fishmount

I fish all the time for the giant Bluegills and Redears that we have here near me in Southern California. I bought a 7 ft ultralight rod to use with 2 lb test, and for me it is just too long. You can cast a little bit farther with the longer rod, but with the 7 footer, I keep hitting the tip on everything in my garage and house. It's hard to go thru doorways with it. I still have several short 5 and 5 1/2 foot ultralights that I've had for a long time, but just in the past couple of years, I've bought longer rods because we do a lot of slow trolling and it's easier to see your line and keeping it away from the boat, plus being able to cast the little jigs out farther.

Just thought I'd add this... I made the replica mount of the past Japanese record Largemouth Bass of 19.15 pounds a few years ago caught by Kazuya Shimada from Lake Ikehara on a deep fished big drop shot plastic bait. This fish was on display at several Fishing Shows in the USA and Japan.

This topic is dated back a few years, but being a fish taxidermist more many years, I had to make a few comments. It seems like fishermen thought Robert Munoz (Robert's Trophy Fish Mounts) was the only quality fish taxidermist that made fiberglass reproductions out there, especially in Southern California. I started my part time fish mounting business back in 1971 (Jeff's Fish Mounts) in Fullerton, Ca. and once I put up a mounted bass in my local sporting goods store, business really took off. I kept it as a part time business because I had a full-time job with very good benefits, including full medical and we had a baby on the way. After more than 45 years and thousands of mounted fish from all over the world, I retired. Although Robert Munoz was very talented as a fish replica artist, and a very nice guy, he was not the only quality fish guy out there as so many fishermen seemed to think. As I did research to better my work, and with home computers becoming available to help me in my search, I found several taxidermists that like me, specialized in only fish reproductions, not the old method of "skin mounts". My methods got refined and I ended up specializing in Largemouth Bass and Rainbow trout. Today there are many more fish taxidermists, but there are still only a dozen or so that do fantastic, exceptional work, especially with the most important step involved, the coloring and painting of the trophy fish mount. I no longer do fish mounts, but if you would like a reference to someone who does top quality work, just let me know.

I just found an older rod of mine that was carefully put away in storage for several years. I forgot I had it. It's a Sabre "Basstroker" spinning rod #BS161 5 1/2 foot, (dark brown with tan and white wraps) brown hypalon (foam) handle rated for 8 to 20 lb test. It's in really great condition, hardly ever used. Is this rod worth much? I used it to fish primarily with live crawdads and large plastic worms in our SoCal bass lakes. I used 10 and 12 lb Maxima mono with it. Since this rod is so strong and stiff and has quite large guides I was thinking it might be a good swim bait and crankbait rod, but with it being also short, it might hinder the casting distance. Anybody have any knowledge about this old classic rod? I believe this brand of rods were more popular on the West coast in both saltwater and the California bass lakes.

I had to post this photo of a 3 pound Bluegill that I mounted that was the old Lake Perris record Bluegill. The current Lake Record is a giant of 3 lbs. 15 oz.! The fisherman that caught this 3 pounder wanted the mount painted as a "Northern" Bluegill; a more traditional look because the live fish was colored like the above fish.. dark with orange fin tips, and to him it did not look like a Bluegill at all. It was his money!

We have the almost black males with the purple heads here in some of our lakes..

Eartworm77… You didn't read what I started above on Nov 7. They are indeed the Florida sub-species called coppernose Bluegill. I think they should actually be called copperhead. bchase44… Yeah, usually the males are more colorful, but this beautiful hen coppernose BG was quite the exception!

Here's a couple more pics of a big male and a colorful female Bluegill from Lake Perris in southern California.

Over all the great baits listed above, the best, most productive for me, year 'round is the Yamamoto Fat Ika in green pumpkin or black/red on an EWG 5/0 red hook, reversed hooked. But, you have to know how to fish this great bait.

Yes we get them in numbers, but usually in certain areas of the lake and usually in the spring thru fall. You may catch 20 fish in the morning and out of those, 5 to 8 fish will be a pound or over. The rest will be 7 to 10 inch fish.

Hi everyone, I'm new to this website, and this is my first post. I have been fishing since I was about 5 years old and now I'm in my mid 60s. Although I was an avid bass fisherman for many years, like so many others, I have returned to my childhood love of fishing for sunfish, primarily Bluegill and Redear Sunfish. Lucky for me I live close to Lake Perris here in southern California that has world class trophy-sized Bluegill in it. The Florida coppernose sub-species was stocked here way back in the late 1970s and they have adapted very well, spawning and growing to unusually large sizes due to the very fertile lake that has abundant aquatic insects and lots of thread fin shad for the fish to feed on. I like to fish from a float tube, but occasionally go out in a boat to fish. We used very light tackle and 2 lb test on our spinning reels because of the clear water, and fish with tiny hand-tied jigs or spoons. Large fish are released to help keep the lake a trophy fishery.