Marcus - welcome. Saw that photo of your 14 pounder, what a great looking Delta bass. You said you spent 200 days a year on striper. That's the kind of dedication the Delta takes to catch the biggest of any specie out there. The Delta is magical, and mysterious, and punishing and demoralizing. Sometimes in the same day.

Matt A - thanks for the post. I should go to one of your seminars sometime, I could use a freshening up with new ideas. I find myself fishing the same spots with the same lures, just stubbornly beating on the lakes waiting for something new to happen.

fro0g - Matt knows as well as any of us. If you go film big bass being caught you should expect the onslaught that follows. When fisherman watch fishing videos, they aren't watching the fish and the fisherman - they're watching the background. You can show me a photo of any trophy bass lake in Norcal and I will tell you the lake in 3 seconds. Go ahead quiz me :)

Jake J - Great to hear from you. Four 11's in one day is a magical day. That's the kind of day to make you just glad to be alive. Fundamentally that is what we are all after - the experience, the interaction with the fish, the million year old instinct to hunt things down and catch them and be successful at it.

Nico - You always say what I'm trying to say with half the words :) A great summation.

Writing this post did get me motivated to go out and hunt for big bass on Friday for my day off. I fished hard, like I haven't fished in a while. One bite all day. It was a 9. It hit my triple trout and boiled and missed. I never set the hook, just waited for the pressure that never came. Irony?

Please keep the great responses coming.