BassNJake

Thats a giant!! Awesome father/son tourney experience!! Tell me he won big bass with that gorilla? I better stop driving past Melton hill on my way home from work!!

When I started tourney fishing- it was all about getting 5 in the boat and then looking for kickers. It wasn't until later that my experience would allow for me to fish for 6-7 bites a day but make sure they were the right ones. Early on, I never had the patience or the confidence that I could get 5 quality fish on 6 or 7 bites. After the first hour or 2 without a keeper, I would let the pressure get me scatterbrained. Run here because there was a good lay down, run over there and fish a weed edge I caught em' on before or just hit the bank tossing lots of lures around at any type of cover without any real rhyme or reason. When I started to improve, so did my tourney results. Now, I can fish for those 6 or 7 bites a day knowing that will give me the best chance at cashing a check. I also have the confidence to not get spun out if I go stretches without getting bit. I can also make better decisions before hitting the water based on practice patterns as well as lake and weather conditions.

Hahahahaa ... I know right?

I'll admit I did a little happy dance when I read the classic will be held in Knoxville. Biggest event in the sport less than an hour away,I'll be there all 3 days!! Gonna hate waiting all year though

Seems like you have answered the question yourself. Maybe you could have provided some more info as to what exactly you were doing. You mentioned him struggling to find a pattern even when you had caught 4 behind him. Sounds like even being 20 feet away he couldn't figure out the where or what you were doing differently. or as others have suggested some people just get stuck in what worked, instead of whats working now.

I got a pretty big shock the first time I saw a bowfisher and his bounty of carp. I swear it seemed like he had 30 of them.

Bernie Shultz had an article on the skin cancer treatment he received. https://www.bassmaster.com/blog/dont-look-me-part-1 His face pretty much look like they sand blasted it. Cant imagine that especially since he lives in FLL with all that salt water around.

What are your thoughts on $100+ swimbaits? If you can afford one you've got a better paying job than me

I agree with Blue and what his image shows. Some chatterbait fish get hooked in that thin membrane of skin that covers the roof of the mouth. This does not always allow the hook to penetrate very well. This will happen to me at times when they are eating jigs really well too.

Seems like you have received some quality advice already. I'll go a different route; When needed TP in a ziplock bag can be priceless

Congrats on qualifying and like the others have said excellent write up!!

Excellent article about Jacob here: https://www.bassmaster.com/news/new-elite-wheeler-s-humble-beginnings It's going to be fun to see years of him, the Lee brothers and the rest of these young guns on the trail

I am so amped up for this to start!! Cant wait to watch the live coverage. Somebodies life is about to be changed!!

I missed this one again. Oh well hopefully I can remember before the next event

I love the vision 110's. I followed an FLW event probably like 2010 or 2011 and 9 of the top 10 finishers were all throwing the vision 110. I bought some to see if they were as good as these pros said. They are definitely worth the money in my opinion and a heartbreaker every time one is lost. Quote from an FLW page- "In terms of top lures for 2011, three in particular stand out. First is the MegaBass Vision 110 suspending jerkbait, which dominated the Beaver Lake Tour event. Nine of the top 10 finishers, including winner Bryan Thrift, were using the Vision 110."

Funny this topic came up, I just saw this video earlier this week

You would use the quotation marks. "Lucky Craft"

I've had success slow rolling it and bouncing it off the rocks. A lot of bites are directly after making contact. At Norris I will also toss it out along the bluff walls and fish them in thirds along the walls top third, middle third and then along the bottom third. I have found at times the fish can be in any of these ranges on the bluff walls. Last year when the water was high it was good around all that cover that was submerged. A real nice compliment to my usual toad fishing.

Nice fish and way to break the early season shivers!!

When I began tournament fishing I jumped on the fishing for spawning fish is evil bandwagon. However, after reading about a study done by Dr. George W. Bennett, chief of the Aquatic Biology Section of the Illinois Natural History Survey in Urbana my opinion has changed. Not all scientists have the access to a controlled lake where they can study bass in the same way that he had done. Now his studies were from the 40's to the 60's but his results would be the same today. It's a long but a very interesting and informative read. https://www.si.com/vault/1963/08/19/595743/this-is-the-fish-you-cant-catch-too-many-of *** also this study was in regards to largemouth***

I think another issue is the expense/logistics of getting all of the equipment that BASS has out west. Lack of community support will also result in less sponsorship dollars and less merchandise being sold. It's just about the money and it's too expensive for BASS to go out west. I would bet many of the people on this very site would love to go out west and fish some of their awesome lakes. However, the cost associated with it would be a main reason why they can't/don't. I found a Putnam County Chamber of Commerce proposal that indicates they spent a million dollars to bring a 2014 Bassmaster event to the St. Johns river. In this document it also highlights what the host will also provide on top of the million dollar bid. http://www.acce.org/clientuploads/directory/samples/2014/PCCC Synopsis 2.pdf

Nice fish!! Norris is a mud puddle too. Although it is up 10 feet since last week. Saw lots of birds near the hump out in front of Palmers Junction when coming across the 33 bridge. Been working some OT so didn't get to go out.

I made the top 10 so I'm happy. Glad to be part of the Bass Resource team as it's fun to take a look at who picked who and where they finished. I needed Ott Defoe to have 2 more ounces so he could make the final day. Pretty sure he's more upset by that than me though.

I heard on Bassmaster live Scott Rook was the only angler to catch a limit everyday he fished last year and he didn't finish high enough to make the classic. Although I agree consistency is the key along with a couple 4LBers mixed in

Another use for the hook cutters is when gut hooking a fish I'll slip a piece of line with a slip knot around the hook and leave it hang outside the fishes mouth. Then cut the hook, the hook comes out in 2 pieces one tied to my rod the other tied to my short piece of extra line. I have several pieces of line in one of my boxes pre rigged with a slip knot on one end for this purpose. I dont even mess with trying any other technique as I have found this to be the most effective and least time consuming.