king fisher

I don't know Epic Eric, but I do know he is my hero.

I give all the help I can. Most of the time, the only thing I can do is tell them where they are not located, and what they wont bite, but I'm still trying to help.

If you ever come to Mexico, leave that board at home. It is too small, it only goes to 26 inches.

No line, and where is the rod. You can only hope next year she will be more thoughtful.

Don't tell the Monkey I said this, but if you fish small streams, this box of spinners may be everything you need.

Hard baits go in the milk crate, soft baits remain in the packages they come in, and the bags for the day are put in the soft bag. Spinnerbaits get their own spinnerbait box. Some days everything I need goes in the soft bag, but most days I have room for everything in the picture.

Buzzbait spinnerbait crankbait T Rig.

Don't be to hard on yourself. Catching quality bass is difficult. I checked the results of the last BASS Elite series tournament at famous big bass lake Okeechobee. The bottom 9 Elite series pros caught 20 lbs. or less. These are professional fisherman, with years of experience fish hundreds of days a year, have the best equipment made, and they still couldn't catch limits of big bass, while other anglers crushed them. Anglers always want to compare their success to the winners of a tournament. They never consider how they did compared to those at the bottom of the leaderboard. After three years of bass fishing, if you finish in the middle you are doing excellent. I have bass fished for many years, and consider myself an average bass angler. I have never fished in a tournament, but if I did, would be very happy to place somewhere in the middle of the field, but would not be surprised if I ended up dead last. I have a friend who out fishes me almost every time we go, and it has been that way for over 40 years. He is simply a better natural fisherman than I am. Both of us love to fish, and have fun every time we have a line in the water. I try to learn something every time we go, he claims to already know everything, but in reality without even trying he learns from mistakes, I don't even notice. I wont tell him that, because he is fine with me claiming he is plain lucky. Go fishing as often as you can, have fun, celebrate your successes, and laugh at your mistakes. Try to learn something from every trip, and before long people will be asking you what you do to catch all of those big bass.

I have the same problem. My solution is to buy more tackle. It hasn't improved my catch rate, or the size of the bass I catch, but I'm sure that is because I haven't tried everything yet. The successful anglers I know fish more and buy less, but what do they know, they just have luck on their side.

Bass eat twice a day. Before I get to the lake, and after I leave. What I can't figure out is how do they know when I am there?

In the morning when it is calm, I use a buzz bait. In the afternoon when the wind blows, I use a spinnerbait. Ice is for a margarita when the day is done.

Not even close. Tackle Warehouse lists 101 colors of the original Rattle Trap and that is just one brand and model. Of course you need multiples of the ones that work for you, so basically you will always need at least one more. Are you asking for another A-Jay tackle porn post?

Are you the Bait Monkey? He tried that logic on my wife, and got kicked out of the house and wont be allowed back until my birthday.

Where I live big bass like seven inch Senko's. They are expensive, but worth it. Only way I will quit fishing the 7 inch, is if they start making an 8 inch Senko.

Would the Pacific Ocean count. No bass but lots of fish.

In Alaska, I took planes and jet boats many places they were not meant to go trying to access new water. Luckily I never crashed a plane, I did chop a few willow bushes with the prop, but no damage. I stranded myself a few days waiting for weather to change so I could safely take off from some remote smooth place in the tundra ridge top, or gravel bar, but always made it back to civilization. I tore the boot off of more than one outboard jet, and put a boat or two completely high and dry on skidding turns. I floated rafts down creeks so bear infested that by the time I made it to my pick up spot the bears had tore my tent, stole my food, and bit so many holes in my raft it looked like it was made of duck tape and glue. In Mexico, I have driven down roads that dead end in some remote ranchers barn lot looking for access to lakes. The rancher, his wife, kids, workers, and even the animals, all look at me as if they are looking at an alien. I guess they have never seen a lost gringo driving a beat up car, with a giant orange kayak strapped to the top looking for a lake before. I just wave while I turn around and look for another road. All of this effort in hopes of finding that one magic fishing hole. I have never found that perfect fishing whole, but I also haven't found the one magic lure I have been looking for my whole life, but I am going to keep looking for both.

What ever it is, I hope it is inexpensive, is easy to install, on a kayak, and comes with a free gift for my wife.

