The mojo has returned! Fished for hours, got frustrated, passed off the last snake to Rob Rockcrawler, and he gets a keeper on his first cast! I almost threw a tantrum. But instead, I cast out the salvaged slimey, and got this! My biggest fish ever -- 40"! Seems as though there haven't been alot of "here's me and a fish" pictures on the site lately, but I haven't been fishing very long, and catching a good-sized fish is still exciting for me. We ended up keeping her, because after RRC tried for 15 minutes to get her swimming again, she was still belly up. It was a long fight with a weird new reel -- Abu Ambassadeur 6500-C3 2-Speed Autoshift. Anybody have experience with this reel? Any way to disable the autoshift? Tips on using it correctly? I like it; it casts great; I don't want to give up on it. While eating my fish was cool (baked tail, boulliabaisse, etc), and extracting all the age-able parts (scales, vertebrae, otoliths) was awesome, I'd rather not take a big breeder and make a huge mess of the house cleaning it.

:btu:

WooHoo BB - congrats on your best fish to date! Go get a biiger one :cheers:

Never played with that reel so don't know what to tell you.

Nice fish Bass Babe..:kewl:

I'll bet Mikecc will be able to tell ya about the reel.

Nice Fish...Always feels good to catch a nice one.

I haven't been fishing very long, and catching a good-sized fish is still exciting for me

you have me beat :) so needless to say my excitement would be hard to contain.

Im will to bet there are a few old salts out there that would have some trouble too :buds:

nice fish!

Beautiful fish Bass Babe... and she throws convench :love:

about the reel i found this

"Here is the exact wording in the Ambassadeur booklet. AUTOSHIFT 2spd Control. Automatic 2 speed retrieve control. The autoshift control dial located just inside of the reel handle can be used to adjust the amount of load on the line required to downshift from the high speed 6.1:1 ratio to the powerful 3.8:1 power ratio. Depending on the amount of water resistance created by your lure, turning the Autoshift dial clockwise will hold the reel in 6.1:1 ratio for use with high speed techniques. (The reel will always down shift automatically and instantly to thw 3.8:1 power ratio for greater fish fighting control as soon as you set the hook.) If the fish runs towards you, the reel will automatically upshift to the high speed ratio for fast line recovery and downshift once again when you regain pressure on the fish. Turning the dial all the way counter clockwise will let the reel remain in the 3.8:1 ratio at all times for use with slow retrieve techniques."

leptar -- thanks, man, thats quite useful -- explains way more than the instruction booklet did :wiggle:

excellent! :kewl:

Nice fish!!

Great Fish

Congratulations

Congrats on the nice fish!!!

thats a nice fish,what a geat feeling it is :musc:

Hey Bass Babe. Remember our PM discussion about "putting your time in"? You did it kiddo. Congratulations!!!!! You've done my heart proud. You stuck to it and got a beauty. That's a great fish and you should be proud of your accomplishment. I am!!!!

congrats on a nice fish bass babe....makes you feel good

NICE makes all those sleepless nights worth it huh!!!

Woohoo! nice fish!

Hey Bass Babe, can you learn me to katch fish like dat?? Congrats on a nice looking Bass.

Instruction booklet, well reading that is the root of the problem. Congrats on a beautiful fish.

That a girl! Congrats and yeah time to go larger there on their way to you right now.

:musc: You go girl, Nice fish, way to hang in there and not give up as you never know what that next cast will bring.

Congrads!!!

Congrats on the personal best. :kewl:
40" and up it starts to get real interesting.

Nice fish I bet you were pumped it's always a rush when you hook up way to go
Link Sr:eyes:

Congrats BB U da man.
OOps.
Nice going.And u got it on the prehooked eel, that takes skill.

Nicely done! Can't help on the reel - but can give you the thumbs up on a decent fish!!!

Nice Fish! 25 lbs?

Sarah // nice fish/// great job .<><><> good for you ><><><><:wave:

Nice fish

Nice fish BB...

Way to go, Bassbabe.

can't help you with your reel but GREAT job on your milestone :kewl:

Thanks! It was pretty exciting when I hooked up with her and she peeled out some major line. I knew she was bigger than any I'd got before. Will have to check out some new spots, though, because this year's fish don't seem to be in the same places they were last year.

I'll probably see more stripers than I ever dreamed of when I start work and see them in the comm nets. Poor fishies, but I got my job back!

But yeh, thanks a ton!:buds:

Nice fish BB! :cheers:

Great catch there!!!!!!:cheers: