Testing Pizz Custom Colors

I recently met a great guy named Paul from Pizz Customs. He custom paints lures that are awesome!! We talked about targeting bass and also throwing big cranks for big trout. He said "that would be a first for me". So, we met up at Lake Irvine. Paul was late due to traffic, so I stayed near the cove until he arrived. I thought that would be a great time to test the new Bite-On Scent for Bass. Well two very quick fish on almost back-to-back casts lead me to believe it works!! I'll have to do more testing with plastics and other tackle. these two came on bright cranks in shallow water.

Once in the boat, we hit a variety of areas, depths and presentations. We got good bites on jigs from 10-30 feet of water, but were getting short bit alot. So, back to shallow crankin for trout I went.

Once at the cliffs near Rocky Point, we started getting followers on chartreuse cranks like Normans and Bombers. I decided to ask Paul if I could test some of his custom one-of-a-kind colors. He was more than happy to oblige. I tied on a dark blue backed shad pattern painted on a Rebel 10-15' diver, but casted it in 2-3' of water and slow rolled it.

First cast and SLAM!!! A hard pulling and good sized fish hammered it and swam for deeper water. I was using the new 7' Phenix cranking stick with 14lb mono. The fish STILL pulled drag and I had to hand feed some. I forget to loosen the drag when I switch to trout during the day :(. Paul did a great job with the net and was patient. Every time the bow saw the net, he ran! Paul finally netted it and on the boat it was. This was a very deceiving fish. It fought AND looked like a DD model, but weighed in at just over 7 lbs. Doesn't matter, it was a blast! The cool thing was it coming on Paul's bait and a big trout, a first on his paint!
If you haven't seen his stuff, check it out at Pizz Customs or on Facebook at Pizz Customs. I have more pics at home, so i'll update later tonight. Good friends, good times and a few fish. who could ask for more. Thanks for reading!

A shot with the color of the day: Dark Blue Back Shad on a Rebel

This stick aint just for bass

The new Bite-On Bass Scent and the results

Paul from Pizz with his first fish of the day on a Custom Daimiki

Here is an awesome example of Pizz Custom Blue Gill Pattern

The New Threadfin Shad color from Pizz Customs

Equipment Review: Phenix RED Glass Crank Bait Rod

I just picked up my new Glass Cranking stick from the guys at Phenix and WOW was I impressed with the result. The first thing that I noticed was that the finish and wrap was just beautiful! I'm not a flashy guy, but this rod is gorgeous in the sun when its in your hand or on the deck. The material on the grips was a nice combination of French Cork (much less porous and will last longer) and a hybrid sponge.

Possibly the coolest feature is that the hook keeper is now located on the bottom of the rod on the exposed blank on the split grip (see photo 1 below), Now I can keep my reel covers on without getting them hung up on the hooks of my crankbait.

As far as performance, the top 1/3 of the rod is a great moderate action and very sensative. The sensativity is so great that you can feel everything upon retreive. I can feel grass, sand, gravel, rock or even the difference between the tick of a branch or a bite. However, the remainder of the rod with its larger diameter, provides plenty of backbone for hooksetting. The over-all action ensures a quality hookset without fear of pulling too hard and making those tear holes in the fish's mouth. Those tears, as we all know can bring heartbreak to a fishing day when the fish is able to use that to spit the hook(s). All you have to do when you feel a strike is crank the reel or even a sweeping motion to the opposite side of the strike. The rod does all the work!!

Now, many of you will ask the question "Yeah, but what about the weight difference of the glass rod versus the lighter materials used today?" My answer is this: With all of the benefit of this incredible stick, the barely noticable weight increase is a non issue in this angler's humble opinion. This is still a stick that you can crank all day and not worry about fatigue in any way. Put it this way, i'm currently 39 years old and bewteen the injuries from the military, ten years as a Police Officer and a competitive hockey player......I haven't fatigued in the two days throwing 1/4 oz baits. If you have any other questions, you can always comment or e-mail me and i'd be happy to answer what I can.



Hook Keeper Location





Sleek, Sexy and Powerful!



Exposed Blank with Trigger!

