ryanerb

So sorry Tom.

That is an awesome tire reef!! I have no clue what tire reefs leech out, they probably don't leech much, if anything at all I would guess. I'll leave that to the scientists. One time I caught a TON of crappie that were up shallow on a bed of about a dozen tires! It was so fun! Some interesting reading here about tire reefs, although it sounds like they should have filled 'em with concrete first! (ocean is obviously much different!!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Reef#Failure From an article about a lake in California: Plenty of great options out there!

I love it! I'm all about increasing the structure!! My only question, if every John, Dock, and Harry put structure in the lake, is the whole lake going to be full of 'trash' at the bottom. Tires, tubes, trees, etc. I guess it could be a good thing, unlimited structure, but I'm sure there is a 'limit' as to how much we put in, and what truly 'qualifies' as 'fish structure'. What if some dude dumps an old TV in the lake and says 'its going to be good for fish structure'... Actually this is maybe why most states don't allow it. Depending on what you're dumping in, you never know what the product is leeching out. I guess this is why our local agencies should be actively doing fish habitat themselves, and not leaving it to the fisherman. Then they can ensure it's done in a proper way? Just another .02 cents on a highly debatable topic.

Perhaps, I have no clue. I do know there are TONS and TONS of guy out there now that I don't even know the names of. So many tourney circuits, etc etc. Obviously the big guys like KVD and Wheeler stand out, but unfortunately a lot of guys get lost in the weeds. It's pretty tough when you're being compared to a couple hundred, if not thousands of guys. I guess it's like a defensive lineman in football, there's so many out there, we don't know the names of probably over 75% of them. But we do know the names of all the top quarterbacks. Randy has a long history, and if he continues to perform and do well, I'm sure he will continue to rise up into the bigger circuits!

It's the beef jerky comment for me!

Have fun, keep us posted!!

What's sad, is I believe tournament fishing makes better anglers. I don't know that I can say the same about social media guys. On social media, you may know how to talk and be entertaining, but do we really know how many fish you catch? Did you edit catch footage from 5 days into 2 minutes and we think you are a good angler? Should we really listen to you? Seems we are getting too comfortable taking advice from any John, Dock, and Harry just because they are taking the time to make and post a video. Those of us who are savvy hopefully can weed out the mediocre guys and only watch the guy who truly can perform. This thread seems like a hot topic, lots of opinions and debate. Just my .02 cents.

Congrats to Neal! Pretty happy for him! Sounds like a crankbait played a big part. Good to see the reaction stuff playing a part in it all. Less dropshotting with floggers. Obviously the bass aren't on the spawn right now, so it played out a little different!

Seems like it has been a good tourney, with some days of wind. I haven't watch hardly any of it. But checked occasionally, and what do you know, drop shot doing most of the damage. Some guys did try to go the largemouth route, but I don't think it will be good enough to win it. Wheeler still made it to the top 10, but it's nice to see someone else giving him a run for his money and heading for the win. Competition is definitely important!

I can relate too much to this thread, so I just had to post. I've been going to DSG, their prices are wayyy too high, but always have them PM to TW, and they do it very easily. Works out when I need some tackle right away, etc. On the other hand, it sure is ironic that amazon will not price match! haha I don't mind jacking these big retailers around a bit, but a mom and pop store definitely is different.

I am very very leary of '3rd party sellers', but even if it is sold by amazon.com and not a third party seller? I bought mine and it was sold by and shipped by amazon, not a third party seller. I didn't know that people were getting that much counterfeit powerpro from amazon. Good to know.

I just bought powerpro on amazon for like 20 bucks and TW was like 27. Amazon got my money. When it comes down to dollar or less differences, I'm not quite as picky but go after family owned or convenience. Obviously supporting someone family owned like Siebert is more important than supporting the behemoth of amazon.

EXACTLY!!

Anyone know how deep Wheeler is dropshotting on this last final day? I'm thinking deep (like more than 30ft) but not sure...

Good points!!

This is all sounding good!! Appreciate all the input guys!!

Thoughts on why specifically they smash fish in the winter? I figured fish ate shad almost all year... just trying to think out loud...

For a long time, the Alabama rig seemed like the holy grail, almost so much it was banned in some tournaments. If it's so deadly, does it work all summer? The shad spawn in the spring, so don't bass just eat the offspring all summer too? And the bass's metabolism is higher in the warmer water, so they have to eat more, so they like A-rigs because they are a nice small bait ball to eat? Logically, it seems like it would work great. What is your experience? Do A-Rigs only work certain times of the year? Or all year long including the summer? Just looking for input and EXPERIENCES....

@WRB will be happy! haha hopefully they are as good as the originals! IKE has been pushing that Gilly a ton on social media haha

Thanks for sharing!!! It looks like it's the 50 and not the 55. I'm sure the 50's are good, but I just always stick to the 55's. Doesn't really seem like the 55's are on a big sale...

Another good reason you shouldn't try to fish two tours... When is enough enough? Does the guy have a family, or a life? Each tour is quite demanding, why not just focus on one and not try to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to fish every tournament out there.... Way back when they didn't have so many 'big' tours... Now, there are quite a few tours out there and I don't think the intention was to have everybody fish em all.... I would assume a large majority of guys on the MLF BPT don't fish two tours. MLF BPT is demanding enough, especially if you're trying to beat Wheeler hahaha

LOLLLL if they wanna be rich, then they ought to start doing some R&D on that. Great idea! Yup, no one said it was easy.... I think you hit the nail right on the head (no pun intended haha) However, what is the point of MLF? Is it for spectators? Because if it's basically for spectators, then they want the action, the sweat and the tears. They wanna see the hammer swung. Air guns are boring. I don't blame the anglers, they are using the right tools to perform their job the most effectively... But if MLF is for pure entertainment, and for the spectators, then the MLF leaders should ban flogging and bed fishing (yes, essentially making life 'harder') purely for the sake of entertainment and for the spectators...

Unfortunately, he had to do what he had to do to win. If he didn't flog, someone else would, and they would beat him. The best way to avoid this is to have MLF ban it like they did A-Rigs. Sadly, a lot of these guys probably didn't want to flog, but they had a stronger desire to win (aka it's their job) than to pass up flogging because they don't really like it.... My .02 cents, is I blame MLF. There isn't much to 'blame', it's more they just decided to have a circuit that allows this, so this is what will happen. If they ban it, we can see them catch a lot more fish in a lot more conventional ways. Avena said he hadn't really ever used this flogger. I don't think guys wanted to do it, they had to do it unfortunately.

I'm sure it helped, I'm sure the help was nice to have, but honestly, all the guys were slammin fish. I don't know that the intel helped 'all that much'... I think Wheeler just is very tenacious, and has a lotta energy... He doesn't let up, etc. The intel would have mattered if he came out of no where and hasn't won events before, but he's won plenty, so this will just go down as another for him.

I'm giving Skeet Reese some credit for fishing something else other than a drop shot or ned rig. Looks like he's bringing in a few on the jerk bait!