Bodega Bay, taken with my new Fuji S6000fd, a tripod, a very dark lens filter, and a 10 second exposure....

just about every woman I ever had a relationship with, acted like she was from a different species ! ;-) I mean, they never looked like me, and they certainly never thought like me ! :-) LOL But yes, she was a very cool girl :-) Fish

No, but she has my card. Honestly, I'm better off single anyway..... But a girl like that could make me lose my sanity in a split second :-) Fish

Hey RW, I'll send you the wedding photos.... Oh wait.... Is that my alarm clock I hear going off ? :-) Hey Speedbead, yea.... I have heard about that trick with Pike, even the ones from this lake, but they were apparently just really turned off, and they disapeered as quickly as they came. If they had hung around for just 2 seconds, I'd have tried this.... As for Largemouth's.... Well, maybe one or two more trips this Summer.... Then maybe a few trips this Fall, but I'm starting to think Stripers now :-) Come on 40 plus lb'er ! :-) Peace, Fish

Alright, here we go..... Took a longer rout there, than I needed to... Plus made one wrong turn, that added another 30 minutes.... So, about 4 1/2 hours to get there. I think my buddy SuperMatt described this lake best when he called it a "shallow, weedy mess" ! I was nervous anytime I was running the boat, as their were certainly areas you could hit bottom on... yet not a marker buoy in the whole darn lake ! Then I would be kicking along and all of the sudden, I'm into weeds so thick, I was afraid of clogging my intake.... plus worried that the bottom must be even closer ! And the water..... typically only 2 to 4 ft vis :-( Geez, I would think all of those weeds would filter it better than that.... Then, I couldn't believe how lousy my boat ran, at only 5500 feet. Heck, I could barely get on plane at wide open throttle ! Okay, about the fishing. I pull up to the first spot, and I see some swirls and boils, so I throw out a Chrome Crocodile spoon. As I retrieve it, I see this strange, long, lanky fish following it ! It's my first Pike sighting ! Yea' buddies ! I just know I'm going to smoke them ! Well, I threw 3 different lures at it, and it would follow each time, but wouldn't commit :-( I thought these things were supposed to be stupidly agressive ? So I move around the lake, but no more sightings, and no follows. I fished really hard until about 4 pm Tuesday, but then the wind came up, and after a long, hard trip, and no action, I called it early. Went back to the motel, got comfortable, and crashed early. Got up at 4 am, for breakfast, morning news, and a shower, and was at the launch ramp at 6 am (only about 2 miles from the motel). Pull up to my first spot, and throw out the crocodile. As I reel it in I have a Pike following it, but it veers off at the last second ! Second cast, I slow down the retreieve a bit and Whack ! I get hit, but it doesn't hook up :-( Quickly I switch to my other rod with a Huddleston Shad tied on. Cast it out and start a steady retrieve...... Whack ! Fish on ! I start ripping it to the boat, and it doesn't feel big, but it's a Pike ! My first (and maybe only) ever ! As I get it to the boat it just starts going ballistic, flipping and twisting in every direction, so I decided to just swing it in. As it's coming over the rail, the hook pops out..... but it falls, flipping and flopping, straight into the boat ! Buddies I'll tell you, I have never felt so satisfied, and content, by catching "one dink" of any species, as I did with this little 18" Pike ! Took several photos.... and then, I wanted to release it so bad.... But was paranoid about a truck parked within viewing distance... and with the signs at the ramps saying that you must immediatly kill any Pike you catch, before returning it to the water (I don't even think you can take them "dead" for food ? :-( .... I went on and cut its gills, and threw it up on the shoreline. The Ca DFG is going to kill every fish in the entire lake, in less than a month anyway.... But still, it sucks that they force me to be the executioner. Anyway. So, I start fishing that area (up towards the dam) really hard. Had a couple more followers, but no more hits. I did come up on a couple Pike that were just sunning themselves, that would spook, and take off with an explosion. One looked to be at least 30 inches. The wind came up again at about Noon, and with zero action, little confidence, and a 4 hour drive home (plus having met my goal of catching a Pike... albeit a little one) I decided to call it a day. Back at the ramp, I had the coolest talk, with sweetest little Fish and Game girl {buddies, I'm telling you, I am in love. A girl like that could just whack out my whole, smooth, steady, under-my-own-control, life in an instant !}. She showed me a picture on her camera phone, of the fattest 42" Pike I think I have ever seen, which they electro-shocked up earlier this year from the lake. She said the Pike were a lot easier to catch in the Spring...... But I bet not "next Spring" :-( So anyway, I worked REALLY hard. I spent $200 on gas, the motel, and lures. And all of this, for one 18" Pike..... But was it worth it ? Absolutely, positively, YES ! Every minute, and every penny :-) Will I do it again ? No. Would I make the same drive again next week, to see Amber (the Fish and Game girl) if she envited me ? Like a dum-bass... probably. Doh ! :-) Peace, Fish PS, .......so, I figure by taking off at 1:00 pm, I should beat rush hour traffic through Sac, plus, I'll take the rout I should have to begin with, and no wrong turns. I get back to Truckee in no time ! Only like 45 minutes. But I'm not on 80 for 5 minutes.... and tail lights :-( Turns out there is a forest fire at Donner pass, and 80 has been shut down.... Litterally 2 miles, and 15 minutes in front of me. So, I sit dead still for 3 1/2 hours :-( :-( :-( My trip home ends up taking over 7 hours because of it. So even in view of all of this, would I do it again ? Absolutely :-)

