Bubba 460

Great job. I have not thrown it a lot yet but did catch a big pickerel on the very first cast. Mostly been tossing' the bull shad or like imitations and doing well, at least last year. Have not been to my favorite "big bass lake" much this year because of muddy waters but it's ripe now.

The best place for an electric car today is at the carnival, the ride is called, "Bumper Cars". It will be years before they will be able work out all the bugs and hick-cups that'll be coming down the road ~ no pun intended.

There's also a ton of it on the news all day...

Cars/trucks are not there yet as far as batteries for power. I'd like to see Ford come out with a nuclear powered truck called the "Chernobyl' then follow up with a family SUV called the "Fukushima". These vehicles would run for decades on a new set of fuel rods. Start up procedure each day would involve a set of yellow flashing lights eerily lighting up the cab and of course the loud "AH-OOH-GA," warnings blast repeated way to many times.

I've been throwing the whopper plopper for many years, it's my favorite bait to throw. The only two I sizes I use are the 130 and the 190. No, they are not to big, I have caught 12 inch bass on the 130 and a two pound bass on the 190. I regularly catch smallmouth bass in the river on the 130, so again it is not an oversized bait. As the water warms, morning and evening are usually always the best time to fish in the summer months and that goes as well for the whopper plopper. However I catch bass all day on it and have no qualms in throwing it in the middle of a hot calm bluebird day as long as there is visible cover, submerged cover like logs, grass, stumps, walls, docks etc. Works best in water less than 10 feet unless bass are feeding on the surface over deep water. As far as I am concerned the River2Sea Whopper Plopper is one of the best top water baits ever made. My favorite colors is black (loon) because it make a great silhouette against the sky and on the surface from a fishes point of view both day or night. Plus birds, mice, rats, etc are not translucent, clear water or not. It cast a mile with 50# braid, if you use a lighter braid, like say 20 or 30 pound you will have tangling problems while in flight. 50 pound braid eliminates 95% of that. Hit the water running just like a buzz bait. Occasionally a very short stop or a couple of pops on the run might entice an otherwise curious bass to strike. I get most strikes in a steady retrieve however. Once in a while bring it about 2/3 of the way back to the boat/shore then just stop it and let it sit for 15-20 seconds ~you might be supersized.

I've been cutting my own hair for over 50 years ~ oh the money I've saved. I believe Gen. Custer said about the same thing.

Gold colored blades for stained water, silver blades for clear water. Willow blades are betters for a faster retrieves (or burning it) and possibly getting a reaction strike. Personality I usually try to make my spinnerbait look "injured" by reeling then snapping the rod tip to make the blades clack against each other then stop for a split second then go again ~ repeat. A bait looking to be in distress will draw more strikes I believe.

Show me twenty people and I'll show you ten idiots.

I don't think it generally matters that much in a river with a spinnerbait. Mostly you'll be targeting pools, eddies or in front of or behind rocks, logs and structures. Sometimes they come an just look at it and sometimes they smash it. Colorado blade will give you a slower presentation but sometimes you want the speed of the Willow blades. All depends on the situations. So for starters get a willow/Colorado combo, that will work as good as any ~IMHO.

3/8 oz ~ small enough for small bass and big enough for big bass.

I have four daughters, three off them liked to fish. They are grown now and two of them still like to fish and do go sometimes but would not call them "avid". My oldest daughter is disabled and does not like to see anything hurt or uncomfortable. She would not hurt a bug and catches the bees in her room to be set free outside. About the only thing she dislikes are ticks and mosquitos.

I have caught bass right at the boat, removed the hook and they were back in the water 4 seconds... is that a flash abduction? I always think to myself, "That bass has no idea what just happened "

Thirty five years as a carpenter, that's a lot of hard work. Congratulations on "making it." I did seven years (off and on) on a carpenter crew framing houses. Started in 1965 at $2.25 an hour working like a dog. There were no "nail guns" it was all hammer work. Three hits on a 16 penny nail and two on a eight penny nail. I have carried the equivalent of the entire north west Olympic forest from the wood pile into the houses being built. Back, knees, hips shot. My right arm hang to my knees and I have fallen asleep more then once while eating dinner at the table after work. So I know where you're coming from.

Funny you mention that because it's more prevalent, especially among certain bank fisherman, who brother to carry out NOTHING when they leave. You see a spot on the bank that looks like a dump. Just the other day I was on a lake with my boat where there were two other guys in a boat who were tossing their empty beer cans out on the water. I don't even drink and now I have beer cans in the back of my truck. I can not express in words on this forum how much I detest people like this and I don't even cuss either. I "used" to think to myself that "If someone fishes, they can't be all bad" ~ learned a long time ago that's not true. There are bad actors in all walks of life and their endeavors. I have been legally armed for more than 40 years. It would not go well for me legally if I instigated a confrontation while armed and it went south ~ I would be the "instigator" no matter what the circumstances where. You just don't know about people today.

Unless you're fishing ponds, my advice is... stop limiting yourself and get off the bank. Purchase a small used or new Jon boat, canoe, kayak, Crawdad, float-tube, anything that you can carry in your truck or on top of your car. I bought a used 10 foot Jon boat in nice shape for $150 a few years ago. No, it's not a $80,000 bass boat but it gets you off the bank and out on the water. I see lots of 12 to 14' Jon boats for $250. Getting off the banks opens up a whole new world of advantages and adventures in bass fishing.

