Bass fishing today.

[Lookin4Lunkers]

I have not posted on ifish for along time. I have just been out of the loop with family and work. I am going bass fishing today and am very excited. :dance:

I will let you guys know how I did once the day is done. I am going with my girlfriends grandfather and he is an experienced bass fisherman and has a few good places in mind. Should be a great day. :cool:

[Cliff]

good luck, where ya headed?

[Lookin4Lunkers]

I am not sure. Grandpa is doing the driving.I am along for the ride and hopefully a successful days catch. :smile:

[Wreckless]

I hope you are having a great day on the water!!!

How'd ya do?

[Basscaster]

Its a good time of year to be fishing. Good Luck.

[Lookin4Lunkers]

Hey guys.
I have not had time to give you an update on my trip. It was a wonderful day on the Willamette. We started fishing around 10:00am and the bite started slow but I was the first one to catch a fish. It was about 14 inches and around 2 lbs. This was my first bass fishing trip so I had no idea what to expect. The bite really kicked in around 12 noon. Every hole we visited netted us some fish. The best catch of the day was back at a hole we were at fist thing in the morning. We re-visited it on our way back to the dock. There was a small inlet to the cove we were fishing in and the water looked fairly shallow. I tossed my lure in and reeled back and bang! fish on. Both my brother and grandpa were trying to get to the net and then the fish was gone :noway: I casted back into the same hole and reeled back....nothing :shrug: So I casted one more time and as soon as the lure hit the water I thought I had snagged the downed tree in the water but then the pole started jerking hard :bigshock:. I played it out for a little less then 4 minutes and had to keep it from going under the boat and when we finally netted the beast it weighed in at 6 lbs and was nearly 20 inches long :cheers:. All in all I had caught the 3 largest fish in the boat and we limited out for a total of 15 fish. It was an incredible day and I have an incredible sunburn too. :smile: I have a few photos but the camera is at my dads house. I will get it and upload the pic's as soon as I get my camera back. Since the places we fished were places my grandpa holds close to his heart I cannot break my promise to not tell where we were but anyone that knows how to fish for bass should not have a problem finding them.

P.S. The whole family got together that night for a big beer batter fish fry. Awesome :cool:

[SMOKEY]

Sounds like you guys had a blast. Were they smallmouth or largemouth? Be careful and don't eat to many fish that live in the Willamette, bass or any other kind, scary, scary, water.

[cimfl]

OH MY!!! HE KEPT FISH!!! Prepare to be flamed by those who are bass "purists".... :bricks:. Hey, I hope they ate good personally, even though I usually toss most back myself. That last one was a hog, congrats, makes you feel like a full-blown bass pro!!

[joshjames]

:yeahthat:FYI.... im not too mad but I want you too know however that in the regulations book it specifically says to never eat fish from the lower regions of the willamette unless they are an ocean run species or one that doesnt have its full life span in the willi. Practice catch and release anyhow. its a great method. congrats on the biggens though. :cheers:

[thehunt]

So does flamed mean saying something like why would you even think of killing a 6 pound bass?????

[Wreckless]

I don't eat a lot of Bass (except salt water Bass :food:)but maybe, just maybe we should just stick to congratulating the guy on catchin' some fish and having a great dinner!!

As I've said before, killing a few non-native fish for dinner doesn't hurt a thing.

I know people are going to point out that the big one was a spawner, but.............. :shrug: The good news is that most Bass fisherman C&R, don't rip on someone who has some for dinner.

Personally, I wash my hands after washing my hands in that crick!!! :sick: :eek:

[Lookin4Lunkers]

The bass that were caught were all smallmouth to answer one question. As for flaming... I can't say I give a hoot about tree huggers. Men were born to hunt for food from day one. It makes me feel good that I can go out for a day of fishing and come home to feed the family. My girlfriends grandfather has been fishing this same run of bass for 15 years and is very careful not to let others in on what he took a decade and a half to learn. If it were to be over fished there wouldn't be any left next time. For any of you naysayers just understand that he knows the eco-system of these fish and is careful not to take more than his fair share. This was only the second time he has ever taken anyone with him to go there and we made promises to him we intend to keep. He would not havelet me keep the large one if he thought it would damage the overall population of this run. I have spent most of my life catching and eating trout. I have only caught one steelhead and two salmon so I think I have earned my due to remove a few for personal use :tongue:

[O'Leary]

The bass you "properly" release today is the bass you can catch tomorrow!