Okay buddies, here's the scoop. I haven't even made this trip yet...... But the whole prospect is "such a trip" (no pun intended). There is a this place in the California Sierra mountains called Lake Davis. Way back in 1990, somebody dumped a few Northern Pike in it, and they just took off like wildfire. By the late 90's, they were going crazy, and the Ca DFG was totally worried that they would spread through creeks and rivers (and by clueless idiots illegally moving them) so, they poisoned the whole 5000 acre lake. They thought they got them all, until somebody found Northern Pike in Davis again in 99'. Since then, they have taken off again. Now, from time to time I heard about the Pike problem in Davis (and I have ALWAYS wanted to catch a Northern Pike) but 1) I thought Lk. Davis was like 5 hours one way.... Now I find out its only 3 hours, and 2) I thought that even now, to specifically target the Pike was somewhat of a long shot..... WRONG ! I just got in touch with an old fishing aquaintence who informed me that on his worst trip, he only caught 2 pike, but they were 38" and 40" long, and in the 15 lb range ! On his best trip, he caught 30 Pike, ranging from 14" dinks, up to 40" hawgs, and missed at least 30 more !!! So, now I find out about all of this..... along with the fact, that in about 3 weeks, the Ca DFG (actually this time, they are paying an outside proffessional source) is going to stop all fishing, drain the lake by 90 plus %, and totally poison (rotenone) what little water is left, plus every feeder creek, from the top, all the way down to the puddle :-( :-( :-( Now, I understand that they have to do this to protect the rest of our awesome fisheries. I just wish I'd have had a clue about all of this earlier. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, I have all of my Crocodile spoons, my chrome rip baits, and my white spinnerbaits out. Plus the steel leader, 2 days of food, etc. Going to fish all day today, then stay at a motel on the lake tonight, then fish all day again tomorrow. Even a little Pike would make it all worth it to me, since I have never caught one.... But of course a bunch of them, or even more so, a BIG one would just be bombastic :-) Wish me LOTS of luck on this wild goose chase. Of course I will take pictures, and will post an actual report when I get back...... Pretty excited and confident though :-) Peace, Fish

this is very true..... But bone hooks are very hard to find, and even tougher to make for yourself ;-) I'll stick to Owners :-) LOL Fish

