Team9nine

I’m sure they won’t miss you, but it does have it’s moments, and some pretty good guests and discussions.

That pink color is a big bass killer. I really miss those small ponds - lol.

Yeah, just like bowling, too 😆 It was just a point being expressed on a podcast as to what defines a professional sport, and then whether fishing is one or not. I tend to side with the ‘No’ camp myself, FWIW. I used to have a friend that based the definition of a ‘sport’ on whether the outcome and results could be measured/timed definitively vs. judged. In his instance, fishing was a sport, but things like gymnastics, diving, boxing and ice skating weren’t.

Their point being golf isn’t a “true” professional sport either 😉 Not much different than fishing. You hit a ball, walk to the ball, then hit it again - unlike boxing, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, hockey, etc. which all involve a ‘defense’ of some sort.

No interest here one way or another, but I found the timing of this story a bit ironic as I was listening to the BAD podcast a few days prior. One of the discussions was on ‘Is bass fishing a professional sport?’ One of the arguments for why it IS NOT was because there is no defense involved, to which someone immediately brought up the David Dudley incident many years back (similar bedding situation and outcome), to which the person agreed that that would be a case that met that definition. However, they struggled to come up with other scenarios of how an angler could play ‘defense’ in a tournament scenario.

Here’s a good comparison - different lake yesterday, but same result. Top is a 2 lb black crappie (TH); bottom a 2 pound white crappie I posted the other day (WE). You can also see the weather difference, as yesterday was a north wind post frontal day compared to the cloudy day before. Yesterday’s fish was my 45th crappie over 2 pounds for the year. It’s been a fun few months 😎

Garmin/Lowrance - haven’t heard many positives about HB’s FFS, but they have good DI/SI and mapping. I like Garmin’s FFS screen image better, but have heard Lowrance’s FFS is a bit more user friendly - more plug and play. Lowrance DI is good, too. Think mapping and SI between the two might be toss-up or personal preference. Lowrance also has a pretty decent waypoint mgmnt system…or at least used to. And yes, SI/DI/2D on console and FFS on bow.

Yes, but I modified all mine for tournament fishing. Took the largest size body (3” or 3-1/2”, I forget now) and replaced the stock jig-head with a good modern needlepoint version, then added a Sampo ball bearing swivel and would alter blades as necessary on the standard L-arm, often using a small gold Hildebrandt - basically a “pro” model version, which surprisingly, they never came out with. Worked really well.

Went to a “numbers” lake for crappie just to have some fun and swing on a bunch of fish. I finally caught a white crappie down here - first one I’ve run across, and it turned out to be a two pounder 😎

It’s a boy doll, so…

Back in Indiana, if they gave out lifetime bans for running in an idle zone, there would be almost no boaters left. I'm guessing most of the big circuits would have to pull their events from the state for lack of participants. It was/is an every week occurrence on most reservoirs

Even by 50th place “winners” 😆 They’ve got the stage and the mic for just a few minutes in their life - better name every sponsor you got for helping you get there.

Nope, only if they credit it for their win. Ain’t nobody crediting their Mercury engine or Hydrowave for allowing them to win - but they used to back in the day before FFS. The kid credited The Scope in write-ups I saw. I imagine a guy who actually won without using his Scope these days would go out of his way to point that out…but I get your point. It’s become a universal piece of equipment that plays in some respect most of the time these days.

A 32 yr old is a kid And if you read a little further back, you’ll see jerkbaits were the original minnow imitator Scope Kids used 😎

Now, now - Don’t rush to judgement. “The Scope” is still undefeated (6-0) in major tournaments this year 😉

Three and a half minutes of a 30 minute interview with Hank? Guess we’ll just agree we see it differently. Not shortening it even more kept both the part that Hank was originally a bit critical of Randy’s opinion, as well as him getting to explain why he now seems to see Randy’s point. Even shorter could have been interpreted as taking Hank’s thoughts out of context IMO.

I think the pendulum has swung too far, and we’ve now reached the point of too much (live) coverage. Seems like they’re having a hard time filling in all the “down time” when the bite is slow, especially in a nearly 8 hour day. Then there’s the multiple hosting platforms, along with the inconsistency in announcers because of that. Seems like I’ve read a lot more negative comments so far this year on coverage, especially with BASS.

I guess that’s one possible way to look at it 🤔 I didn’t see it like that, though. Hank even specifically names Blaukat in his video assuming we’re talking about the same one, then goes on to mention his take on Randy’s point of view, both initially and more recently. Why wouldn’t Randy in some way acknowledge that?

My guess is that given the push to installing 4-6 FFS transducers on a boat, coupled with AI and the ability to network all the units, the AI will be able to monitor all screens/transducers in virtual “real time,” and immediately notify the user on the main bow unit screen which transducer identified a fish (likely a bass based on return characteristics), which direction and distance, etc. If also programmed with the company’s TM, a push of a button will automatically let the TM reposition the bow to face the identified return on the main screen to be fished for. I also imagine the programming could allow for minimum length/wt chosen by the angler, whereby at the start of the day, all ‘keeper’ sized bass get identified and responded to, but as an anglers catch increases, they could simply input a minimum return strength whereby, say, only fish over 4 lbs generates the notification.

Yep ^^ It’s pretty much the same with every bait type. Binkelman got it right on jig fishing nearly 60 years ago (slightly paraphrasing): “Either you bounce one around the bottom and catch a few fish, or treat it like an art.”

There you go 😆 it doesn’t work. They didn’t ban Color-C-Lectors either - lol - they didn’t work. Fishing scents? Don’t work; not banned, but live bait is - it works. pH meters - not banned; doesn’t “work” in a fishing sense, at least not well enough to matter most days. FFS - it works 👍 Doesn’t need to be banned at the pro level, IMO, just restricted to a single transducer. Now Spotlock…that should be banned 😉 along with traffic cones. And on topic, I think non FFS events or trails will be limited in number and appeal. The highest orgs just need to set the new rules/limitations, and everything else will naturally fall into place.

Oops. Just added it to the post: 7-1/4

Obviously without seeing it, but if you're in halfway shallow water (say <15') and keeping your gain set at a constant setting, when the beams hit a hard bottom area, they reflect much more/harder and it tends to wash out/blow out the screen until you move on to softer bottom. Basically when it happens, just need to dial back the gain setting until things clear a bit, then bump back up once you're past the area. It happens in deep water too, but not near as bad unless you're gain is really cranked.

Starting to transition off the crappie bite as it continues to fade. Caught 3 greenies today, but one of them was one of the right ones. Edit: 7-1/4 pounds

2. Yes, Ewing and Nolan