jamie

I weighed a fish once. It was a pike. I think I was 12 years old. I then stopped weighing fish when I realized that a 36" pike is all of about 8 lbs. Norm, I've got the one 23 under my belt and I'll be the first one to say that there's no way it went anything close to what the average shmoe would say. I always get a kick out of the pictures in our area publications (I'll refrain from saying which ones) that have a picture of some guy with a 6lb 18" bass. Bwhahahahaha! It's even funnier when the picture is in front of the guys garage and the photo caption says "RELEASED!". Yeah..right..released into what? A frying pan?

Joz is right. Below is my personal best smallie ever. I don't think this fish went much over 4. And we're taking a couple inches over 20. I've personally seen 2 smallies bigger than the one pictured. They both hit 24". Those fish probably went over 5#...but they were in the Pipestone Lake system in NW Ontario. As far as around here goes, I just don't think the water lends itself to producing a 5# fish...even 4# is a reach. I'm almost into double digits of 20+" smallies and I don't think a single one with the possible exception of the one pictured hit 4#. And even the one pictured is a "possible" 4# fish. The fish around here just don't have any shoulders to them in my opinion. They're great fish, don't get me wrong...but they just don't get to be that classic football shape.

Gary, I think you can find a few of this rarities around you. :rolleyes Speaking of weight... I'd like to catch a 5lb smallie someday. One of our crew got a Mississippi River 20". Didn't hit 4lbs on a digital scale. I got my personal best not that long ago and I highly doubt it hit 5lbs yet it was a couple numbers over 20. I think that any time we hear about a 6,7,8lb smallie it's probably as much of a B.S. story as the Louie Spray muskie. I personally dont think the waters around here are capable of producing a 5lb fish. I think some southern and northern waters are very capable to the point where 4 lbs is almost a common true number. But until we see a picture of a 20"ish smallie from around here on a certified digital scale, I don't think it's happening. The 20" I'm speaking of from the big river would probably go over 4lbs in fall or during spring spawn. But...check out the photo and you'll see that most average fisherman would have been crying out "5 or 6 lbs!" when it was only 3 lbs 12 oz. Lookie>> http://www.customfish.com/2007/08/man-on-mississippi.html

That's right. What BP is planning on doing is the same as dumping 5,000 bottles of ammonia into Lake Michigan PER DAY...less than 1 mile from the Hammond,IN water intake. Oh...not to mention a few dead smallies. Read this. And take the 5 seconds out of your day to sign it, please. (CLICK IT..YOU'LL FEEL BETTER.)

If this story was true I've caught 4 10-12lb smallies this year. I feel great. I wonder if 12 lb smallie tastes like bald eagle or spotted owl?

Oh...I accept it also. Sure. Why not. But they are idiots. We all understand that ofcourse. I'm just happy I don't have to watch them to learn what I've learned that makes it possible for me to catch fish. It's a business...a "show", if you will. Knowing that makes it a little more tolerable when I see them flipping fish on a boat deck, I guess. So yeah. I accept their shinanigans.

Mike, A quick shot with a horizontal fish is a great point to bring up. Just a few fast seconds out of the water is all that's needed. Example: Unfortunately the smallie that she wouldn't let go of didn't fair too well. So ala Kevin Dells, chalk me up for one on the mortality chart. Ugh. That sucks.

