king fisher

My retired lures are all stuck on snags, at the bottom of the lake.

I'm a big fan of Alberto, and Uni to Uni, but for mono to mono, or mono to floro, I prefer either a surgeons knot or a Blood knot. Depending on the size of line one of those two is what I have used to make tapered fly leaders for 40 years.

You might consider a Hobie Outback. I transport mine on top of my car, fish standing up with no problem, and am able to launch in heavy surf.

I landed this 6.2 pound large mouth at Presa Corinchis. Biggest bass I have caught out of this lake. She had this Tilapia sticking out of her mouth. I might try a big swimbait next time I fish this lake.

I don't want scents to work for bass. I have guided fisherman for King Salmon in Alaska for 30 years. When I started guiding the best way to catch them was with cured salmon eggs. We used Borax to cure the eggs, and they worked great. Now every day I go guide I have eggs cured with at least four different egg cures, in a dozen different Ziplocs each one with a different commercial scent added. This is scent put on salmon eggs that already smell like what they are, salmon eggs. I wear robber gloves while curing the eggs, rigging all tackle, and while I fish. I don't know where it will end, but I suppose I will wear a space suite if that is what I think it will take to consistently catch the salmon. I enjoy fishing for bass with bare hands, and zero bottles of the latest elixir in the boat. So far I have refused to buy and try a commercial scent for bass. I am afraid it will work, and I will catch my PB. Then I might start slowly going down a river of no return.

Or purple for short?

Santa came late to my house, but I'm not complaining. I must have been good, because I got everything on my list.

I fished water with surface temp. of 67 degrees, and landed a DD. last Sunday. I spent this week working, watching fishing videos, and dreaming of ice fishing.

Shore lunch is still very popular in Alaska. I have cooked shore lunch with fresh salmon for 30 years. Many day's I tried my best to get the guests to skip the shore lunch and eat sandwiches, because of the time cooking takes time away from fishing. Most of the time my pleas fell on deaf ears. People didn't care about catching more fish, they wanted the shore lunch. I always thought it was was a stupid choice. A person can eat any time. You can only catch fish when your line is in the water. I guess that attitude is why I was the guide and they were the client. They spent their time making money, while I was out fishing. When it came time to spend their money, fishing was only part of what they wanted in an Alaska experience. It made no sense to me, but they couldn't understand why I drove a $500 car, lived in a cabin with no electricity, but had the Bait Monkey for a room mate.

Rebel Deep Wee- R

Last Sunday I was hiding from the wind behind some trees in 2 feet of water. I was tied tied to a tree, and could only cast one direction. I threw a chatterbait, and spinnerbait for 20 minuets with out a bite. I completely worked over that small area. First cast with a Senko I landed a 10 pound bass. I had to have ran both of the moving baits within inches of that bass and didn't spook her. The water was dirty, around a foot of vis. and lots of waves from the wind, so that might have helped. If I new exactly where a bass was, I think I would toss the finesse bait first. Why take a chance? If I am fishing blind, then I wouldn't hesitate to fish finesse after working a spot over power fishing.

I caught thousands of bass and other sportfish, on floating, and count down Rapala's, both reeling them strait , and trolling, years before they started calling them jerk baits.

I use floro for leaders with live bait in clear blue off shore Saltwater. ( Green inshore water it makes no difference). I have seen it make a big difference. Live baits on 100 pound floro, get hit and even dropping down to 60 pound mono they don't. Same baits, same rods, same mainline. Only difference was the leaders. When comparing leaders in the 60 to 200 pound class the negatives like knot strength and stiffness, of floro are not much of a factor. Price is a huge factor, but I'm am willing to spend the extra money for live bait leaders ( helps that I'm not actually the one paying the tackle bill). I have also tested the visibility factor in swimming pools. I am convinced floro is less visible than mono. Trolling lures, or dead baits in Saltwater I use mono. When trolling lures and baits I see no difference in bites between the two. I currently don't use floro for any bass fishing, and when I did visibility was not the reason I used it ( I'm a sucker for the low stretch, sensitivity marketing line). I wont say I will never use floro for bass fishing because I have said that too many times, then a month later am trying a new floro. Floro has a way of making me a hypocrite.

Find a store that will sell you Big Game for 5 times the normal price, then you will feel like you discovered a great new floro with good knot strength, and tangles less. Since it will be expensive, you can get the Floro Monkey off your back, and go back to just catching bass.

I was thinking of going fishing tomorrow, then I managed to come up with a dozen reasons why I couldn't go. After reading this thread, I realized none of my reasons were legitimate. The temps here are going to be a low of 48 degrees, and a high of 82. If others are going to go out in freezing temps. I should be able to deal with a long drive lack of sleep, and setting some work aside for another day. I have officially been shamed in to getting up at 3:00 AM and trying my luck. Even if at the end of the day, I'm exhausted and skunked, I wont be cold.

