Digital Camera

[Video report, report with new photos!] Will I ever get tired of urban creek fishing? Tired of fish eager to bite, the thrill of finding a new spot smack dab in the middle of suburbia with no other anglers in sight? Tired of bass and sunfish fishing that doesn't cost me a ridiculous $12-$15 (cough Diamond Valley Lake cough) just to fish? Received a friendly tip on this new urban creek from a great fellow angler. Tales of eager bass were readily received and I quickly hit the road. The creek had recently overflowed its banks, spilling the trash of modern wasteful life across the banks and leaving gross suds in the water. Still, the fish were incredibly eager to bite. I had a hit on my first cast, with a black  Mangler 4'' swimbait  (not my favorite lure but it got the job done), then landed another on the swimbait on my second cast. Nothing amazing, just typical urban creek bass (10'' or so). I continued fishing the rest of the afternoon, catching green sunfish and l...

Just returned from an absolutely outstanding bass fishing trip. It was truly one of the best angling adventures I have had as of late. My friend and I hiked in to a secret lake, hauling our heavy float tubes, rods, tackle, lunches, and more. When we finally arrived, we quickly setup our gear, then kicked out into the warm lake waters, casting a variety of soft plastic lures at fishy spots.    We were instantly rewarded with multiple hookups, lasting throughout the day. Even when I landed on shore to dry out for a bit, I continued to catch fish. All were solid, chunky largemouth bass, in the mood for fight, and they did not disappoint. After a thrilling tug-of-war, each fish was released. Take a look at the video; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Sometimes, your photo captures the perfect moment. This is one of them. Success. Huddleston Shad lure was the ticket. 

Intro The Qmountz case is a convenient way to turn your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy III into a versatile action camera. I recently received one for the iPhone 4/4S and tried it out while fishing. So, how did it perform? Read on to find out! Features Take your iPhone, pop it into the secure Qmountz case, and start filming. Boom, that is all there is to it! If you have the latest iPhone, you can shoot in 1080p, which is right around what most major action cameras (GoPro, Contour, etc) shoot in. Choose from several different accessories to best mount it, be it on yourself or on a bike, pole, etc. Screw in a QCamz wide angle lenses (not included in this review) and you'll get the awesome wide-angle175 degree view found in many major action cameras. There is even an app from Qcamz for superimposing data onto the video, including GPS and display speed. The Qcamz developer have reported that the Qmountz sports military-quality, tough housing, waterproof to 30 feet! (Click below to conti...

 Hooked up with a couple of chunky largemouth bass. One of my best spring SoCal fishing outings yet. The bite has turned on and I'll be on the water!

Earlier this year, during my urban creek rush, I re-visited a small Inland Empire creek. I had initially avoided even dropping a line in it as it didn't appeal to me. However, I'm glad I returned. Despite the brief torrential downpour and suspicious fish, I managed to land several bass and a few green sunfish, all within a couple of hours.  While the creek wasn't very impressive in length, it made up for it in width with several spots allowing full-range of overhead casting.  Check out the photos and video, notice the two fish I scored towards the end on the dropshot + purple worm!

 Perhaps you have seen the ads and banners online for Castaila Outdoor's newest creation, a soft-plastic turtle lure? Or maybe you have watched the impressive YouTube advertisement for the Bombshell Turtle , complete with a turtle in a glass, tempting hungry bass? I was skeptical but interested in this new lure and recently received a few, in two different colors. It's recommended to fish the Bombshell Texas-Rigged and I did so as you can see in the abovevideo. You'll notice the lure doesn't have a whole lot of action, except perhaps on a quick retrieve or on a fast jerk. This is also an observation noted by Field and Stream, in their ICAST Pool video test . The lure looks great, feels very solid and durable to the touch, but seems to lack significant action in the water. Bombshell Turtle does have a nice hook slot in the bottom, allowing for easy rigging and hopefully easy hookups. I think the best application of this lure is in the spawning time, when anglers infuria...

Wow, these pics are almost a year old! I forgot to post them on the blog, after a fun trip to Diamond Valley Lake. The fish were all dinks, largest was maybe 14'', but they were really fun to catch.  DVL is a tough lake to fish from the shore but at times it can be very rewarding!

Loads of fishing photos on my desktop and not enough posts on Hunting the River King? Let's fix that. Here are three fish from a previous trip in the last few months in California, two bluegills and one small largemouth bass. All caught on 2lb mono with a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow in my favorite Firetiger color. More to come!

I’m always on the lookout for good alternatives to more expensive lures. One that recently caught my eye was the Mangler 4’’ swimbait , available for just $2.75. For fans of smaller swimbaits, it should be apparent that the Mangler 4’’ swimbait is very similar to incredibly popular Megabait Charlieswimbait (ICAST Best New Lure Winner and reviewed at Tackle Tour ). I noticed this immediately and this was one of the main reasons I was interested in this lure. I’ve caught a lot of quality largemouth bass on the Megabait Charlie, including some very hefty fish and I curious to see if the Mangler’s version would be a viable alternative. See that swimbait in the mouth? This is a 5lb largemouth I caught on the Megabait Charlie swimbait Mangler 4'' Swimbait Action Design Recently, when fishing at Lake Elsinore in California, I was trying out the Mangler 4’’ swimbaits . My friend was fishing nearby and remarked on just how lifelike these Mangler lures looked; it was his first time s...

  Bass Attack Urban Creek Bass Fishing with Underwater Shots Last week, I visited one of my favorite urban creeks in California. It's packed with cover and loaded with largemouth bass, green sunfish, carp, catfish and other eager biters. So far, most of the bass I've caught in this creek are tiny. However, this last trip really blew me away-several decent-sized largemouth bass were caught, along with a bunch of chunky green sunfish on an assortment of lures. I was really impressed with this section of the creek. It's relatively un-trashed, when compared to some of the upstream parts of this urban creek. The tree canopy is pretty dense, covering the surface of the water with loads of shade. There is scattered fallen logs and brush along the shore, with fast sections and slow, deep pools. It really feels like a different world from many other urban creeks I've fished. Even better, I had this section of the creek to myself. That's not to say it hadn't been fishe...

  So, what is a cicada ? Chances are, you have heard them singing in the trees during the summer, yet not seen them up close. They are basically a large, buzzing insect with prominent wings. Upon falling in the water, they put up a tremendous disturbance, making them easy prey for largemouth bass and oversized bluegill. An obvious example of this may been here, in a YouTube clip depicting the cicada's action in the water and subsequent demise. Jet Tackle's Crazy Bug Cicada lures for bass are nothing new, but few topwaters on the market today really imitate a true cicada very well, in my opinion. Today I'll cover three topwater cicada lures I have; two affordable models ( Jet Tackle Crazy Bug and wLure T4 ) with one well-known and very expensive lure, the Megabass Grand Siglett . For a comparison of the action of each of these bass lures in the water, check out the above YouTube video, shot at tiny Ford Park, in Redlands, California. MegaBass Grand Siglett MegaBass Gran...