Gilbert

Thanks! Im glad you enjoyed it. I plan on doing this with every video i release. Entertainment version, follow it up with the commentary to the catch

Thanks for all the positive vibes! I hear you Trev.

*UPDATE: I don't use Rejuvenade. It's been a while since i actually looked at what the damn label says on the bottle, by i use "Catch and Release".

If its not the same fish, I apologize for the crap you probably have gone through but i have a hard time believing it given the similarities. I agree the black dots do look a little off seeing them on the big screen. But camera angles and light can work wonders on perceived distance and alignment. Like i explained to JD on the phone, I didn't weigh the fish out to be exact. The scale fluctuated from the low twelves to the high twelves. I wasn't trying to get an exact weight because a persecution was the last thing on my mind. The thing smelled horrible and it was sickening to be around. I inspected the fish briefly and noticed what looked like some wounds from hooks around the mouth. I opened the mouth and found nothing inside out of the ordinary. Now, without playing the blame, lets look at the coincidence here. A fish of the relative same size was found floating, not 3/4 mile but a 1/3 of a mile down wind (blew from the south Sunday evening which it does often) and it was the next open day of the lake. Now lets get into the fact that over the past 5 years, i have only ever seen a handful of big floaters and when i do, that's typically after the spawn. Now considering that this is their first time out with their new boat, they catch an absolutely awesome fish (Congrats again!) and in the excitement rattle off 15 -20 pictures. I don't care who you are, you catch a big fish, you're gonna be excited! You're gonna want to get as many awesome pictures as you can. Some vertical, some horizontal, some on the scale, some with the bait hanging (to send to the bait maker to post), some with just the rod (for the rod maker to post) and then just a few extra just incase you forgot some detail. I mean ish, it's a fish of a lifetime you want to make sure that bad boy is documented, i get it and i'm more than guilty of it. What feels like seconds to you really turns out to be 2 or 3 minutes. Trust me, I added it up a long time ago using the time-lapse feature on the Gopro and was shocked. Here i was thinking i was dunking the fish every 30 seconds or so and in reality it was closer to a minute if not more. Lesson learned and now i'm that much more aware of it. I'm not on some holier than thou crap, I'm sure I've probably had a fish or two croak on me in the past as with anyone that has caught enough big fish. It happens to the best of us. In truth i don't want it to be anyones fish and hope it isn't Lukes, but the similarities in the size, relative black dots and it not being but two days later is pretty sketchy. At any rate, they are all really good dudes and will remain good dudes in my book. In addition, lets not forget that these fish don't just instantly croak after releasing them. It can be 15 minutes or a day, but they will come back up. The lack of oxygen or just the stress of being caught in the first place can take these giants out for good. First thing first in trophy hunting is make sure you have a good working live well that can accommodate a fish of this size. Second, after catching the fish immediately put the fish in the live well and make sure that live well is full of water, flowing, then shut the hatch. Give that fish some space, let her calm back down in the darkness for a while. After a bit put some Rejuvenade (or something along those lines)in the well. Let her just rest for a bit while you get your camera gear all prepped and ready. Another thing to have handy is a bends mender. Learn how to use it on the little guys, so when the time comes you're not poking a bunch of holes in the big girls trying to find the right spot. When you're all said and done and the fish is swimming away, hang out for a bit just to make sure she doesn't come back up. 15 minutes isn't to long to sit back in revel in the glory and care for the well being of you new PB. Again Luke awesome fish!

Well, i guess we fish with a different level of intensity...

I guess i'm obligated to chime in here as I ran with and made fun of the beefs that have popped up over the past couple years and specifically coined that retarded term "fishbeef". Sometimes the drama is justified but often is not and neither ever come to the grand conclusion everyone was hoping for. As a trophy bass enthusiast living in SoCal, I'd like to say my guilty by association "Dickhead" title was well earned. I've shed blood, sweat and tears to be that SoCal dickhead, so i'll where it with pride. Without doing a full on census, i'd have to say that there is far less fishable acres of water per person in SoCal then anywhere else in the U.S. Its a toilet bowl of fisherman stacked one on top of the other, often struggling and getting very little reward for their efforts. Things are bound to pop off from time to time in the perfect storm, but for the most part I believe we do a great job respecting each other's space on and off the water given the circumstances. Unfortunately though, there is always a bad apple in every bin. These individuals often try to discredit one mans accomplishments to justify their short comings. That 7lber you're holding looks a whole lot better when you tell everyone that the other dudes 13 wasn't legit. Going with that, whats legit in the Trophy Bass world anyway? Who decides if it was or wasnt? Is it the Facebook peanut gallery? I'm sure they'll come to the right conclusion after they rifle off accusation after accusation, until you final confess all your sins and lay there dying holding onto whatever scraps of your soul you have left. Sadly, people buy into this crap and at that point, the bad apple has ruined the whole bunch. Instead of taking that rotted bin out to the garbage, we gobble it up, poisoning our own souls by watching the train wreck happen. I don't think the drama will ever disappear but i've chosen to go my own way and not give it a second thought. Furthermore, I'll be posting a picture everyday of someone that I admire this month. Its a subtle way to say thanks for helping me stay hyped and focused on something I care so much about.