I both agree, and disagree with Rebbasser.... IMPO it is VERY important that your hooks be surgical sharp at all times. This is why I use nothing but Owners, and it's also why I check my hook points REALLY often. However, I rarely sharpen hooks. I'd rather throw away .50 cent hooks, and put on fresh ones, and here's why; Sharpening a hook point can, and often does weaken the point. Sure, you can make it feel "sticky" again, but that won't matter if that point hits a bony portion of the fishes mouth, and the hook point folds over before penetrating. I think this happens a lot more often than guys realize, but when they reel in and check their hook point, they think to themselves, "Oh ! I must have hit a rock or something, and damaged my hook 'before that fish bit', and that's why I missed it...... But in reality, that hook point was straight and sharp (after the angler had sharpened it) but then bent over from hitting that hard part of the fishes mouth, causing the angler to miss the fish. The other big reason I hate to sharpen hooks, is that you can very easily, and often do, without even knowing it, change the angle of the point. Hooks are designed with a VERY specific point angle, in relationship to the eye of the hook. Sharpening almost always changes this angle. {because it's easy to remove metal from the outside, and both sides of the point, but not from the inside} IMPO, a little sharpening is a little bad.... a lot of sharpening is all bad. Use premium hooks and change them as often as you have to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But aside from hooks, you should understand that certain lures have higher or lower hooking percentages. Frog fishermen often feel lucky to hook and land half of the fish they get bit by. Spinnerbaits, or plastic worms will give you a higher percentage of landed fish. Your line makes a HUGE difference too. With monofilament, especially at the end of a long cast, their is SOOO much stretch, that you really need to swing like a mad man, and run a pretty darn tight drag. With braided line, because it has virtually zero stretch, you don't need to swing near so hard, but on the contrary, if you use braid it is very easy to swing too hard, and rip out, or straighten hooks. This is where a lighter drag setting, and maybe a softer rod helps..... and of course, a lighter hook setting swing. A lot of this stuff comes from personal experience. Try different hooks, lines, drag settings, and see what works best for you. As your experiences grow, you can fine tune things from there :-) Great fishing to you, Fish Chris

Carp are such great sportfish on rod and reel, that I can't imagine "selectively harvesting" the biggest ones, only to be used as fertilizer, or to end up in the land fill. IMPO their is no good excuse to kill Carp, nor any other Fish and Game, just for the sake of killing it. However, it wouldn't be so bad if the most points went to the "smallest" fish. Wouldn't that show the most skillful shooting ? Plus, you would end up with a lake that had lots of big awesome Golden Sportfish swimming around, which could be C/R'd on light gear, rather than an "overpopulation" of dinks, which is often the result of selectively harvesting all of the biggest individuals, of any species. BTW, In-Fisherman has done studies which show that Carp rarely, if ever, have any adverse effect on other species of sportfish. To back that finding, most of our best bass fisheries here in Cali, are also loaded with Carp. Fish

I hope so. But honestly, if I have to wait until next Spring in the pre-spawn, that will be fine too. I honestly believe the both the 14.40 that I got earlier this year, which had just got done spawning, and the 15.60, which had spawned out way earlier, but was obviously in the process of fattening back up, will both be between 16 and 17 lbs next March ! And even for Cali, those are some sho' nuf' Hawgs ! :-) Six months to go, and I already get jittery thinking about it !!! :-) Peace, Fish

Reminds me of earlier this year; I had hooked a really nice Northern strain bass, which spit up a half digested trout carcuss, of about 12". So, I net the bass and I'm thinking... "Now if I weigh this thing and it weighs like 9.6 lbs, I'm picking that slimy, half digested trout back up, and shoving it back down its thoat" ! {don't know that I'd really do that.. probably not good for the fish... but I'd sure be tempted :-)} Anyway, it ended up going 10.3 lbs "without" the trout :-) So it was all good. I think if I were a bass, I'd spit my previous meal "at the fisherman who just stuck a hook in my mouth" ! :-) Peace, Fish

first off, I totally respect your opinion, and with the way you have worded your post, I can totally see that your not trying to slam me personally. It's actually kind of funny; Over on another forum, one idividual did exactly that, and just came off in a short, basically rude way. Then my defenders jumped on, and next thing you know, it's WW III over a darn personalzed plate ! Pretty silly, huh ? But now here's something you might find interesting; With my shirts, and my boat, I'd just as soon have them just fade right into the back ground. I'm not into patches on my shirts, or stickers on my boat either, even though I am sponsored. Now, I have to admit, the back window of my truck is pretty much plastered, but it is mostly by my sponsoring companies, and the URL to my own website. Just from a "Looks" perspective, I think the truck would look better, to just be covered in Mossy Oak Shadow grass, with like the whole rear window shade thing, with the jumping bass (Al Agnew of course) :-) Your friend that dresses with all the "pro patches" sounds pretty funny :-) I wouldn't want to dress like that "if I were a tournament pro"..... But if they made me, at least I'd have a good excuse :-) Peace, Fish

