king fisher

I would try a spinnerbait, because I always try a spinnerbait.

Retrieving a square bill through thick timber is an art, hanging the trebles in the timber is science, and getting the lure and giant bass out of the timber is spiritual.

Whopper Stopper is the company that made the original Bayou Boogie. At that time Heddon's number one lipless lure was the Sonic, and larger Super Sonic. The summer of 1976 was when I started bass fishing, with lures which everyone I new referred to as bass plugs. Up until that summer the only bass I caught were while fishing for trout with night crawlers under a bobbers. I bought my first pass plug which was a Heddon Sonic in June, and by July I had a new friend the Bass Monkey. Everyone fisherman I new swore by the Sonic, and I also had great success on the lure. By the summer of 1977 I had acquired a half dozen plugs, and the sonic was still my number one plug. Then the Bait Monkey convinced me to order a Rattletrap out of the new Bass Pro Shops catalogue. A friend of mine who swore by the Super Sonic had turned 16 got his drivers license and his dad let him take their small boat to lake by himself. He invited me to go, and I couldn't wait. His dad always insisted on fishing for crappie, and now we were going to be able to fish solely for bass all day. I tied on my new Rattle trap the 1/4 oz version in baby bass color. My friend started with a Super Sonic. I caught bass on almost every cast, while my friend tried every lure in his box and couldn't get a bite. That was the end to my Heddon Sonic addiction, and the Bait Monkey made best friend for ever status on that memorable day. I always wanted to buy a Bayou Boogie but at that time every tackle purchase was agonized over for day's, and the Sonic always ended up in my box, and after my discovery of the fishing catching power of the Rattle Trap I never even looked at another lipless for 35 years. The Whopper Stopper Bayou Boogie and Hellbender are probably the only two popular bass lures of the 70,s that I never tried. I always wanted to buy one, but my local hardware store didn't carry that brand and I always ordered some other lures from Bass Pro. I may have to buy one and give it a try simply to satisfy my curiosity after all these years.

As with many things in life, I do not have enough information on this matter to form any kind of knowledgeable opinion. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in the end. I trust our justice system will provide adequate punishment if punishment is due. It does seem odd they didn't simply write him a ticket, but like I said, I have zero first hand knowledge on the matter, and wont be on the jury, so I will simply have to wait and trust that the truth and justice will win out in the end.

I am sure I will some, but here are a few of the ways I have broken rods that I can think of right now. 1 car door 2 cabin door 3 stepped on by me 4 stepped on by some one other than me 5 Stepped on by some animal bigger than me 6 chewed on by a bear 7 broken tip trying to walk through thick brush. 8 pulling up to dock with rod tip hanging out 9 some other boat pulling up along side while rod tip is hanging out 10 pulling to hard on a snag, 11 pulling to hard on a big fish 12 hitting rod with back cast from other rod. 13 ran over with some form of vehicle, car ATV etc. 14 burned. 15 broke while casting (manufacturers defect.) 16 chewed on by puppy. 17 boat propeller trying to get line and fish out of boat propeller. 18 airplane door I'm sure there is at least 20 but I can't think of any more right now. If there is a way to break a rod, I have either witnessed some one do it, or have done it myself. If it walks, bites, weighs more than 50 pounds or has a door, it can break a fishing rod.

If I bought one of these would it get the Bait Monkey off of my back? Probably not, I would still get skunked and the monkey would be trying to get me to buy a new electroshock device in a different color.

Umbrella rigs used in salt water have had longer middle arms for years. They must work better for so many anglers to prefer them that way. The first time I hooked a bass with an A Rig I landed two 5 pound bass and all three of the other baits were ripped off of the hooks. Bass were still chasing it, when I landed the bass. Since that day my A rig success has been on a down hill slide.