Kevin, Switch to a Gamakatsu Circle Hook on the Senkos. I use #8 red Gamakatsu Octopus hooks but i carry the circles with me in case i run into a stretch of insane hitters. ******************************* As far as mortality rates go; I wouldn't trust a single study of mortality rates based on a tournament anywhere. Have you SEEN a bass tounrament on tv?? YANK the fish out of the water. FLY it thru the air. BOUNCE it off the bottom of the boat. Pick up fish, RIP the hooks out and then hold it with one hand in a horizontal posistion and TORQUE the jaw to the point of near dislocation. Oh..and then if it's big enough THROW it in the livewell (remember to put the aerator on so you dont kill all the fish in there like that idiot Mike Iconelli did. Moron.). And if it's not big enough THROW it out of the boat like a hot rock. And yes..I got all that from watching the 5 minutes of fishing tournament coverage that I have seen on TV in the entire duration of my life. Or even worse is when a guy like Jimmy Houston holds the fish in his hand while explaining the rock pile he's fishing to the tv viewer...for like 5 minutes. Yeah...the lactic acids aren't building up in THAT fish enough to kill it. Puh-lease ***** I think mortality rates depend on the hardware used and the care of the fish. For topwater lures I use Excalibur rotating treble hooks because the fish are being surface hooked without swallowing the entire lure. With senko type baits I'm using octopus or circle hooks because chances are you're going to have a few fish swallow the bait..and if they do have a bait too deep, cut the line.They have a better chance of passing it than they do with a bleed-out. I also change my style on any particular day based on what they are doing. If they are super aggresive I'll upsize the bait OR react in a quicker fashion on hookset so they cant swallow the bait. If I have everything at my disposal I'll switch from a medium action IM7 to a med/hvy IM8 so there's less flex in the fish' favor thus taking away that possible 2" of give that will allow the bait to go deep....I mean, if they are jumping on the bait that hard using an IM8 is only going to help you anyway. I'm a smallie guy first and a muskie guy second. In muskie fishing there are some serious factors regarding catch/photo/release that have to be considered in assuring a proper job of handling and release in a quick fashion. It's DRILLED into our heads as muskie guys. Whereas bass fishermen see the above tournament morons banging fish all over the boat and viola...you just taught a generation of fishermen that whipping a fish out of the water and throwing him back with a solid side-smack-belly-flob from 4' up is perfectly acceptable. And it is..if a 15% mortality rate is acceptable, then sure..go beat em up and let them dance on the floor of a $40,000 bass boat. Keep them out of the water as they get lifted, bagged, weighed, lifted again, released en mass in the same 20' area, etc. Check out a muskie tournament sometime. The fish are judged IN the boat and released immediately...not 15 miles from their home range. The fish are kept in the water for the entire unhooking process most of the time and when they are released it's as if a child is being taught to swim...NOT throw out of the boat from 4' up. Visit a muskie site and check out any topic about mishandling fish. Those guys are fanatics. I've seen guys just about get driven out of the sport for sliding a muskie across a boat deck. Whereas with bass fishing it's perfectly normal to take two fists full of tournament winning bass, fling them over your heads in a sign of victory, pose for the camera for 10 minutes and then toss them back in a basket for some lacky to slide them down a chute into a holding tank jammed with other entries. But I digress.

Agreed. The reach is an evil that I see WAYY too often. That's why i like the muskie guys for photos. You can't "reach shoot" a 50" muskie. If anyone would like some tips on how to shoot a great photo that will compliment both you and the fish, drop me a PM. (I think I already posted those tips a while ago) ON a personal note, I've got a few over 20 and one...let's just say north-of-twenty that I have published with a simple "20+" label.

I lost a smallie the other day too. He never had a chance. Pics>> http://www.customfish.com/2007/06/were-baaaaaaack.html

My recommendation of the week is (*drum roll).. The Charlie Megabait! Sure..it seems like a California style swimbait that almost borders on something I'll use for Pike next week in Ontario. But..what the heck..it's workin'. The technique: Rip/Rip/Rip/Pause (thank you Mike Kauchak).

Yeah..but that third can from the right looks like a good spot to flip an Ika into. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I pulled the fly fishing shirt. I change logos on stuff constantly. The "pole" shirt will roll back around in a few days.

Ah, sorry 'bout that. Fishing reports section. Ya might have to thumbs thru some archives, but they wont be hard to find. We fish smallies most of the time. http://customfish.com/customfishingreport.html

Tim Smith and I have been having an ongoing conversation regarding the possible differences in the 3 subspecies of smallmouth bass. I catch smallies of 2 different varieties. One has a stockier build with a rounded rear dorsal fin (Typical). The other has a longer build, a much larger tail and a sharply pointed rear dorsal fin. Same waters, often catching both kinds on the same outing. The normal smallies are jumpers. The spike smallies (as we call them) don't jump as much but instead choose to bulldog to no end. It's NOT a product of river vs lake fish. These fish are caught in flowing and still waters. It's NOT a trait of male/female. I've been pouring over pictures of both males and females on beds, and they both have the typical rounded fins. I'm thinking these are possibly traits of the 3 known subspecies of smallmouth bass: The Ouachita strain of smallmouth bass, the Neosho strain of smallmouth bass, and our area's northern smallmouth bass. I have several pictures on my site. Feel free to go have a look (it'd take me an hour to go thru them and put them here. Sorry.) Here's a couple : ( round fin smallies) (spike smallie) Anyone have a clear cut answer as to why these fish are so totally different?