Skunks happen. I once got skunked while guiding for king salmon on one of the best king salmon steams in Alaska, where I had 10 years of experience, during the peak of the season. I fished the wrong whole, with the wrong technique, and didn't have enough time to change, after realizing my mistake. Can happen anytime to any one. It was only a temporary setback, that I learned from, and I finished the season having one of my best years. Now that I think about it, I really didn't get skunked, if I consider the whole season. From now on I'm am only going to count fish after a whole trip, or maybe a year, therefore being assured of never getting a skunk again.

If I wanted something shot down, I would make it cheap, big, slow, and fly directly over the US where people could see it, while getting 24 hour news coverage. Maybe a big white balloon would work?

River Runt's are a great lure. I have caught many nice bass on them. One problem with them, is you get many more bass to follow the lure than you get to hit it. Make sure you have an old school plastic to catch the followers.

I snagged a crankbait in a gill net last spring. I have hundreds of crankbaits, but for some reason I thought I had to get this one back at any cost. The wind was blowing 20 - 25 MPH and I was having difficulty maneuvering my kayak. I eventually got my crankbait back, but I almost flipped my kayak, lost some soft plastics and terminal tackle overboard, lost half a spool of line, and broke a rod tip. All for one mid priced crankbait. I guess I know why no one has ever accused me of being a financial genius.

6th Sense cloud nine C 10 crankbait.

The Bait Monkey told me if I bought a Bacca Burrito, I would catch a bass over 11 lbs with it. After finally breaking down and spending more for a single lure, than I ever thought I would, I hope this will be the year I can say the Monkey was right.

I'm not sure if that counts, but I am sure it means you are one of the luckiest men alive, your wife is a saint, and I would vote for her if she ran for president.

I grew up fishing a creek where it opens up in to a big flat pasture surrounded by basalt cliffs. After a couple miles of what looks like a small lake, it narrows back down to a stream, and eventually goes over a water fall, and continues on to a major river. In the later winter early spring, I caught many large rainbow and brown trout, in the pool below the falls. In the late spring summer, I fished for largemouth in the slow water, and small mouth in the faster water. On slow days, I would catch crappy and bluegill for dinner. In the fall I hunted ducks, geese, pheasants, quail, huns, mule, and white tail deer, in the pasture and scab lands along the creek. I climbed, all the bluffs cliffs, and explored every draw, and valley. Some older kids made a diving board, and my friends and I spent countless hours swimming there. Before I was old enough to drive, my mom would drop me off at the bridge above the pasture, and I would spend all day hunting and fishing. One summer day the bass fishing was so good, I kept fishing while my Mom kept honking her horn, waiting for me on the bridge. I new I was going to be in the biggest trouble of my life, but I had just caught a five pound bass and lost another, and decided what ever punishment she could give me would be worth one more cast. When I got old enough to drive I would go there at least a couple days a week all year long. It was and still is a small piece of paradise on earth. Unfortunately the rancher that owned the land sold it to a man from Seattle, who built a better fence, put up hundreds of no trespassing sings, and ran off any locals kids and adults at gun point. The sad thing is he doesn't even fish or hunt there more than once or twice a year. After being away for years in Alaska, I went back home to visit, and of course the first place I wanted to go was this creek. Friends told me that I could no longer step foot on the place. I felt like I hadn't truly visited home. Some people want to see the school they went to, a favorite place to eat, or a place they just hung out at when they were young. All I wanted to do was cast a lure for a bass in my favorite fishing whole. It was more than a place to catch fish, when I was young it was my second home. Not much I can do. The man owns the land, and even after begging him to let me catch a few bass and let them go, he told me to stay off the property. He lives 250 miles away and is never around, so I could simply sneak on the place, but it wouldn't be the same looking over my shoulder all the time, besides I have to respect a private property owners rights, and stay away. If I ever win the lottery, I will buy that pasture and put feel free to fish and hunt signs up the day I sign the papers. I currently have great bass fishing in Mexico where I live, but would give up every DD bass I have caught in Mexico, if I could spend a few weeks, at my old fishing hole. I plan on retiring in the farm community where I grew up. I can only hope by then, someone else owns that property.