king fisher

I have had 3 friends fly in to Puerto Vallarta from the states this week. There have been no questions asked. The only place restricted to essential travel only, is crossing by car or foot at the boarder. No restrictions on flights coming from or going to the US.

I never believed in the Color Selector, but did like some of the colors tackle companies came out with during the craze. I had a 6A Bomber, that was purple with a black back that was my best crankbait in every lake I fished for a couple years. Even caught a few king Salmon in Alaska with that lure. Rebel had some good color Selector Colors too. Orange with black back, and chartreuse with black back were simple but effective colors, for both bass and trout. I never wanted a Color Selector unit, because It was cheaper to let the fish select the color.

1-#3 Vibrax or Mepps inline spinner. silver or gold blade 2-Floating Rapala gold black back 3-Spinner bait, 1/2 oz one single Colorado dark color, one double willow light color 4-Square bill crankbiat, one balsa no rattles, one plastic with rattles, chartreuse black back prefer old Bagleys, and academy sports H2O 5-Rebel Deep wee R orange and black 6-Rapala DT10 purple crayfish 7-Cavitron Buzz Bait Chartreuse. or black 8-Pop R any color 9-Rebel Jumpin Minnow, Bone 10- Norman DD 22, Shad 11-Hula grub with 1/4 oz foot ball jig head, green pumkin, black, and june bug 12-Zoom trick worms, any color, 13 5 inch Senko, any color 14 Reaction Innovations Spicy Beaver Black and blue Biggest must have--- More time to fish.

My Wife complains that I misplace everything. I'm constantly asking her if she has seen my car keys, hat, wallet, phone, etc. She doesn't even ask why I came back to the house 5 minuets after leaving in the morning. She just hands me what I forgot, and tells me I need to get tested. I even forget I can't call her to bring me my phone I forgot. When it comes to fishing tackle, I'm far from organized. but I do know where it is. It may be in Alaska, Mexico, WA, in the car, kayak, closet, or on the bottom of a river somewhere, but I know where it is. Not only do I know the location of all my fishing gear, for every item, I can tell you where I bought it, how much it cost, what fish I have landed or lost on it, if I have ever owned something similar, and many other interesting bits of information. My wife say's this information is taking up way to much space in my brain. Basically my short term memory is poor, my long term memory is selective, and my fishing memory is photo graphic.

I can eat just one chip, tell just one joke, drink just one bear, play just one more hand of poker. One last cast? Not possible.

Yes it will, but it will take a long time. The first thing to go will be the the guide raps. The clear coat on the blank will eventually start to bubble and turn white. The blank can eventually become weak and break, but it takes a lot of sun. The rods I have seen damaged by the sun have been on off shore boats, and have been left out in tropical conditions for weeks at a time. As long as you store you rods out of the sun between fishing trips, they should last a life time.

I fished Lake Chapala Jalisco Mex. for the first time this year. A friend and I landed 29 between 2.5 and 6.7 pounds. Didn't get started until noon so all in all a good day. My friend fishes the lake three times a week, and was a little disappointed , but I thought it was a great day. I caught two fish on an underspin, the rest were on spinner baits. Lots of fun casting, cranking and covering water.

If your only goal is to catch fish, than use which ever tool is best for the job. If you prefer one type of gear over another, than have at it. Fishing is supposed to be fun. With the quality of gear available now, most of the time advantages of one over another, can be over come by experience. I know people that will only fly fish, regardless how much they are handicapping themselves. I am more practical and will usually use what ever tool I think will help me catch the most or biggest fish. Bait casters, spinning , or fly all have advantages at times.

I use a Rapala knot for one lure, that lure is an original floating Rapala. ( imagine that.) A floating Rapala doesn't come with a split ring, and the smaller sizes don't seem to work well with one added. I'm not a big fan of the knot, just haven't found a loop knot I like better. I use a perfection loop for live bait hooks but realize it isn't the strongest knot, but is plenty strong for most of my live bait fishing. I also use the perfection loop when I want to add a little action to a streamer fly with leader 20 pound test or more. Would like to learn to tie a stronger loop knot that works well with lighter line. Appreciate any suggestions.

