Big Fish of the Internet Part 2

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Big Fish of the Internet

Poking around the internets recently. Found some interesting pictures. I love incredibly big fish. Really, I love incredibly big native species that I might actually have a shot at. (Sorry Pirhanas and Mekong Catfish)

So a new series called "Big Fish of the Internet" is born. I'll take your submissions. It's got to be a crazy huge fish like these and a common species to North America fresh water.





These really make your jaw drop. My first thought at each was, "WTF?"

Cool Big Pike Pics

Paulaner Salvator DoppelBock

I am buzzed off some 7.9% Paulaner Salvator Doppelbock. Brewed in Munich, Germany. It is one smooth Doppelbock. Almost a light dopplebock. It is a good beer to have with friends when you want to get stupid with a smooth drinking beer. Deceptive. Nothing negative about the taste, but it also doesn't take any risks. The usual carmel maltiness that doppelbocks are famous for without the thickn sugaryness or any bitter flavors. Nice. I like it a lot, but not for the same reason Schneider Aventinus is a masterpiece.

Definately go get some if you like Doppelbocks

More Buzzbait Modifications

Round nose pliers make this any easy modification to the following buzzbaits:

Favorite brewery: Weihenstephaner

Observant readers will have noticed the links to two German beer breweries on the sidebar. It's no secret, Weihenstephaner is my favorite.

The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan. Nearly one thousand years ago it was the monastery brewery of the Benedictine monks, then the Royal Bavarian State Brewery. Today, as a regulated enterprise of the Freestate of Bavaria, it is a company run according to the precepts of private business. As the oldest existing brewery in the world, our brewery occupies an exalted site atop Weihenstephan Hill in the Bavarian city of Freising, surrounded by the comparatively still very young Weihenstephan science centre of the Technical University of Munich. Yet it is precisely this unique combination of tradition and custom, proven knowledge, and modern science, which gives the brewery its incomparable identity and permits it to brew beers of the highest quality. And, of course, we're more than a little proud of that.

The brewery claims to have been started in 1040. Tasting the fine beers now made by the state of Bavaria, I can see why. Here's Freising's location on the map.


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My first sampling was the Hefe Weissbier. My favorite. Go. Run. Speed. Buy some. So good. Give this beer to a beer hater and you'll have an instant convert. The beer is like eating cold sunlight. Amazing. Widely available in the US for 2.20-3.50$ a 17ounce tall bottle.


One point, Hefe Weissen's should be poured in a special way:

1. Take a Weissbier glass and a bottle of Weihenstephan.
2. Rinse Weissbier glass with clear water, do not dry.
3. Open Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier.
4. Hold wet glass at an angle, almost horizontal, and pour.
5. When the opening of the bottle dips into the beer, slowly tilt the bottle up until it is vertical.
6. Keep a little beer in the bottle; use a circular motion to rinse the yeast from the bottom of the bottle and pour.
7. Prost!

And don't stop there. There is a dark Hefe, the Vitus, Korbinian etc... all awesome in their own way.

Schneider Aventinus Doppelbock- Simply Fabulous

Here's what I am drinking a lot of lately:

Aventinus wheat doppelbock. Bavaria from its strongest side.
Dark-ruby, almost black-colored and streaked with fine top-fermenting yeast, this beer has a compact and persistent head. This is a very intense wheat doppelbock with a complex spicy chocolate-like arome with a hint of banana and raisins. On the palate, you experience a soft touch and on the tongue it is very rich and complex, though fresh with a hint of caramel. It finishes in a rich soft and lightly bitter impression.

Dark-ruby colored, wheat doppelbock
Complex spicy chocolate arome
Pure top-fermenting yeast
Original bottle fermentation
Created in 1907
Creator: Mathilde Schneider
Wheat doppelbock 8.2 % vol. alc.
Original gravity 18.5%

This stuff is potent and GOOD. Oh so Good. Surprisingly widely available in the US.

Buzzbaits Builds

The rivers in Indiana are frozen over or freezing up. I've turned my time to INSA activities, tying float and fly jigs, and making some buzzbaits.

I am making about 100 Buzzbaits this year for various projects and fishing of course.

The first prototype is a 1/4 oz 'Wolkabuzz' style bait. I made the bait on thicker, .045 frames which should make for more durability and less double handling. The blades are further away from the jig head. Theory there is fish will see the bait and hit the hook more often. I have some anecdotal evidence on this theory here: Post Spawn Buzzbait Madness



Trying some 3/8ths oz buzzbaits in the never ending quest to cast a country mile with a buzzbait. I had success with single spins in 2008 when a quieter approach was needed. These excelled around dark for me. Made some with and without clacker.



This one hasn't been tested yet. I don't know if it will run true. The bait has a lot going on. 3/8ths oz counter rotating with a clacker.



Still looking for skirts in the style of the white bait. Some white, some black, all I need colorwise. Sparse, good profile, doesn't hang in the blades. With the thousands of casts I make a year with buzzbaits, the less double touching and rerigging the better.

A problem is created by the way I like to use a snap on all my lures for quick change ability: Stream Smallmouth Fishing is Snap! The open r-bend causes the snap to slide down and tangle. Solved in the past by closing off the r-bend. Going to try surgical tubing over the r-bend in the future.

One last surprise, the hooks are 1/0 or 2/0 Owner Ultra Point. Will prick you if you look at them wrong. Look out bass in 2009!

Texposing Tubes for Smallmouth Bass

Texposing a tube. Nearly snagless. Skips great. They catch fish. This particular jig is a 3/16th oz 3/0 Gamakastsu EWG with a 4" tube. Wicked sharp, stiff hook. I've moved mainly to 4/0 since taking these pics (wider gap). The EWG gives the plastic room to get out of the way on hook set. I like to wiggle the hole at the rear of the tube a little larger to help the bait slide down the gap when bit.

I like to kirb the hook out slightly to increase hook ups. Tubes can sometimes be problematic on hooksets so manipulating for easier hookups helps- This technique hangs the bait up more, bending the hook back and forth three or four times will allow heavier line users to pull it free from snags most of the time. The hook bends enough to free the jig.

I prefer a slightly longer bodied tube. Rig that sucker straight so it doesn't twirl on retrieve. Hop, hop, long pause can be deadly.























Another solution for bunching plastic is to hook through the side of the tube. Less plastic to penetrate. Causes tube to twirl at medium retrieve.

Name Change: Smallmouth in Your Soup

Time to change the name of the blog to something less silly. Smallmouth in Your Soup is a natural considering the focus of content.