OK,

Now about fishing with the Eagle swimbait. I went out Saturday and fished the Eagle all day. No fish. I had probably 20 fish between 5-10lbs follow my bait. I tried different retrieves and scents and whatevers, but couldn't get them to eat. The bright, high pressure day, along with the full moon probably wasn't helping.

Unfazed, I went back on Sunday. My dad came with me. We probably were the funniest looking two on the water. My dad is a hard core fly fisherman, and he's fly fishing for bass out the back, and I'm chucking a 9" Eagle out the front! Pretty funny.

Anyway, I thought the storms would hit Sunday, but in reality yesterday was a pretty decent day. Bright and sunny. In the afternoon a few clouds moved in, fewer anglers where on the water, and things got right.

I threw right in the middle of a small cut, and wham! I got bit. The fish came right at me, I caught up to her and swung. She immediately came out of the water and then down for some surging. She looked like a 9lber to me, but later only weighed out to 7.2lbs! She was sort of skinny, definitely had the length. I was throwing the bait on 20lb P-line CXX. My line was extremely tore up and nicked. I was close to losing that fish. She was hooked deep, and the line was right on her teeth.

I missed two other strikes in the following 2 hours after that fish... the fish just didn't eat the bait. They tried, but didn't get it.

I am very pleased after all the work and commitment I've put into fishing big baits. Also, I caught my first fish on the 8' rod I built to throw the big baits on!

Check out the pics below.

http://www.calfishing.com/images/buddies/matt_peters_7-2_sanv.gif