Any fisheries can be over fished by sport sport fishing. Even to much catch an release fishing can make the fishing go from good to bad quickly. Actually eliminating a species of fish in a particular body of water sport fishing would be next to impossible. As the fishing pressure gets to the point a person can't catch any fish, then the pressure goes down and hopefully the fishing gets good again. It may take awhile, or may never come back. Over harvesting one species of fish may let another species of fish, creature or plant take over to the point the other species can not recover. Far better to manage the pond so the pressure and population are more stable. Catch and release is one of the best management tools there is to allow for maximum fishing opportunity, and still maintain a stable population. Daily, and seasonal bag limits, gear restrictions, fishing hours, seasons, license requirements and many other management tools are common. Every pond is different. Some ponds actually benefit from keeping more bass. I recently started fishing a small lake where the manager encourages the local Tilapia fisherman try and remove all the bass they can. They even net them in the spring trying to eliminate the predation of the tilapia. At first I thought this was a very stupid management plan. Fishing is slow, I might only get a couple bites a day. After catching a few bass over ten pounds, I decided I wouldn't complain about the commercial fisherman. Apparently the few bass that survive have little competition,giving them an opportunity to grow very large. I would guess many private ponds would benefit from keeping more bass, and many public ponds would benefit from more catch and release. I guess this was a long answer to the question. Short answer, yes it is easy to over fish a pond.

I would replace the rivets. If you don't want to do it yourself, find an Aircraft mechanic that would be willing to help. Maybe trade a fishing trip or two for payment. He will have all the tools ( drill, bits, bucking bars etc.) you will need. They routinely have to replace rivets in places most yoga instructors could not twist their body to fit in. Replacing rivets in a jon boat would be a piece of cake. Zee spar, or Marine tex will also fix any leaks you have. What ever you do, don't try to weld a riveted aluminum boat. The Aluminum used for riveted boats does not weld well. That is why welded boats use different thicker aluminum making them strong but heavy.

Diawa Ardito travel rod.

While guiding in Alaska I always wore an inflatable that was also a fishing vest. I never took it off because I needed everything in the pockets of the vest. By law I was required to have in the boat a coast guard approved large cumbersome vest for each guests and myself. One day I was getting checked by a State trooper, I asked if it was OK to have the guests as well as myself wear the inflatables, instead of having the bulky jackets on board stuffed under the bow. There isn't much room in an 18 foot john boat so saving space was always a priority. The trooper told me he would much rather see everyone wearing an inflatable than see the Coast Guard recommended ones stashed away. Made sense to me. He was the one that was enforcing the regulations, so I left the bulky jackets at camp, and made sure the guests always had the inflatable fishing vests on. At the end of each season I would pull the cord to see if the vest inflated. It always did. An inflatable vest is comfortable as well as handy, so will most likely be on when you need it. The best PFD made is useless if it isn't worn.

Work for 9 months a year. Mikelson 75 Fun Hobie Outback.

It is a digital scale that I bought at a tackle shop for $20 in PV. last week. I can't find a brand or model number on it. Just says portable electronic scale and a Logo W. I tested it with a large expensive spring scale I have and it seems to be accurate. So far I am impressed because it is small and digital, but need more time to see if I like it.

August is a great month to punch weed mats on lake Chapala Mexico. With today's exchange rate you could get a flight to Guadalajara, stay a week at a nice hotel, and have guided fishing every day for the same price as you would pay anywhere in the states. Most days there would only be one or two other boats fishing the same lake. I know you weren't asking for a place far away, just a crazy outside the box suggestion.

Back in the 70's one of the first buzz baits made was a Burke Deadly Dudley. I bought one because slow rolling Colorado spinner baits was my go to technique. They advertised that the Deadly Dudley blade would turn at a slower retrieve speed than any spinner bait. You could even get the blade to turn just by blowing on it. I bought it so I could fish on the bottom even slower than I did with the Colorado blades. I did catch some fish that way, but soon learned it made a better surface lure. The next year a dozen companies made buzz baits, and Burke changed their add promoting the bait as a surface lure. A person could argue that catching a bass with one on the bottom was really the correct way to fish it. lol.

Thanks. Until recently I didn't think I would ever catch one. A month ago my personal best was 5 1/2 pounds caught in 1977. This past month I have fished 3 days, and landed 3 over ten pounds on this small lake, where I am the only bass fisherman around. The few people that do fish, are trying to catch Tilapia. They don't like the bass because they eat Tilapia. A local told me the bass don't bite well in the summer, that I should fish there in February. That is my busy time of year, but I can guarantee I will find the time to give the lake a try the time of year when the fishing is " good".