Like Jaced D said. Nothing can replace a good women. Your lady Don is a better net man than 90% of the field. Cool, come collected and puts the net in the right spot. Amazing. Congrats on the huge limit!

Can I trade you a teener for a 50lb limit? Jeez.

Awesome fish!

For argument sake, Do you not have the same concern when you put up video and it shows what bait your catching them on? Personally i feel that just gets more guys throwing that bait but I'm curious to see if you have a different take on it? You already said things that you don't like what others ( new guys) do that I do too lol so we already disagree on a few things but like said to each his own . You do your thing, I will do mine. My bite is still the same now. It's that way because of what I'm doing. But I will Always tell others it's not a good Idea to post backgrounds. My videos have not hurt my bite. That's why I keep making them I can completely respect that Don. You know I'm not coming at you sideways. Just for me the gnarliest thing to do would be post videos, thats why i asked you. We do the complete opposite of each other and it seems to work for both of us. Just goes to show people that what may work for someone may not work for others and I'm talking more than just about showing video and backgrounds .

For argument sake, Do you not have the same concern when you put up video and it shows what bait your catching them on? Personally i feel that just gets more guys throwing that bait but I'm curious to see if you have a different take on it?

You're on a whole different tip Don. I like it. Its like this I spy bassindon ish.

Awesome!

Whats the point of hiding backgrounds if you fish bodies of water where everyone can see you fishing? You can push your boat into the tulle as much as you like or shoot yourself floating in space for as long as you want but what is that good for when 10 other guys saw you on the lake that day. For me, the only thing that really protects your bite is waiting to post the pics. Rarely if ever do i post pics immediately. There is almost always a grace period of 1 week if not a month. Typically at that point my little window of a bite is long gone anyway, people already no where im fishing, so id rather just get that rad looking photo so i have something cool to look at.

The increase in swimbait popularity and diversity doesnt bother me as much as how they are used does. I live in SoCal and most of my lakes are relatively small and pretty clear to the nations standards. On any given day at any of our trout fed lakes, you can bet that half the boats on the water, whether it be 20, 40 or 60 boats on 1,000 surface acres are throwing big baits. At this point its no longer so much about what secret bait your throwing, but more about timing, boat positioning and retrieve speeds. Sure having a solid bait helps, but simply put, you need to know your ish to be consistently successful. I think the biggest issue I do see happening, which never really gets brought up is "beating the spot up". I watch guys sit on spots for hours, making the same cast over and over again and never getting bit. With our high visibility here, there is no need for that. On average we are around 10ft vis, but at times it can be as much as 20ft. Trust me, the fish saw the bait go by on the first cast, and the second cast and even the 50th cast. I am a firm believer that if you dont get bit within the first couple of cast then move on. After that i just think your conditioning them, training them to know the difference between the real thing and your bait. For example, you pull up on a spot and make a cast. Half way through your retrieve you notice you picked up a couple followers the were "teeners" and they come all the way to the boat (Fish's 1st look and now they know your there). You're all pumped up on the followers, so you try and flip your bait right back at them as they are swimming away. You might get them to act remotely interested for a moment, bot nope. Still no takers and they did manage to get a (2nd look) as they continue in the direction away from your boat. Jazzed from the brush with possibly you're new PB, you fire out on the spot again. This time though, only one fish follows (the 3rd look) and it didnt even come all the way to the boat. Not to get discouraged because everyone always says "you just gotta keep chucking to get bit", you fire back out there again. Unfortunately this time not even the little dink follows your bait in. Instead of taking the hint and moving onto another spot, you proceed to sit there and show the fish that secret bait time and time again. Not only programming the fish for you but all the other guys like me sharing these small bodies of water. In the long run making it harder for any of us to get a bite unless we do something unique or just get "lucky". This is just a theory based on what i have observed over the past several years of spending lots of time, around plenty boats, on highly pressured water. I often over analyze the crap out of trophy bass chasing, to the point where I think its actually detrimental to my fishing, but personally, the scariest thing isnt the 10 good anglers fishing the same baits as me, its the 1000 misinformed anglers terrorizing the entire lake upside down and inside outside hoping that magic new bait is gonna catch them the fish of a lifetime... Thats whats really scary.