This bass is not the Kraken, it is the Kraken's tiny sister. I have seen the Kraken, she wrapped my line around a barbed wire fence, and ran off with my lure. I swear I saw a middle finger as she jumped next to my kayak while I tried to get her untangled. She wanted to see if I would quit my job, and live in a tent at the lake the rest of my life. It has been 3 years, and I have not seen the Kraken again. I now wish I would have quit my job, and camped at the lake. The Big Bass That Got Away is a real and serious mental disease, that is easily cured, by catching the big one, but I haven't been able to convince anyone that this disease qualifies me for full disability. In order to have the time and afford the tackle it takes to cure myself of the disease I need to have some form of income. I have had health insurance that would pay for substance abuse rehab, why can't it pay for a more serious illness like TBBTGA. Right now I am able to function in life, but the sleepless nights, cold sweats, and nightmares are starting to take their toll.

When I want to add a contrasting color to my bait I will add a trailer. Most of the time I fish multi colored skirts that already have enough color contrast. I believe a spinnerbait has more than enough action and profile, without adding anything. I used to always add a plastic trailer, but I noticed I still caught lots of bass without one, so why should I help the Bait Monkey when I don't need to.

I want to catch one like this only longer and fatter.

First tuna trip for the winter went well. Landed some nice ones, but lost some cows. We also landed a sailfish, and one dorado. Hope to get back out before the bite stops, but not sure if that will happen.

Advantage is the Bait Monkey is my best friend. Disadvantage is I'm not sure if I should trust my best friend.

My advantage is I live in Mexico. My disadvantage is I don't live in Maine.

That may be more bass than I have caught in my entire life. I'm sure I have not caught 2,000 bass over three pounds in my life time. You should be very proud of both the numbers and size of bass you caught. Remarkable year, hope you catch even more next year.

No snow in the forecast here.

No plans. I'm just going to cast my line and see what bites.

I once had a lure like the one on the third rod from the left. It casted ok, but I was never able to catch a bass on it.

I have fished a very small reservoir for five years. This lake is exceptional for trophy size bass. I have averaged one bass over 10 pounds for every five days I fished the lake. I am certain an angler with exceptional skills could get that average down to one every two days of fishing. Unfortunately I don't have time to fish the lake more than about 10 to 15 days a year. This year I was only able to fish it for five days and caught one 10 pound bass as well as a couple over 7 pounds. The fish are big, but the fishing is slow at this lake. Most days I only get one to three bites from decent size bass a day. There are almost zero bass between 1 pound and 6 pounds. I have caught more 10 pound bass than I have two to four pound bass in the five years I have fished there. I can catch many bass under one pound, but do not fish for them, and if I start catching baby bass of that size I change location, and or tactics. The reason there are very few mid size bass is the lake is heavily commercial fished for Tilapia. The mesh size of the gill nets used is also very effective at catching mid size bass. The baby bass go through the mesh without getting caught, and once the bass get over 6 pounds there heads no longer fit past the gills in the nets so they don't get caught. There are so many nets, I don't think many bass make it to the larger size. I can only assume enough make it to that 6 pound and up size because of the very high number of baby bass every year. Apparently there are enough to account for successful spawns every year. I have no idea what percentage of the bass the nets account for, but I would bet it is way more than would end up in the frying pan, if an average number of sport anglers were keeping 5 bass limits. I let the large bass go, not only to hopefully help the population in general, but in hopes that I can catch the same trophy bass again some day. I'm sure that even though I have been successful, there are really not many of these monsters swimming in the lake. My success has been more do the fact the lake is small, bass have not seen many lures, and are not nearly as educated as big bass are in most lakes. In other words, my success is due to the bass being stupid, not because of my angling skill. In the past years I would have to believe most of the bass in this lake never would see a lure in their entire life. The last couple years a lodge owner from another lake has discovered my secret lake, and has been taking clients there every week. I have noticed a big change in the numbers of fish I catch, and don't think the population has changed, the fish have just adjusted to the added pressure. I have found I am not near the angler I thought I was when forced to fish for more highly educated bass. I talked to the lodge owner and he is disappointed in the fishing. While his clients have landed some very large bass, most are not happy with fishing all day for a couple of bites. He wants to make a deal with the commercial fisherman to back off on the netting in order to have more bass for his clients to catch. He is willing to compensate them for the lost revenue, in order for them to help improve the bass numbers. He wants his clients to be able to catch a dozen or so 2 to 4 pound bass a day as well as have a chance at a DD bass. I tried to explain to him that this was most likely impossible. The bass in this lake were huge because of the heavy commercial fishing, not in spite of it. I told him the best thing he could do is back off on the number of clients he takes and keep the commercial fishing the same. The lake his lodge is on is known for great numbers of bass, so why not leave this lake the way it is and only take a few clients that are willing to put in the work for a bass of a life time to this trophy destination. I may be wrong, but I don't see how a lake can produce on average this many DD bass, and also have a large population of mid size bass. This lake has never had any official management for bass. The number of commercial tilapia fisherman are limited, but there are more than enough gill nets to catch most of the tilapia as well as the bass. The management for bass has been a complete accident, but I don't think it could be managed any better. As far as a trophy bass fishing lake goes, I don't think it would be possible to make the lake any better, and I hope the lodge owner doesn't end up over managing a lake that is already perfectly managed. I only wish I had found out about it, a few years back when no body fished there. I got in on the tail end of the good days, but at least I was able to take advantage of the fishery when I did. I am not a fisheries biologist, and don't recommend over netting a lake to remove bass in public waters that are heavily sport fished, but I have witnessed that taking out a large portion of the mid sized bass in an underfished lake can result in fantastic fishing for large bass. I have always believed in catch and release, but I do realize there are times when keeping bass is the best thing an angler can do for the fishery.

