Another testament to a "big fish" year. 42 x 22 est at 26# caught and released by one of our brethtren south of the border. Hope to latch onto something of this caliber in the next two days on the OP.

OOPS... forgot the pic:

Are those net marks?

Fishpirate,
No those arent net marks, there stretch marks that big buck has some big shoulders!!!
Winterun.

Heck of a fish.. Especially special due to the extreme chrome. It's not easy finding a big buck like that without a little rosy gillplate...
Keith

Hey,is that Goldberg??

Goldberg??
Too funny.. Certainly a look alike..
Keith

I am drooling over all these big fish. The next couple of months are going to be fun. Hopefully somone in my group will hook in to one of these monsters.(preferably me)

Amerman strikes again,
Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

thats B.E.A.UTIFUL

Did anyone hear about the 30 lber taken

We have had at least 4 fish caught last week over 30# in the coastal OP rivers. Quite a year. I hope one of them has my name on it.

This week through the end of February is the time for the monsters, at least down here... Back in 1980 my dad and 3 buddies boated 4 fish that were 25.5, 26.4, 27.8 and 28.6 all in the last 2 weeks of February. That's not counting all the others that were fishing the river too that he didn't know. This was also the same year that the state record was set at 32.12lbs by Gene Maygra...

That same week my dad hooked a fish that busted a wiggle wart in half on 20lb test. He's still got the Gold/Black back red lip plug (at least the back half of it)... He swears the fish was mid 30's when it rolled several times... I've heard the story a million times just as if I could close my eyes and be there...

It's the 20 year cycle that some speak of and I believe we're in the midst of it. I've already boated a 24.5lb chrome buck and 3 others that taped at 18-19lbs... I'll wager to say that I'll have pics of a fish in the high 20's this year if all goes well.

On top of that I would be willing to lay a wager on the line that says the state record will be broke this year officially on the OP or perhaps pics of that state record somewhere near home....

Keith

Dandy buck! Check out the dorsal fin....looks like it could be an unclipped hatchery fish. Any idea what that black thing in up high on it's back? Probably just some river junk. River looks somewhat mucked up.