Seems like I’m seeing more and more of these guys every year. These two (actually, there were four in this group) were hanging out on the docks near the old Jammin’ Salmon restaurant in the heart of Sacramento the other day.
I’m just saying…
Category Archives: Cool Photos
Downtown Sacramento…
Top 5 Biggest Bass of All Time
It’s the most highly-coveted record in fishing…the largemouth bass. Break the world’s mark and fame and fortune will be yours. Here’s a list of the top 5 largemouth of all time…
Number 1: The Beast from the East (22.311 Pounds)
Caught in 2009 by Manabu Kurita in Japan’s Lake Biwa, this beast, by weight, is heavier than the long standing record set by George Perry in 1932. However, since Kurita’s fish only weighed just slightly over an ounce more than Perry’s, by rule the IGFA declared it a two-way tie for the heaviest bass ever landed.
Number 2: The Ol’ Classic (22.25 Pounds)
Not long after George Perry caught his world record bass in Georgia’s Montgomery Lake in 1932, he ate it with his family. Too bad that was in the days before high res cameras in iPhones…This photo didn’t surface until decades after the catch.
Number 3: The Near Miss (22.063 Pounds)
On March 12, 1991 Big Bass guru and record chaser, Bob Crupi came about as close to glory as you can with his monster momma from Castaic Lake that was mere ounces shy of the all-time mark. He was a master of the technique of fishing live crawdads from a boat with two anchors holding it in place.
Number 4: Castaic Leviathan (21.75 ounces)
Just five days prior to Crupi’s third biggest bass of all time, Michael Arujo caught a hawg of a largemouth that was just a tad smaller that Crupis’…on the same lake! At that point, all eyes were on Southern California, expecting a new record to be caught at Castaic on any given day. It was the epicenter of the record hunt back then.
Number 5: Dickerson’s Dixon Delight (21.688 ounces)
Tiny Dixon Lake became of the universe for extreme trophy hunters from 2000 to 2008, when it pumped out impressive numbers of jumbo bass. Jed Dickerson caught his 21.68 pounder in May of 2003.
Other Giants
In March 2005, Mac Weakley caught Dixon’s famous resident giant, Dottie, which pulled the scales down to 25.1 pounds. Unfortunately, the record bass was foul hooked and promptly released after a quick photo session…Dottie passed away of old age three years later.
Then there’s the 24 pounder that was caught by Paul Duclos on March 1, 1997 from Spring Lake in Northern California. Duclos weighed his fish on a bathroom scale and then released it. 
An alleged 22 pounder was also taken from Spring Lake in 2008 by Leaha Trew but was never officially recognized by IGFA.
Monday Morning Getaway: Time to shove off edition
There’s nothing like that delicious anticipation that you get right at the crack of dawn, just as you’re about to hop in the boat and get the day stared.
To me, all always seems right with the world at this moment and the day so filled with promise…
Monday Morning Getaway: What’s Your idea of Paradise?
So, another work week begins. Where would you rather be right now? Perhaps launching the bass rocket on a glassy dawn? Or having an entire beach to yourself at sunset…
What about rock-hopping your favorite trout creek?
Or chasing big game off Baja?
Maybe your thing is stripping a streamer for jumbo trout…
Or would you rather be hiking the Alaskan backcountry along a river jammed with chrome?
Of course, it wouldn’t suck to be dropping the drifter in at sunrise on some favorite river, either…
Which one would you pick? Or give us one not on the list… Where would you be fishing this morning if you could?
War Horse: My old Calcutta 251
You know the way your old bird dog looks at you when you are heading afield without him? I kinda think my workhorse Shimano Calcutta 251 feels the same way when I hit the water without it…
This scratched and scarred old Veteran and I have been through a lot together in 15 years and it’s caught everything from salmon to stripers to trout and bass…It even helped me land an incidental sturgeon that was 8 feet long and estimated to be 250 pounds…
The poor reel is completely coated in slime, grime and dried up roe crust and has never once been serviced. In fact I hesitate to clean it for fear that all that grime is keeping it together. Plus I’m worried about it losing its mojo if I have it serviced!
Isn’t funny how you can get all sentimental about a piece of fishing gear?
You guys have any old tackle you feel emotionally attached to or is it just me??
Prime Time!
Every morning out on the water, I end up wishing I could press “pause” on the sunrise, keeping us in that magical low light period longer.
This is that time of day when great things happen…
Monday Morning Getaway: Coho Paradise Edition
Well, most of you are probably stuck at work this morning and wishing you were fishing. It’s kinda the same deal for me…I’m “stuck away from work” as the wind is blowing too hard to fish.
As usual, though, I’m wishing I was somewhere exotic instead…like perhaps this sweet little creek near Cordova, Alaska, where Reilly and I had an amazing day of silver fishing a few years back.
Not only was the weather perfect and the bugs nonexistent, but the fishing was awesome too. The creek had solid numbers of silver salmon in it…but not so many that it was too easy. The fishing was very good but we still had to work at it a bit. The action was better than at home but not ridiculous. It seemed like the perfect amount of fish, you know what I mean?
When I grow up…
Ah, the wonder of kids! Wandering the Monterey waterfront Weds afternoon, I showed Coop (in orange) and cousin Ben the famed Wild Wave, once one of the most popular albacore tuna boats on the West Coast.
Unfortunately, the once proud vessel has been mothballed for years now and is catching nothing but dust and weeds.
That didn’t bother the kids at all. In fact, they were so impressed with the Wild Wave that they stared up at it in awe for a long moment.
Then, when I told them that my good pal Mike Baxter used to captain the boat, Coop got a huge smile and said…
“Mike Baxter is the coolest guy in the world!!!” :)