Some people are just plain lucky, the rest of us have to work for our bass.

With the price they charge Megabass should include spare hooks, a ball cap, and free tickets to a Japanese baseball game.

My soft plastic swimbaits are some shade of white, my plastic worms are Junebug, my creature baits are Greenpumpkin, and my craws are okeechobee craw. That is what I buy, if the bass don't like it that is their problem. On days the bass don't like those colors, I can go back to fishing crankbaits.

How hard did it rain, and how long were you out in the rain? The great advantage of Gortex over traditional rain gear is it breathes, and is very light. A Gortex jacket is very comfortable, and you don't get soaked with sweat when you are active. The one disadvantage is Gortex does have a saturation point. If you are in very hard rain for a long period of time any Gortex jacket will start to leak. Gortex waders with triple layers of Gortex fabric are an exception, but most jackets are not built like the waders. There is a reason you see deck hands on commercial fishing boats in Alaska still wearing Grundens, or Helly Hanson traditional heavy cumbersome rain gear. Gortex is great for most situations, and is so comfortable many times I don't even take it off when the rain quits, but if I'm going to be out on the water in heavy rain for a long period of time, I put on my old heavy, uncomfortable, Helly Hanson bibs and jacket.

2024 was a tough year bass fishing for me. I let work get in the way of my bass fishing again this year, and when I was able to go I had less success than previous years. I managed to remain good friends with the Bait Monkey, but even though my tackle box was always full, I struck out more than I care to admit. The good news is my wife and I had a cabin built one kilometer from a lake with bass. The bad news is I am having a difficult time catching bass there, and when I do they are not very big, with the biggest being around 6 pounds. I spent most of my available bass fishing time there, because it is now my home lake. When I was able to go to other lakes I did ok at one and horrible at another. I only fished Presa Pocho a couple times, and managed to catch one 10.2 pounds along with a couple 7.5 pounders. My success on large bass was down from previous years, but I had just as much fun, and even though my new home lake isn't as good as I would like it to be, I enjoy having a lake I can call home. If five small bass is a good day at new lake, than I will try hard to catch 6 bass. It is all relative, and a 6 pound bass on one lake is equal to a 10 pound bass on another. I hope to take more time away from work next year, and I still have time to catch my PB before this year is over.