shimmy

Congratulations man. Just saw what you have been busy doing the past bit. Truly an awesome accomplishment. 4 ounces away proves that you definitely had what it took to win the national championship. That is an awesome hard-earned accomplishment.

Many bigger bass will spawn a couple times throughout the year.

I always send my reels in to the companies for maintenance/repairs. Guarantees it gets fixed and most of the time they change a few extra things free of cost. In general, companies charge $20 per reel. I know there are guys on this site who are better at reel maintenance, but I eliminate any question marks by going straight to the company. Have done this with Shimano, Abu Garcia, and Lews for years.

Ha, get out of my head A-Jay! I could have been using anything! But, I did want a better guarantee to catch a bass over 6 pounds so, yes, I did have a jig tied on! Swimjig was good as well, but everything was under 4 pounds, so I put it down. For some reason, the bigger fish this day wanted the jig to be sitting still on the bottom for 5-10 seconds. Oh, and FYI, this guy might be heading back to Zion, big bass land, this winter. If anyone wants to meet up (hint hint hint cough cough), they should join!!!

Managed to go out last month to Minnesota with my brother for a few days. Our best double was this pic with his 5 and my 6. Always fun when both people in the boat have a 5+. After my wife had our 4th and FINAL kid a couple weeks ago, I was able to break away with my oldest for 2 evenings of fishing in here Fond du Lac, WI. First pic is her holding a 5 (small head but long body) and a 4. She is so precious and tough as nails. The other day, we were able to get out prior to walleye weekend and fish a local lake here. Was able to catch this 4+ and 6+ pound fish. Gave an awesome fight.

Wow...that is a giant. What did you catch her on? Active retrieve? Drifting? Well done

Despite you not long-arming that fish, you can tell it is a giant!!! Well done sir. Well done.

One thing is for sure, she was safe, you were obviously mindful of her up there, and, that girl will learn how to fish at the front of a boat better than some grown men in no time. Unless you are fishing jagged tipped stumps or have aligators chomping nearby, not sure i see the concern. Have 4 kids of my own. Think it is awesome you are willing to do that with your girl. That girl will NOT take a back seat in life

Hit a metro lake last week (lake auburn) on Wednesday and got a 22 pound limit. Water temps were up to 68 by the evening. Not one fish with a red tail. Water temps were great for spawning, but the fish had not come up yet. I think the spawn is ready now. Prior to the cold front, I fished some lakes in ottertail county from Thursday to Saturday. Water temps were lower by a few degrees, but we caught a lot more spawning. Very interesting how each lake plays by its own rules. Highest bag was 25 lbs. One 6 pounder. Jigs outfished plastics, but plastics did better at getting the missed strikes. Hope you all get them.

2nd place out of all those teams! Well done man. Well earned and you got prizes. Sounds like an awesome experience.

That is an incredible video. Best one i have seen in a while, thanks for sharing!

Those are great fish!!! I hear reports all the time of guys who go up there and not clear the 7 pound mark. You did awesome and caught some absolute giants man. Well done. Was fun reading your report and the excitement is real. The adrenaline rush is incredible. The second you climb into the boat and the guide pushes the boat off shore to go fishing, there is a feeling like none other. You just KNOW something crazy is about to happen that morning or evening. One of these days we will get a big group of Bassresource guys up there at the same time. The record seems to be 3 now? Dwight, Andy, and Jeff? We can beat that. I will be visiting this place the rest of my life as finances permit.

My 27.5 inch length and 19 inch girth was almost 11 pounds on the scale. I re-weighed it multiple times. The first weight was at the 10 lb 15 oz, but i kept re-weighing it to make sure i knew the exact weight which settled at 10 lb 12 oz. I would have preferred 10.15. The projected weight with a calculator was 14 pounds. I would prefer 14 pounds...The calculators are just flat out silly. Nevertheless, i remember that picture of your giant in Virginia and ANYBODY would love to catch that beauty.

That's there specifically for the people who keep claiming certain weights, but never weigh them. Hence the stupidity of it and use of "probably." My PB is only half of the WR. The shannanigans always seem to be the magical numbers of "5," "8," or "10 pound" claims.

I heard about a kid who didn’t have a scale, but still called his fish a DD...?

Ooooooooh man. Literally got situated on the couch just right before I read my favorite yearly update. So awesome. Those fish are so big. Jeff looks like he is holding some absolute giants as well. Was that 3/4 oz jig with a fluke skirted for your ten pounder? Video doesn’t look like it has a skirt so it seems it was a 3/4 oz jig head? Jeff that 10.95 was an absolute giant. I just can’t explain how much this video triggers me... Jeff and A-Jay, my wife gave me the go ahead for next Christmas/first of January (not this Christmas, but the next) for another trip. While I will be recruiting my family to go, I think it is time we all meet up!!! I am sure I will be watching this video many more times. AWESOME video and AMAZING fisherman.

Not sure how i missed this, but WOW!!! Great job man. What a monster out there. Texas rig as well i might add. Good for you. Very well deserved. 6 pounder under 21 inches is a pretty fat fish. Congrats on a 6+ fish. Very hard to do in MN.