Yes, I have. While living in Alaska my older brother and I took a commercial flight from Anchorage to Lake Iliamna. A remote and except for a few Indian villages sparsely populated area of SW Alaska. It is the largest lake in Alaska and the 3rd largest lake in the United States. The lake is 77 miles long, 22 miles wide, 1,000 feet deep, and is the home of the Iliamna Monster. It is a creature reported to be bigger than the floats on a float plane. From the small village of Iliamna we flew out in a beat-up bush plane on floats piloted by an Alaskan Indian guide. We flew for about 45 minutes across the lake and he landed us on a remote section of the shoreline where a river entered the lake, about a hundred feet wide at the mouth. We took out our fishing gear, rifles (338 Magnums), sleeping bags, and food stock and the plane flew off. Once the drone of the engine faded away the sound of silence was deafening. We were now a hundred miles from nowhere and some of the largest brown bears in Alaska roam this wilderness. We were there to catch native rainbow trout, and catch them them we did. Nearly every cast was a 5 to 10 pound rainbow. Some of the hardest fighting fish I've encountered, long runs, aerobatics, they had it all. You had to stop and take a break for a bit then hit 'em again. Red fox were everywhere and totally unafraid of humans. They would run in and grab the trout as they flopped on the bank and run off with it, sometimes with drag screaming. There was a small metal Quonset hut there that set back in the brush that was about 10' wide and 15' long with claw marks all over it. Had a couple of bunks, small table and chairs small wood stove and some can goods along the wall on boxes and oil lamps. Well, to make a long story short, we were to be there for two days but the weather turned foul, high winds plummeted the lake, it rain sideways, and the waves on the lake were 4 foot high... there would be no plane for days. We hunkered in the hut for three days, played cards, growled at each other and continually looked out the small window for signs of clearing. Day five was more of the same: wind, rain, and cold. In the afternoon we heard the drone of a plane ~ in this weather??... Yes, it was our pilot. He circled, tipped his wings, and we thought he was just doing a suicidal check up on us. He swings around and lands in that little river. We load up our gear and he taxied down the river as far as he could then turned and hammered it. Wind howling, raining so hard you could barley see and 4 foot white capping swells just ahead on the lake. The engine was maxed when we hit the first big swell on the lake; the little bush plan shuddered and bounded to the next wave and then we were in the air ~ we all breathed again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliamna_Lake

In the spring/summer, once the water temps hit 60 and above I mostly target large shallow flats or shoreline cover. That is what I enjoy doing. Like I always say, everyone is different. My confidence bait it the Whopper Plopper 130. I don't want little fish so big baits have a somewhere better chance of eliminating those. If you absolutely, positively need a big bass today, that has worked for me time after time. Put the time in throwing it and it will happen. Morning and evening are best but all day too. Now I'm not talking spending 10 or 15 minutes with it, I'm talking hours. Sure you can put a smaller bait on, a crank, wacky, senko, or bottom crawler and catch more fish... But I want a decent bass. The Whopper Plopper cast a mile on 50# braid, covers a lot of water quickly. All the bass in the vicinity know it's there, they either want it or not and they don't play around when they do take it. Just done it too many times to not be a believer. Winter it's deep jerkbaits mostly (shadow Raps with added weight tabs)

Are you kidding, I look like a brother with an Elvis wig on

Went out today to do a little froggin'. This 38 ac lake is half covered in those smaller (silver dollar) pads. First cast with the Teckel Sprinker frog across the pads produced a 1.5 lb bass ~Yes! A few more cast and a two pounder nailed the "spin-tail frog", as I like to call it. A few pickerel streaked beneath the pads like torpedoes after it but I slid it out of the way just before they hit it ~ varmints. I cast beyond a stump and brought the frog across the pads to it and WHAM!.. Nice big blow-up but he knocked the frog two feet into into the air above the boiling white water. "C'mon man!", I said with a chuckle. Ended up with ten bass and one pickerel that snuck-in on me. Biggest bass was 2.5 lb but had the camera on "record" by accident while taking the photo. I also used the River2 Sea popping frog for the really thick pads. I seem to get more hits in the thick stuff. Had at least 20 hits, fun day.

Well, no degrees or fancy job titles here just the school of hard knocks. Worked at a fishing resort in Florida as a guide and boat handler for awhile in the 60's. Did a stint in the Army (Vietnam). I was an arborist (tree climber) for 11 years in five states (got a raise everyday). Worked on a carpenter crew for seven years. After some injuries I moved to Alaska and started painting pictures. Eked out a living for 30 years doing that, even after getting married at 38. Had some of my work on several magazine covers, Alaska phone book covers, been on TV, etc. I wish I had more samples to show but lost most in a computer crash years ago. Now retired and just bass fish, weather permitting.

Yep ~ I read that before, thought it was interesting. Red and green are the primary colors bass see.... Everything else is on the white to black, gray scale.

Yes but mostly no.

Mama Cass of the 60's singing group "The Mammas and the Papas", choked to death while eating a ham sandwich... Stuff happens. I don't think anyone would enjoy unintentionally being the cause of a bass's demise. But for the most part this is usually a rare event compared to how many bass one catches and releases. I'm sure golfers, at times, kill birds flying ~ don't play golf myself... Is that what a birdie is? Compared to the eagle the osprey is a mere amature at catching fish. An eagle rarely even gets wet and rarely misses ~ the Osprey on the other hand is a dive bomber, crashing into the water at 25 mph and most of the time coming up empty handed.

And with that photo I say again, just imagine what a 10 lb + would eat. I swear you could fish for bass with nothing but musky lures and catch them. maybe not many but they would be nice. I bought three Choppo's and all three took on water and failed to work properly. Oh they sounded nice at first but I've bought my last Choppo, It's River2Sea for me. Never had a problem out of them (River2Sea) and I have a dozen.

This guy has some good advice...