Bubba 460

I grab the line ~ if~ the fish's weight is below the breaking point of the line, plus usually it's a smaller fish and I don't really care if he gets off or not. If they're a little bigger I will swing'em aboard. But if it's a really nice bass I"m getting the net or belly lift or lipping them if there is not 9 sharp hooks looking at me.

Thanks everyone.

I know most of the names of the weeds, reeds, pads around here except that green, scum slime that floats in the summer (so to be correct I call it "Green, scum slim"). Nor do think it matters what type of downed tree is in the water, be it oak, hickory, poplar, broad leaf or conifer. It's all good cover. When referring to natural cover I have it narrowed down to; stick, tree, weeds, grass, pads, rock(s) and bushes~ works for me.

Well speaking of otters, let me tell you about a sea otter. When I lived in Alaska I would often go to the Anchor River and fish for the big king salmon that made their run in the spring. One day I had hooked one that weighed about 30 pounds. I had been fighting him for a few minutes when all of a sudden he got real heavy. He came to the the surface and there on his back with all four legs wrapped around the fish was a 3 foot sea otter! The otter was viciously chewing on the salmon head. Well, the extra weight was too much and the line parted, and I lost both of them.

That's a fatty ~ congratulations on your new memory.

Whopper Plopper ~ my favorite lure to catch a fish on. The strikes on a Whopper Plopper could almost be called malicious with bad intentions ~ certainly there is no playing around when a bass smacks one. I use the 130 size for both largemouth and smallmouth and the 190 size for big largemouth and musky. I have bought and used the little Pip-squeak 60 and 75 whopper Plopper but gave them to my daughter to use. Yes, it catches fish but I'd call the 60 size Whopper Plopper "finesse fishing." I have caught 12" bass on the 130 size and that is what I'm trying NOT to catch. I'm looking for the grown up bass, the bigger the lure the bigger the fish. My go too color is black (loon) but will switch colors if warranted.

Well about 10 years ago I bought two Pflueger Patriarch spinning reels. They were $200 each. I have used them hard and often. I am more than impressed with them and never regretted this purchase. Ten years sounds like a long life for a hard used reel.. Yes, I have had a bail spring go bad and somehow bent the shaft on one.... But get this, I sent them in for repair to the Pflueger repair center and they where repaired and sent back ~ NO CHARGE and postage paid! This was when the reels were 6 or 7 years old! They also sent a new fancy spool, free. So I'm sure there are many fine high end reels out there but I have only tried these high end reels and I'm glad I did. If they ever do wear out or Pflueger stops repairing them I will by more... And a fine looking reel to boot. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewpfluegerspinningpreICAST10.html

Central VA. ~Water temp. 46, wind gusting to 30mph, very stained water. Some bass moving up on southern shallows in the sunny afternoons. Caught this one on a single gold, Colorado blade spinner bait in three feet of water. Caught three others in deep water (no color) on a River2 Sea Tactical DD crank (red) and a blade bait. Got nine bass yesterday to 16" mostly slow rolling a spinner bait deep. I'm in the boat by myself so this is the best photo could get with a camera one handed. She was back in the water in 45 seconds. I don't weigh bass unless I think they are approching10 pounds.

Techniques, so many techniques, not only that but now you have rods especially made for certain techniques! You have cranking rods, jig rods, drop-shot rods etc. Even reels geared for specific techniques. A person can spend a small fortune on technique equipment alone and the industry keeps putting more and more "technique" products out there. Well I'm as guilty as the next guy, I have thousands tied up in fishing gear, more lures than I'll ever use in a lifetime. I don't know about you but I seem to keep using the same five or six lures over and over again, why?... because they catch fish! For me they are (in no particular order) a spinner bait, a jerk bait, a top water, a worm (couple of styles) A crank and a jig from Ned rig to larger. Those are warm water baits. Then you need a few for winter, some of the above can be carried over to winter but a few more come into play like a blade bait, swim baits and maybe a spoon. I don't like to get anymore "finessey" than I have too to catch a bass. I like to start out power fishing then slow down to whatever starts getting bit. I don't know if you would call that a "technique" but it works for me. The fishing is easy, the catching is a little more tricky some days.

I did move south... after living in Alaska for over 30 years I moved to Virginia. I would rather have temperatures on the cool side than blazing hot. With that said, I fish for bass year round, non-stop or until a rare ice-over. Catch some of my biggest bass in the winter and look forward to it. Just look at my swollen, wind burnt cheeks in this cold winter photo. Hey it's rough but someone has to do it.

Glad you had the adventure. I lived in Alaska for 30 wonderful years

You should have seen the fillets. A lot of great eating there. The biggest halibut caught that season in Homer was 312 pounds.

While I was living in Alaska my sister and her husband came up from California for a visit. One of the things he wanted to do was to catch a halibut. We drove the the four hour drive south to Homer, Alaska. The next day we were on an eight person halibut charter boat called "The Tackle Buster". Every year Homer sponsors the Halibut Derby for the three biggest halibut caught that season; 1st place wins $30,000, 2nd place $20,000 and 3rd place fish wins $10,000. I didn't buy a $7.50 derby ticket. So out into the bay we go until we hit 250 meters of water just before high tide. On a side note, Alaska has the second highest tides in the world at around 22 feet... so when the tide is running it's not playing around. Three pounds of lead weight and half a cut herring take a bit to get to the bottom. You're allowed to keep two halibut. My first halibut was what they called a "chick"; a very small halibut. It weighed about 12 pounds. Unfortunately, the gills were damaged by the hook which meant it could not be thrown back, so that was my fish number one. I said a silent prayer for something a little bigger. A few minutes later, I set the hook into something that didn't move but it was definitely swimming. Anyway, to make a long story short, an hour and a half later, I reeled in a 271 pound, 8 foot 4inch, "barn door" halibut. The skipper came out and shot it in the head with a shotgun; it took five guys with gaffs to pull it up and over the side. It filled the whole back deck of the boat up. This 271 pound halibut ended up being the third largest halibut caught that year in the Homer derby. That would have been a $10,000 fish, had I bought the $7.50 derby ticket. All eight people aboard caught halibut up to about 40 pounds, and they were all happy. But not as happy as I was... $10,000 or not. That is the fish of a lifetime

Viet Nam vet ~ 1969-1970 Army

I cast a Whopper Plopper 130 across a good looking point, it no sooner hit the water when a large pickerel hit it and cut my line. With the lure gone I tied on another and continued on fishing around the banks of the large cove. After about an hour I was returning to the same point when the pickerel with my Whopper Plopper still in his mouth jump right in front of me and threw the bait. The lure landed on the water just 20 feet from where I was. I went over and picked it up and thanked him.