Monster Trout Encounter

As many of you know, I have gone mostly to the dark side and become a die-hard Bass Hunter. However, I never forget my roots fishing trout as a kid on the Kern River and Lake Isabella. It will always be a part of the outdoor lifestyle for me and many of us.

That being said, I had decided to target my beloved green monsters, with a back-up plan to play with the sizable trout I had been hearing about so far. I wanted to let the weather and bass activity (or lack of) decide how long I hunt before I switch gears. So, here is the result.

First person I see at the gate was Daniella AKA Vineline. What a pleasant way to start a Saturday! Thanks for asking about the family and wishing me luck. Water temp upon launching at 0715 hours was about 64 degrees. Condition was stained and murky with about 3-4 feet visibility depending on location. There was very little wind but really picked up throughout the day.

I started in the back of the flats and metered a TON of shad activity, but the bass seemed to be sparse up shallow. I picked off one 2 lb’r on plastics and missed one. Time now was around 9 am. Switched baits to deeper cranks and such to target 15 feet of water and jumped on the trolling motor. I had a small one come unbuttoned and a 4 Lb’r follow and bite at my bait but came immediately detached. Oh well! I changed spots to Sierra Cove to fish the Tooleys. I saw a couple of MONSTER trout swimming for foliage in the shallows. After several baits and techniques and only small bass followers, I tossed small plastics for trout and hung a nice 4 lb’r. Great average fish size! Nice fight on light tackle too.

Well, off to the West Shore I go and tossed a few cranks and spinners all the way to Boat Dock Cove for nada! I noticed the wind blowing in the direction of the Lagoon at about 10mph and some water coming out of the pipes. I figured there had to be bait there! There was a ton and crashing. Only to find out, after casting a few hundred times with various shad colored baits, that it was mostly small birds chasing the shad under water. A few dead shad came to the surface, so I was able to match that bait exactly! I was tossing with my light spinning rod when I saw what that it was most likely trout chasing bait as well.

After seeing a crash, I went to cast my Phenix Elixir spinning rod with a crank on it, but I had a loop in the reel. I figured I’d do the next best thing and cast my baitcaster to the scene. The crank was the exact bait as the spinning rod, but had been marinating in Bite On Garlic!! The bass rod was not my first choice, since it was spooled with 10lb mono and was a 7’ Phenix Ultra MBX Classic bass rod! Necessity over preference sometimes. Nothing on the cast to the crash site, so I fan casted the area and then it happened!!! My rod just absolutely STOPPED! I thought it may be hung up, but a sudden head and shoulder tug sent the 7 footer FULL bendo! I thought it had to be a huge fish to do that, so I set the hook with authority.

Once I got the fish to the surface, I noticed it was an above average trout. Holding my rod with one hand, I had to get my net untangled and out of my bow storage box. Luckily, the fish headed for deeper water in the meantime.  As soon as I brought it up again, I saw the beast….and he saw the net! With my drag nearly all the way buttoned down, he STILL peeled some line, so I was forced to hand feed about ten feet of line to the Titan for fear of breaking the 10 lb test!! After two short pumps, the fish came back up and found himself in the net! The fish actually bent the rim of the net! Granted it was my smaller cheap net. The jaw on this fish looked like a hook and he was colored like a brown!

Well, I have worked hard and spent a lot of time on the water…especially at my home lake Irvine. So, I think Christmas just came early for me this year! I’d like to thank the team at Bite On Attractants for the quality product, to the guys at Phenix Rods for supporting my passion with the incredible rods that bested the beast and made it appear easy, and the Staff at Irvine lake for providing the Anglers with such quality adversaries to hunt! Enjoy the photos and enjoy our beloved sport for what it does for us and our familes! Thanks for reading.

Here is the picture that Jimmy took for Irvine Lake’s Site. Gotta love the blood drop caught in mid-air!

I guess this guy was thirsty after the battle!

This cutting board is fairly big. Fish went 26 Inches long and 18 Inches girth!

Here’s a shot of the hook jaw

Bite On garlic Attractant, a HUGE advantage that day!

Phenix Rods a Giterdun tool for sure!

Perspective Pic