Thanks guys :-) Peace, Fish

well, definately not a Senko. I've never thrown one of those in my life. Used to say I never would.... Now I just say, maybe 10 years from now, if everyone has forgot about them.... hmmmm :-) There really isnt another "artificial lure" I'd put in front of that smart old girl.... But I would certainly consider fly-lining a big, fat, tail hooked crawler out to her..... and maybe even a "wad" of them (but not just all crammed on a hook like you were catfishing. Rather, about 4 or 5 crawlers, each one hooked through the tip of the nose, and all twisting and squirming in every different direction. I know it sounds "unnatural" for a bass to find several big worms, in one exact spot, at one time..... but for whatever reason, it can work. Peace, Fish PS, Then again, on the right day, that Huddlebug will still stick her..... Or heck, for that matter, even the Huddleston trout ! It's all about timing :-)

Doh ! I meant to say, this fish went 9.2 lbs. Peace, Fish

Oh, the "FISH ON" decal, and the Trophy Bass Only / Trophy Sportfish decals are all custom. Sorry, none for sale. The Al Agnew jumping bass decal is available though...... and I think it looks "awesome" ! ....Waaaay better than the old white bordered, 2D looking ones, from way back in the day..... Peace, Fish PS, In case you didn't think of this, the "RL" can be read as both "Real" or "Reel" :-)

That is a Golden Shiner.... and a foot long ? That is a sho nuf' trophy bass bait there !!! I'd be puttin' that sucker on a big hook, and flipping him on my swimbait rod ! :-) Whooo Hooo ! :-) Fish

turned out to be not too bad. Stuck one decent fish on the Hud. Plenty long enough to have been a DD, but kind of lean. Healthy though. Fought good. The really interesting part of the trip though, was when I found a BIG one, just kind of sitting on the bottom, in about 4ft of water. Honestly, if I had to guess, I'd say it was 15.60 lbs... give or take a few ouces. Why would I guess this ? Because I really think it was the 15.60 that I caught earlier this year. In fact, I have seen a fish which I believe to be her, within 20 feet of where I caught my 15.60, on at least 3 different trips, since I C/R'd her. Anyway, once before, when I saw her sitting in the same area, I drug the Hud in front of her, and she just spooked out, and disapeered. So, I had told myself that the next time I saw her... or another big fish, just hanging out like that, I would drag a Huddlebug past her first (way smaller, and less spooky). Well, my lighter pole with the Hud Bug was back at the boat.... and I was holding my swimbait rod... and so, like an impatient dummy, I throw the Hud trout out past her. As I retrieve it back past her, I let it drop to the bottom and start dragging it about 2 feet in front of her. Immediatly she lifts up, swims over, and starts to tilt down to look at my Hud (meanwhile, my heart is about to beat out of my throat :-) ....then.... Wooosh ! She spins a 180 and bolts away ! :-( Tell me that fish doesn't remember being bit back by that lure before ! So then, I'm kicking myself in the but, for not going and getting my light pole with the Hud Bug.... But, 15 minutes later, I find her up shallow again, about 20 feet down the bank. This time, I do go get the light pole with the Hud Bug. I make a cast out past her, get it up close, then start a really slow stitch. She lifts up, swims over to check it out, eyes it for a little bit.... then then slowly cruises away. Not spooked.... but not fixing to make any mistakes today. Darn, that is one smart old girl....... I'd rather catch her pre-spawn next year anyway, when she will go 16.5 to 17 lbs :-) Oh well. Had fun :-) Fish