I fish out of a kayak and try to limit myself to 4 rods. I sometime replace one bait caster with a spinning set up. 1.Medium fast Diawa Ardito travel rod, Tatula CT reel. Sunline Defier Armilo line. Most crankbaits, poppers, lighter jigs, and worms. 2. Medium heavy fast Diawa Ardito travel rod. Diawa Tatula CT reel. Sunline Defier Armilo line. Spinnerbaits, chaterbaits, larger crankbaits, most topwater, any other moving baits. 3. Medium heavy fast Diawa Ardito. Diawa Coastal SV reel, 40 lbs. JBraid. Jigs, worms, buzz baits, some crankbaits if snags are bad. 4. Heavy fast Diawa Tatula rod, Diawa Coastal 200 reel 50 lbs. JBraid. Punching, flipping, frog, A rig. Way to light for A rig but does work, I need a new rod. I occasionally bring a medium spinning rod. Just when I thought I had everything I needed, I found a new lake, with clear water, I need to expand my spinning gear and learn some finesse techniques.

I highly recommend them. I own four of them. I fish them side by side with my Tatula's and don't notice any difference in sensitivity, casting distance, or strength. I have owned my medium power one, for five years now. I have used it for numerous techniques in both salt and fresh water. I have landed double digit bass, and many saltwater species up to 50 lbs on it. I do think the medium is more like medium heavy, and the medium heavy closer to heavy than medium. Many bass fisherman tend to believe multi piece rods are more fragile. Salmon anglers fish heavy weights, in strong current and land large fish with no problems on multi piece rods.

I may get tired of a certain technique, or body of water, but never tired of trying to solve a new fishing puzzle. I guided in Alaska for 30 years. On a couple of the streams where I fished for silver salmon, the fishing was too consistent and too easy. After helping clients catch hard fighting fish, that are all about the same size, almost every cast to the same spot, I would be tired of silver salmon. At the end of the day some of the new guides would want to go fishing for silvers. They were excited and hadn't been doing it long enough to become jaded. I would go with them only if they agreed to fish new water, try different techniques, and fish with lures, and flies with hooks cut making it impossible to land the fish. Get hit, watch one jump, then move to a different hole. Fishing for bass, even in Mexico, is not consistent enough for me to get bored. Double digit bass on top every cast all day is not going to happen. Getting tired of fishing can only happen to me if fishing is too easy for too long. As long as there is a challenge and something new to learn, then I could fish every day.

Zoom Trick worms. Zoom Ol Monster Senko

It has been illegal to use any live fish for bait in many western states for decades. The reason has always been fear of introducing unwanted species from one body of water to another. This management practice is common in many western states including AK, WA ID CA and has been around for longer than most people on this forum have been alive. (Long before the tackle industry was big enough to have any influence on fisheries management decisions.) I try to avoid any discussion on weather or not any fish and game laws are good or bad. Like most laws, they benefit some and are bad for others.

7 inch Senko, rigged weedless no weight.

Not as many as I bring on a given day, not even close to what I own, and I keep buying more.

1 Big Swim bait glide bait. I haven't tried yet. I am scared I would catch my PB on the first cast, then would end up broke and divorced long before I would complain about fatigue from fishing them. 2. Crankbaits. I was catching bass with them when they were called plugs. I don't have any difficulty catching bass with crankbaits. 3. Jigs. I catch bass with them, but they are my most difficult lure to fish. I constantly miss bites, and snag them in wood and rocks, far more than other lures. I plan on working hard on my jig fishing skills this year. 4. Jerk baits. I caught hundreds of bass and other species before I even knew you were supposed to jerk them. I jerk them now and catch bass, but if my wrist gets sore I simply switch to straight retrieve and catch bass. 5.Buzz Bait spinnerbait. Only difficulty fishing these lures is sore muscles from landing bass.

Sounds like you had the experience for a perfect country song. Maybe you can take a bad luck day on the water, and turn it in to fame and fortune. You could use some poetic license and throw in something about an epic backlash, lost lures and your dog. Don't feel bad. Happens to everyone. When I was 18 I went ice fishing by myself on New Years Day. I got skunked, fell through the ice, lost some gear, and got a ticket for not having a new fishing license. I just looked at it as a learning experience. After that I always bought my license before Christmas, I know where the spring is on that lake, and realize getting skunked is not the worst thing that can happen. I do wonder why the game warden drove all the way to that lake to check the only fisherman there that day. I guess it was good luck for him. Check one person, write one ticket, at least he didn't get skunked. I just wish he would have at least asked me if I was ok, beings as I looked like an icicle and my hand was shaking so bad, it took me three tries to sign my name on the ticket.

It might be better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it.