senile1

Nice looking fish! I'm sure that gave a jump start to your day.

Enjoy that smell. Breathe it in deep and taste that aroma. Ugh! We all get skunked now and then. Analyze it to the best of your ability and hopefully you will find a nugget of information that you can use later.

Very nice fish!

Nice Fish!

He is in the St Louis, MO or surrounding area, I believe. I first started buying jigs from him to help out a native of my state who seemed like a great guy on the forums. He has really expanded since then and has proven he is a great guy, and makes great jigs.

I just went back and looked at last year's contest. Shane J had a New Hampshire largemouth just over 86 percent of the state record, and of course Dwight had a smallie that was at 81.3 percent.

I agree that some claims can seem "a bit off," but in this contest, the fish I have seen posted have definitely looked legit. Heck, I caught a decent fish a couple of years ago and didn't have a scale. I posted the picture for grins but told everyone it didn't count because I didn't have my scale. I think the honor system has worked well in this contest since its ***.

That is what dreams are made of. Now that is a fish! Wow!

Seaguar AbrazX is designed with an emphasis on abrasion resistance. InvizX is designed for manageability.

Before there was Tatsu, I used mainly Seaguar InvizX and AbrazX. Once Tatsu came out I tried it and, in my opinion, it lives up to all the accolades given to it. I still use InvizX and AbrazX the most. I haven't tried the Seaguar Red Label but I have had nothing but good results from the other three Seaguar fluoros. So, if you choose to go with Seaguar, you have your choice of price points.

I think you will be a happy customer. Which jigs did you purchase?

You make some very good points, Sam. I'm guilty of not providing a "float plan" to my family at times. Thanks for the reminder. I think this is very important.

I am not one of those elite professionals that you speak of, but here goes. WRB gave you some good information in his post. As for why they were catching bass and you weren't there could be a few reasons. You stated that you were "doing the same the other day" so you were fishing for bass on a different day. Maybe they weren't biting jigs on the day you were fishing. Sometimes a slight warming trend can cause bass to bite in Winter. For example, if you fished on the first or second day of the warming trend and they were fishing on the third that can sometimes make a big difference in the bite. Maybe they were fishing a location used by the bass and you weren't. Locating where the bass are is the most important thing one can learn. Maybe their presentation was triggering the bass to bite and your presentation wasn't. It could have been a difference in the way they were working their jigs, a difference in the movement of their jig trailers, or both. Another point on presentation is color. Was the water clear, murky, stained, etc? In muddy water a dark colored jig is generally considered to be easier for the fish to see than a natural colored jig like the one you used. Maybe you aren't feeling the fish, as you indicate in your last paragraph.

I am sorry to hear this. His time came early. He will be missed.

Nice move, Mike! I'm pretty stocked up but I'll probably order a few more Big-O football heads in the next couple of weeks as I have some clearwater lakes with lots of rock on the agenda in the next couple of months. I use the brush jigs a lot but I'm pretty sure I have all of those I need. I can always use extra packs of craws and I know I could use an additional color or two of lobsters.

My plan was for Dwight to handle the line by hand. We don't want him to have an unfair advantage.

That's just awesome. You guys will be dreaming of 40 lb plus bags and grande bass for weeks, if not months to come. What an awesome trip! I have to get down there, no ifs, ands, or buts.

I propose an additional rule. Rule 4.a.) One treble hook tied to line only. No lure. Line must be 2 lb test or less. Applies to anyone named Dwight.

That's an enjoyable post. You stuck a couple of decent fish there. It makes fishing in the cold all worthwhile, doesn't it! I don't know about some of these other members, but I'm not going to bare with you. I will bear with you.

I hope the back continues to improve. Back injuries affect everything you do. This was a message to you from a higher power. You should have been fishing.

Come on, Big-O! You can do better than that. Show us a big bass.

I'm in.

There are 39 posts on this thread and counting. Look down through the tournament forum threads and you will see that it is rare for a tournament thread to get this many posts. We can debate how they shouldn't have aired it on television but this thread is a perfect example of why they did.

Missouri is the same as what CoBass described. A single treble hook counts as one hook. Three hooks are allowed per rod. I actually pasted the Missouri regulations for Alabama rigs in another thread under the Fishing Tackle forum and the MDC specifically makes this point in that documentation.

Congratulations to you and your son!