I landed a 10.2 pound bass kayak fishing last Saturday. Had a difficult time taking a picture with my camera by myself. I didn't want to keep the fish out of the water too long, so I didn't get a good picture, but at least I remembered my camera. Last big bass a few weeks ago, I left my camera in the car and didn't have a scale. This time I had a camera and a scale. I only got four bites all day, but when one is this size I don't mind having a slow day. I caught the fish on a home made spinner bait adding a little extra satisfaction to the catch.

I try to be practical and buy the best equipment I can for the money I have. I don't have top of the line, but feel I have quality gear. My best gear wont catch more fish than less expensive gear, but it does increase the amount of fun I have while fishing. I fish to enjoy myself, and if more expensive gear adds to my enjoyment, than it is worth the price. If a person thinks fishing equipment is too expensive, than don't buy it. I know plenty of people that enjoy fishing as much as me, who fish from shore with a rod and reel that cost them $20, 30 years ago. I know people that can out fish me with any gear. They are expert anglers, and are proof that the equipment doesn't catch the fish, the fishermen does. I also know people with the best gear money can buy, that would have a hard time catching a fish throwing dynamite into an aquarium, but they are very proud of their high priced equipment, and have fun fishing, so no rant from me.

I also highly recommend the Ardito. I have had two for over a year now. One medium, and one medium heavy. I take them everywhere I go and use them for multiple species of fish. I don't notice any significant difference in sensitivity or any other category of performance between the Ardito and my Tatula rods.

I make my own spinner baits, and have every combination imaginable. I could easily get by with a black 1/2 oz single Colorado. My go to on cloudy, sunny, calm, or windy weather. Slow role on bottom, or waked just under the surface, deep or shallow, day or night. I fish many other types, and have many different favorites for specific conditions, but most of the time if they wont hit my old standby, then most likely, I shouldn't be fishing a spinner bait.

I have been a Shimano fan all my life. I still prefer Shimano for off shore saltwater use but have switched over to Diawa for freshwater, and inshore. Tatula CT. Coastal 200, Coastal SV and Diawa BG spinning reels. I also have a couple plfueger spinning reels I like. I believe Shimano's top of the line is still the best, but Diawa is better for the $100 to $200 dollar range.

Hula popper, Heddon super sonic, Rebel deep Wee r, Rebel buzz'n frog and Rebel Jumpin minnow.

In the early seventies, bait caster became popular, because Abu Garcia came out with the Ambassador line of reels. Most level wind reels before Ambassadors the handle would turn backwards at the same time the line went out. Making backlash way more of a problem than reels that disengaged the reel handle. The spinning reels made at that time didn't have a bearing in the roller on the bail, most didn't even have a roller. The line simply slid on a shallow spot on the bail. When a fish would make a hard run, there was a lag time between line pulling straight down the rod being transferred, to pulling on the reel spool. A bait caster, had the advantage of the line pulling directly off the spool, not at a right angle. The drags on spinning reels at that time were also very poor. I can remember having to set the drag so loose on a spinning reel, the line would want to go out while I was reeling, but wouldn't go out fast enough when a fish made a run. Line would get twisted reeling with drag slipping, and a hard run by a fish would break the line if I tightened the drag to avoid this problem. The big advantage a level wind reel had was the ability to use heavy line. Spinning reels didn't cast line over 10 pound test very well. Bass anglers started fishing weedless baits in thick cover and discovered being able to use heavy line had a big advantage. Add to that dependable drags, reels that after a bit of practice could be cast without back lashing, and the bait caster became king . Spinning reels became the norm for novice anglers, and light line techniques. Using spinning reels for all species of fish have changed drastically since then. The drags now are as good as any bait caster, they put bearings in the roller so there is no delay in transmitting the ninety degree force directly to the spool, and super braid lines make it practical to cast heavy line on even the smallest spinning reels. Spinning reels are now commonly used for almost all saltwater species, and techniques. Any bass fishing method can be mastered with a spinning rod as easily as a bait caster. I like many bass fishermen, use spinning gear for light line techniques, and bait casters for most of my fishing. This is only because of personal preference, not because a bait caster is superior in any way.