From what I've seen in the past week, they're already done in my area. Topwater baits are taking some rail-thin-spawned-out-ready-to-eat-again smallies. Seems to have been a good spawning season with a week or so of no rains to boost the water levels. Should be a good year class.

Dana Lee, Yeah, you may have come out of the gate a little quick on that. In our line of business we deal with this every day. A guy says it's a 50" muskie and we figure out (thru a trade secret method) that's it's 48". Photos are funny, but there is a way to tell no matter how far you hold the fish out. For my company it's always a pain when we get the hold-it-out-as-far-as-you-can-InFisherman-shot. But that's how some guys like their pics. For us, we hold them up against us or if kneeling, no farther than your knee. It's just more of an honest shot. But that's just our opinion. Case in point: Now, you may be saying "Average size smallie". You'd be wrong. It's an "honest" size photo. The fish is held next to my face on the same plane as me. Here's a hint on how big it is- the lure in it's mouth is an HJ08 Husky Jerk which is exactly 3 1/8" long. Ahhh..now it seems like a big fish. As in north of 20" kind of big. Although I still maintain that I got cheated by God because I'm 6'2" 200# so all my fish look smaller. I have vowed to hire a midget to hold all my fish! So..ya see, that's why it's not always easy to tell. Another easy trick to fiiguring out the size is this: Look at the holding party's fingers. If they look wildly dispropotionate to the face, then the fish is not on the same plane and being held "out. And even holding the fish a few inches away from your body can make the illusion of a HUGE difference. Case in point #2: "Good lord!". Looks like a monster bass, right? At 22" inches it aint bad. But consider this. It's exactly ONE inch longer than that smallie in the other photo. ONE inch...that's it. Then there's something like the one my business partner Mike is holding in this example: "Not bad. I think Largemouth #1 is bigger." If you're thinking that you'd be WAY wrong. That's a bass he got in Florida 2 weeks ago. It's about 5 or 6" LONGER and about 3 lbs heavier. But due to the distance the camera-person was away from Mike it doesn't look as grand as it was. (and yes, that's a broken rod in his hand. Still landed it though. GO MIKE!) Basically, unless you're in the business we're in, you have to go by the word of the angler. If Jason says it's 21, 22, whatever...you have to trust in the honesty of a smallie fisherman that it's a solid truth. Now...as far as muskie guys go, that's another story... The Louie Spray photo was disproved as the world record muskie by experts examining the photo vs distance. It's actually about 6" shorter than reported and a TOTAL lie. We found the same thing when we were asked our opinion on it. I'm sure there's a smallie and a walleye record out there that can and might someday be taken off the boards as well by the same methods. But unless it's a record or a paying job ya just go by the anglers word. Hope this helped shed some light on the subject. Great fish Jason.

My American Indian remedy for poison ivy works like a charm every time. Assuming you are near water; when you realize you have it (usually moments after walking thru it) get muddy. REAL muddy. Use river mud to coat the area. Let it dry. When the mud dries it draws away the oils from the plant, which is what causes the itch/burn. After mud has completely dried like cement, wash it off in the water. Done. No more poison ivy. Works every.single.time.

Like Teddy said " Speak softly and carry a big stick." It was a good couple of weeks. That fish topped the list for length, but there was a host of others. All on baits brought in at break neck speed from 46-51 degree water. You know where to find the rest of 'em Joz.

4, actually.

A few ties this year. Just gup a couple. I'll post Mike's too because he's too busy.

Thanks Joz. You're right. I need new material. Here goes. My favorite plastic: Joz's new hip.

Exude Hellgie. 4" Senko. 3" Ika.