I know this is a subjective topic, but i wanted answers from those with experience. For a casting jig rod (anywhere from a 1/4 oz jig to 3/4), what (through experience) have you found to be the MOST sensitive rod that doesn't break. I am not asking about balance and other factors, just wanted to hear some input on the matter. From the literature, it seems the NRX rods seem to mostly get the nod, even though some complain of the reel seat tightener. Any sleeper rods out there?

I think a good example of how someone in the front of the boat DESTROYS the person in the back is watching the FLW tour and the co-anglers. The co-anglers do not suck by the way, but it is very very very very rare that they have a better day than the person in the front of the boat. First cast, speed, and positioning can make a world of a difference. Now, with the trolling motor being run at a considerate speed for the person in the back, I see it all the time where people in the back have a chance at catching a bigger fish. Again, I like our rule. Whoever catches a 4+ pound fish goes to the back of the boat and everyone rotates up. Good system.

Good eye! It is indeed. Beautiful park. Giant carp in there. Thanks for the compliment, but no ideas were my own. I read 100s of forums and watched 100s of youtube videos of guys with different ideas. I guess my part was picking and choosing how to combine what i read and apply it to my boat. But, I literally did not own one powertool prior to this project. So...to me, having no idea what i was getting myself into seems pretty accurate. But, i am stubborn. I think that helped with making it look and work like a boat. Thanks all, forgot to mention boat specifics. The boat is a 1444 jon boat (14 feet - 44 inches at the hull). While it was wobbly like a 14 foot jon boat, it was actually a lot more stable than i anticipated. I could stand with another grown man in the back and never worried about falling in. I used 3/4 inch plywood surface. I knew it was on the heavier side, but it adds additional stability and will last longer. Some carpet has different colors, but when i ran out and reordered more, the new (exact carpet mind you) was still slightly different color. I still like the way it patterns out. I have 2 batteries inside with a battery switch. My aerator system, I added a timer to it which is pretty awesome. I also added a recirculator, emptying, automatic livewell switch. I also added a 4 gang marine switch panel for navigation lights, bilge, 12 volt system, and USB port. Fuse box is stored near batteries. I have a 25 hp motor i can put on the back which will even out the weight distribution. I can also turn it into an electric only boat if needed. Must say, the possibilities of creating your own boat made a lot of it fun. Oh, and my favorite, it has an 8 foot 6 inch carpeted rod locker storage that holds 12 feet of a power pole (8 and 4) so i can mount it inside it's bracket on the back and hold myself in place. Pretty excited to put it all to use.

After redoing the transom, painting trailer and outside, scrapping the inside, re-riveting the leaks... Finished-ish Boat First 5+lb Bass in the Boat...no smiling allowed

Have spent the past year working on restoring an old jon boat. This is your typical jon boat to bass boat. It took a very long time and there were so many times where I needed help for a 5 minute thing, but ended up taking an hour just to do. The boat and trailer itself are probably from the 70s? I sanded it down to bare aluminum, did self-etching primer, regular primer, than top coat. My wife gave me permission for this project since i needed a boat, and gave me an excuse to buy tools. Most importantly, i have no idea what i am doing so this was a challenge that i, without fully knowing what i was getting myself into, started. I chose to do all aluminum bracing. Towards the end, i started to get the hang of it all and would have changed several things structurally to improve it all around, but it is what it is. I tell myself that i will know what to do next time to improve it even more, but after the amount of crap i went through with this project, i don't foresee a next time. It ended up costing twice the amount i anticipated, which could be due to various aspects, but mainly, i didn't know what i was doing the first half of the build. I really tried not to take any shortcuts. The build is still not fully done, but it was good enough to fish from and catch my first batch of 5+ pound bass. Boat's old look prior to renovation.

Went out last week during the good weather. I came in with high expectations and was amazed at how HARD the fishing was...The most my brother-in-law and I caught in one day was 11. A whole day of fishing and that was the most we managed in an outing. I really tried to force the jig and jerkbait but was amazed at how tough it was to produce, aside from my first day. Spinnerbait saved the day for me on several occasions. Will post pics later. The first day out was my best 5 fish day of the week by far, which was a 25+ limit, but after that, i don't think i cleared 23 pounds and on a few outings, we combined didnt clear the 15 pound mark. I caught no absolute giants and gave it my best. Brother in law caught a 6 lb 14 oz bass his last morning on Friday. It was early in the morning and i thought we would have an epic day. We only caught 6 more fish with the second biggest coming in at 4.6 lbs. Even with that giant, we didn't clear 20 pounds for top 5 that day. The fish came in at 22.5 inches. It was a huge bass. It was still a great trip and relaxing, which is what i needed. Water temps hit 49 one day earlier on, but steadied around 53.

Awesome post. I can't wait to take my boy fishing. My girls can handle it for a few minutes, but hoping to get one of them fully invested. Those pics are adorable.

Also michael López on youtube. I am currently in the process of doing that to mine. No 2 boats are the same so there is some creative thinking going on with jon boat conversions. Tinboats.net is perfect. Has EVERYTHING! Michael Lopez has videos though.