Yesterdays trip....

[Fish Chris]

Well, the bad (expected) news, is that most of the big Redears have moved out, after a week long heatwave. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them will come back up with a little cooler weather, on the next good moon phase, but I suspect the bulk of their spawning is over.

 

Anyway, this time the Bluegill were much more active :) Lots of nice, legit 1lb'ers too.

 

I ended up catching about 40 of them, with average being 3/4lb... or maybe slightly less. The biggest was this 1.5 lb'er;

I did catch 4 Redears, with the biggest being this 2.1 lb'er.... BTW, it does have some Bluegill looking striping, doesn't it ? Maybe a little bit of hybridization going on, huh ?

Had fun anyway :)

Peace,

Fish

 

[David Helm]

Nice!

[Jeff Soto]

Hey Chris, Another beautiful shot and fish.  That place is very picturesque, with it's rolling hills, dark oak trees and those fishy-looking reeds.  ( know that lake, but I won't tell!..) Kind of reminds me of my favorite California Lake, Santa Margarita.  Also I had a question, what kind of boat does the master of great fish photos fish from?   Looks like a customized, camouflaged aluminum job.  Any pics of the boat?  Do you also rely on electronics in your search for giant panfish?  I'm asking these questions for a bunch of SoCal guys.

[Fish Chris]

Thanks guys  :)

 

Hey Jeff, about the boat...

Kind of a funny story. I got the boat through a sponsorship deal with Yamaha G3 (steal of a deal, but I'm not allowed to say the exact price). But the thing was, once they accepted me for the sponsorship, I could basically get the same deal (same big % off) of any boat Yamaha G3 made.... and yes, they do make some very high performance, 20 footers !

So, when I picked my 14ft V143, they were like, "Huh ? Excuse me ? You do know about our high performance models, right" ? So I replied, "Of course.... and those are all very nice for tournament guys.... or guys that just want to go really fast.... But those boats just are not my style". I wanted something light, easy on gas, easy to tow, launch, maneuver, etc.

Plus, when I'm on the water, I'd rather not even have anybody notice me, so in a small, camo'd aluminum, I have the "bass pro's" fly right by me all the time, and never even give me a second glance, because come on, lets face it..... Nobody fishing from a little 14ft aluminum  is going to know enough about fishing, to even pay attention to them..... right ?  ;)  LOL

Oh, and another thing, it's really common for me to run my little boat right up onto the bank, and fish from the shore (often it is easier to sneak up on big fish this way) but you know the guys in flashy, 20 ft high-per bass boats wouldn't dare do this, as it might scratch that pretty gel coat ;)

 

Anyway, long story short, I really am fishing out of my dream boat :) I had actually picked this boat, from hundreds of boats, from many different manufacturers, "before" I even started trying for the sponsorship :) Just love the layout (no benches) Power trim / tilt, and electric start are very nice too :)

 

 

 

Peace,

Fish

[Jim Gronaw]

Way cool boat, Chris.

I am toying with the idea of doing the kayak gig on some smaller public lakes out here that are rumored to have magnum gills...I'll keep you posted!

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Nice gillcrackers!

[Troy Dorman]

Oh man, you're very blessed to have those kinds of waters around you Chris. I'm a redear fanatic, it's basically all I fish for here in Southern Indiana. I've caught them up to 12inches and maybe 1.5lbs or so, but just a couple of times. The first pic is definitely a cross BG/RE and the next pic a full blooded RE. I'd mount either one of those dandies.

 

That boat is the bomb, I'd love to have it.

[dink dailey]

that is a nice boat,way to have those great dreams