Big bass, cats, and butts!

[Mattlures]

I have actually gotten out a little bit and did some fishing. I am not super motivated on bass right now so I mixed it up with some different species

caught 4 nice bass on my swimbait

Then I caught some pretty big channel cats

then I caught a monster butt

[SirSnookalot]

Nice halibuts

[roadwarrior]

Nice "catchin'",

Interesting pics, too.

BTW, How much would you guess those little bitty bass weighed?

I think some our members (like me) would consider those some

pretty fine fish!

-Kent

8-)

[Cracker]

HOW could a couple of bass like those NOT get you motivated???

[Siebert Outdoors]

Dinks.   ;D

Really nice fish Matt

[mrlitetackle]

ya.....their nice fish and all, but maybe if you go out more you'll actually catch some decent fish

seriously though......what was the weight on those two minnows your holding up??

[Mattlures]

Thanks fellas. The bass arent that big. They are very fat so they look bigger then they are. They just arent very long. The big ones are around 7-8 and the last little guy was around 4. there was another 1 also around 4. I think the bass are the least impresive. The biggest cat went 19 .8 and thats big for a channel. small for a blue but a big channel. I actualy sight fished those cats on purpose with a jig. I could see them cruising in about 20ft and I would pitch my jig out in front of their path. When they got close I would give it a little hop and they would hit it. I had 1 qwick chance to stick them because they wouldnt hold the jig. It was a blast. I missed several more. The best fish by far is the big Hali. They are a different species then the Alaskan ones and that 30lber is huge. A fish of a lifetime for most. Bass will probably always be my number 1 but sometimes its hard to work for them when I can go play in the salt and catch fish all day.

[Hammer 4]

Man...what I wouldn't give to hook into some Bass like that.  Nice work!!!

[aarogb]

Nice halibuts

    Are Halibut and Flounder the same thing?

    Here in North Carolina you never hear the word "Halibut" but you always hear the word "Flounder".

[CGH]

Nice halibuts

Are Halibut and Flounder the same thing?

Here in North Carolina you never hear the word "Halibut" but you always hear the word "Flounder".

Eyes will let you know

[Jake.]

Nice halibuts

Are Halibut and Flounder the same thing?

Here in North Carolina you never hear the word "Halibut" but you always hear the word "Flounder".

No. Halibut live in deeper water and grow bigger. They are native to the Pacific.

[Fish Chris]

Dude ! ALL nice fish !

How heavy was that monster Cali-butt ? My biggest is 29lbs... that looks bigger !

I'm envious ! Our bass fishing up here is kind of sucking this year. I might try to mix it up a with a little kitty fishing here soon, and hoping one of these years that the butts come back inside of Bodega Bay.....

I love catching / eating those crazy looking things :-)

Stay on em',

Fish

[Mattlures]

Chris I weighed the hali in the boat and the scale was reading between 30 and 30 1/2 lbs so I am just calling it an even 30lbs.

There are lost of other cool fish to catch right now. I might go get a big ol leopard shark next!

[Fish Chris]

Yea', those big ol' Leopards are a blast too ! A couple years ago I was catching the heck out of Leopards and Bat Rays, and it was kind of weird..... First I'd be catching Bat Ray, after Bat Ray. I might catch 6 or 8 of them in a row... then Bam ! Nothing but Leopards 1 after the other :-) Some of them pretty nice sized to.... I mean like 50" to 56" inchers. Those things rip too !

I had 1 catch that might be a little hard to explain.... but it's a cool story, so let me try anyway :-) Okay so I was fishing at the dead end of a channel, where the water basically came up and out over shallow flats (on a high tide). Their were already Leopards cruising around on the flat.

Well, I don't know what made me think to try this, but I baited up with my Salmon Roe, then just held my pole straight out beside the boat, with about 4 feet of line between the tip of my pole, and the bait.

Of course I couldn't see it.... but I knew that stinky Salmon Roe had to be putting off a big time scent trail, right out over the flats. About that time a Leopard is cruising about 30 feet behind my boat, from the right, to the left. As its swimming along, I start thinking > if it were going to hit that scent trail, it would be right... about... NOW ! Right then, the Leopard starts twitching, and jerking, and spins an immediate U-turn, going right back through the scent trail.... then another U-turn, and another, as it starts to follow it upstream straight towards my bait, hanging off of the end of my pole, which I'm still holding straight out beside the boat. Yea', my arm was starting to get tired, but as the shark closed in, I knew what was going to happen, and the adrenalin started pumping :-) Sure enough, within a few more seconds, it inhaled my bait, and Bam ! Fish (okay) Shark on ! :-)

Whoo Hoo :-) Turned out to be a nice 52" too :-) Very memorable experience. But anyway, talk about an amazing sense of smell !

Which reminds me, I have about 10 lbs of Roe in the freezer right now ;-)

Peace,

Fish

[Mattlures]

Chris I think we have a lot of our fishing in common. I like to catch big fish of every species availible to me. I am honestly a little burnt out on bass soo I am going salty hunting this year. I still have 2 more good bass bites left but I want some salty trophys.

Here is my biggest bat ray. I guess it at around 140 but who knows

And here is my Angel shark. these guys are pretty rare down here, do you have any of them up by you?

[rfrazier]

That is a hell of a cali butt. You guys don't have pacifics down there do you? Now you got me itching for some summer butt fishing in the bay.

[Fish Chris]

Matt, yea' we do :-) My biggest Bat Ray was 'only' 110 lbs though ;-) ....like hooking the bumper of a passing motor vehicle though, huh ?

And BTW, I've caught 4 or 5 Angel Sharks too ! Those are some trippy darn creatures, aren't they ? And they can be pretty mean too ! Don't want to get your fingers too close to their mouths.

Peace,

Fish

[Joe Boss]

That is one monster Butt! Congratulations.

[paul.]

matt you are not just a great basser, you are a great fisherman period!  what awesome fish and pix!  those bass are some absolute monsters.  i'd get motivated pretty quick if i stuck a few like that!  just another day at the office for you though.

[Mattlures]

Thanks Paul, not just another day but I have spent so much time chasing bass and there are so many other cool fish to catch. the good thing is a lot of big fish habits are universal. Each new fish is easier to figure out then the last one. Once I get a few trophies of any one species I start wanting to conquer a new one. Bass will probably always be my #1

[Mrs. Matstone]

Great fish

congrats to you and thanks for sharing.  ;D

[tallydude]

Great looking fish, Matt! I know what you're talking about when you say you're burnt out on bass- when you start to think about the size of the fish in the ocean and the fight that goes with them, it's easy not to get excited about a 10 pound fish in 30 feet of water.

I'm trying to work back to bass, but jeez I wanna catch redfish right now.