[BassinFever]

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, All I have to say is:

I do eat fish, and sometimes Bass, but when I keep fish of most any species the smaller ones are the best eating and have the fewer amount of chemicals in them and they just flat out taste better. A 4 # + Bass tastes like the lake bottom IMHO. So, it`s the 1 1/2 #`s that will go home if any do. I don`t care who your Granfather is, the 6#er should have went back!

[Knot in leader]

:yeahthat:
:lurk:

[joshjames]

I wasnt really sure that wanting to have a good catch again again made me a tree hugger..... interesting. the point i was making is that you should really keep an eye on pops, with all the mercury you battered then fed to your family, haha you should be toatally stoked. yeah what an amzing feast :pray: :food: :rolleyes: :noway: :sick: :sleep: :angel:

[Sublime]

Nice job on the fish :applause:


...But,:eek: You ate Bass from the Willy?!?! :bigshock:

:sick: :sick:

[BassinFever]

We may be being just a bit hard on him, as fish conservation is a learned thing. Many people are way overboard on both sides. Guess he`s learning the hard way but I bet he remembers it!

Ya, I wouldn`t eat anything out of the Willy!

[Lookin4Lunkers]

Hey guys. :smash: :smash: :smash: I fished. I caught fish. I took fish home and ate them. Big deal. Willamette river toxicity studies are all over the board and alot of toxins are naturally occuring in all bodies of water not just the Willamette. If you pay attention to the FDA you will know that even some foods at the store are sold with some level of danger of consumption and suggest proper methods of cleaning, cooking, and removal of fat. Benefits of eating fish can outweigh the minute concerns of whether or not it's going to kill you to eat it. The FDA bans coffee every other day because one minute it's good for you and the next it's bad :whazzup:

Since I do not habitually eat fish from the Willamette I am pretty confident to say that it didn't hurt me a bit and no one has had any ill effects. I think for the most part anyone that has an issue with me catching, keeping, and eating my food should go complain to the US Department of Fish and Wildlife that issued me the license I paid for to have the right to do so. I don't do sport fishing. I eat what I catch within reason and within the law.

I was really only posting this thread to those parties interested in how great a day of fishing I had. If I wanted your opinions on whether I should have done this or that, I would have asked. I don't take the time to sit at my computer and flame everyone else that you think deserves it and since I know you are quick and on task I will never need to either.

[BassinFever]

I don't take the time to sit at my computer and flame everyone else that you think deserves it and since I know you are quick and on task I will never need to either.



Looks like that`s what you are doing to me! :shrug:

:lurk:

[thehunt]

Takes a much BIGGER MAN to put a big fish back than kill it. Especially when that guy has 14 lesser fish already dead in the boat. Pretty weak.
I am Glad an overwhelming majority of bass fisherman practice catch and realease, especially on the fish that hold the future.
And oh yeah, we must all be tree huggers for caring about releasing big bass.............

[Flat Lander]

Sounds like a great day with the family. I'm glad you got thick skin Lookin4Lunkers. I personally don't think keeping a big one once in a while hurts anything. Bass are non native and are doing pretty darn good. I love Bass and Walleye fishing but I wonder how much damage they do to Salmon gets blamed on the native Pike Minnow. I know a lot of people who would kill a Bass just to kill it. Crane Prarie was an excellent trout fishery until the Bass were illegally introduced. Well, this might just get the heat of of you Lookin4Lunkers. I am not looking grief I just hate seeing someone post something and then getting grief for it. He obviously had a great time fishing with the family and wanted to share his great day. I still want to see them pictures. OK I'm done now

[Lookin4Lunkers]

I wouldn't say I spend alot of time on here flaming people but I also am not one to get flamed and just take it. I will respond if I feel it's necessary. If it hurts your feelings about what I have to say then maybe you should have thought about that before you opened your own mouth.

Being a bigger man has nothing to do with keeping a fish or throwing it back. You would have to have a better argument than that but I still wouldn't care. Non native fish that shouldn't be here anyways are not something we should savor but something that should be wiped out. Some of the bass we caught had smolts in their stomachs. So much for blaming just the Northern Pike Minnow.

[Bugle4em]

If all the posturing is over, maybe we can get back to IFISH.

:lurk: