Tennessee Boy

I spool all of the line out either behind the boat or in the back yard, then spool it on the new reel. This will reduce line twist.

Here at the updated numbers after Stage 5. The FFS period advantage continued to drop to 45% or just a little under 4 pounds. It might move up from here as the tour swings north. I have no idea what to expect in the next tournament on the Potomac. The final tournament on Saginaw Bay should be a scope fest. FFS has played a bigger role on the final day. I've included below the season totals for the final championship days. Stage 5 Total Weight: 5248.3 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 12.58 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 10.27 lbs Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period: 2.31 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 23% Season Total Total Weight: 27613.4 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 12.66 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 8.74 lbs Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period: 3.92 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 45% Final Day Only Total Weight: 2629.9 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 20.75 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 12.25 lbs Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period: 8.50 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 69%

We'll all sleep better tonight in middle Tennessee now that our most wanted fugitive has been captured. Ed the runaway zebra is in custody. https://www.wsmv.com/2025/06/08/he-is-safe-owners-say-missing-zebra-caught-over-week-after-escaping/

Kentucky Lake is definitely back minus the big fish. When all of the 3 and 4 pound fish grow up it will be world class again. This was classic ledge fishing except for Andy Montgomery who had a good week flipping boat dock. I enjoyed watching it. Here are the top 10 best angler periods on the BPT in 2025. Six of them were in this tournament. Rank Tournament Day Angler Period FFS Total Weight Fish Count 1 Stage 1 2 Justin Cooper 1 Yes 72 - 4 29 2 Stage 5 1 Justin Lucas 1 No 64 - 1 26 3 Stage 5 1 Cole Floyd 2 No 61 - 15 25 4 Stage 1 3 Drew Gill 1 Yes 60 - 15 27 5 Stage 5 1 Jake Lawrence 1 Yes 58 - 9 21 6 Stage 5 3 Jake Lawrence 1 Yes 56 - 14 20 7 Stage 5 1 Jacob Wheeler 1 No 56 - 7 25 8 Stage 5 1 Michael Neal 1 No 56 - 3 20 9 Stage 1 3 Jake Lawrence 1 Yes 56 - 0 21 10 Stage 1 2 Jake Lawrence 1 Yes 55 - 11 19

I think we're entering the Wheeler - Lawrence era.

I'm really enjoying this tournament on my favorite lake. I always enjoy watching these guys fish my home waters. Ledges and Carolina rigs are playing big the way they do in my fishing. I've been watching Drew Gill shake a minnow with his FFS in every tournament this year and I've wondered how he does it. Turns out he can't do it either on Kentucky Lake. 😆 Jake Lawrence caught enough yesterday that he's apparently not fishing today. It's his home lake and he should be hard to beat. Michael Neal is killing it and as always Jacob Wheeler is looking strong. It's gonna be interesting to see how this one ends.

I take a leftover soft plastic stick bait and cut off about two inches of it. Then I poke a hole through the center of it and insert a Phenix Rockcrawler into it. The plastic keeps the weight from wedging as far down between the rocks and it gives a little so you can pull it free. Only downside is the plastic kills the sensitive so you can’t use the weight to determine the bottom composition but I use my electronics for that now anyway in the new “modern” world of fishing.

Last thing I want is my dentist searching my mouth for a new bass boat.

When I was a teenager I would wade creeks several times a week. First thing I would do as I waded into a creek was dunk my spinning reel. I was never arrested and I caught lots of fish. 😁

What I’m trying to explain is more about how the water flows along the hull. When the boat is on plane, there’s a clean sheet of water coming off the bottom of the hull—near the transom. That clean water is ideal for mounting a transducer because it minimizes turbulence and air bubbles, which can interfere with sonar readings. The problem is, the mounting block in the photo looks to be installed about an inch higher than the actual bottom of the hull. That means water will start to break and spray at the bottom edge of the transom, before it reaches the edge of the block. By the time the water gets down to where the transducer will sit, it will be more turbulent. The block appears to be about two inches thick, which means the transducer will sit two inches farther aft and further into the turbulent spray of water than if it was mounted to the transom.

Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis). Around here a lot of people call them Pumpkinseeds.

Transducer mount would be my best guess also but I have to say it's not very well thought out. It's not level with the bottom of the boat which would cause turbulence and noise in the sonar returns. It's also over the bunk so the transducer would hit the bunk every time you load the boat.

I’ve had a couple of people tell me that having a flock of Guinea fowl will get rid of them on your property. Not an option if you live in the city.

I don't pay enough attention to other boats to notice. I have seen a local YouTube guy's wrapped truck at the ramp a few times. Last time I checked he was approaching 100 subscribers to his channel. 😆

It's been my experience that some people can't help themselves and can't keep a secret. If I'm at the ramp and a stranger starts telling me about the fish he caught he's telling the truth. He had a good day and just has to tell someone, anyone, about it. Personally, I don't ask and I don't tell.

In my mind this is a thread about bad hooks. If I have a hook that bends or breaks, it gets added to the black list. The Z-man Shroom jig heads come to mind as a product with a terrible hook. A hook should never bend or break before the line breaks and the line shouldn't break before the drag starts slipping. A treble hook should be able to handle 30 lbs or more of force. A drag should almost never be set at more than 5 lbs. There have been many times where I've had a lure retriever attached to a crank bait and had to attach the line to the boat and use the outboard to break the hook. A hook shouldn't fail easily.

My tackle storage strategy revolves around the plastic bag. You can find any plastic bag you want on the Internet. Amazon has them and there are other options as well. Typical plastic bags you get at the grocery are 1 mil thick. Freezer bags are usually 2 mil. You can get pretty much any size bag you want up to 8 mil thickness. 4 mil would be more than thick enough for soft plastics. I put individual lures with hooks in 6 or 8 mil small bags. Here is just one of many options on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/uGems-Heavy-Duty-Resistant-Reclosable-Resealable/dp/B06W588XHW/ref=pd_bxgy_d_sccl_1/143-6091915-8580158

The image shows shipping cost $15,100.58? You could fly over there a pick it up cheaper than that. 🤪

Did anyone say it was a top concern? I would say most of the things on your list should be a higher priority than jig head color. I will also say that not all jig heads are created equal. I fish a 3/4 jig and craw and 1/16 oz Ned Rig. I'm more concerned about how the 3/4 oz head looks than the 1/16 oz.

I've caught fish on an unpainted jig head which demonstrates that they will hit an unpainted jig head. It does not mean that some of them do not prefer a painted jig head. There is solid science that shows that some bass are harder to catch than others. Do some bass shy away from a jig with an unpainted head that would hit a painted jig head? That would require a controlled test and some statistical analysis to show. There have been many days when I've started out with a painted jig head and watched it slowly become unpainted as the paint chipped off as I fished it. I can't say that I noticed a difference in catch rate but there are so many other factors to consider. I feel strongly that paying attention to details matters. A natural lead colored jig head looks unnatural to me on a black jig. I prefer a natural look. So I will continue to prefer painted jig heads but I will not throw away one with a few chips in the paint until I see some real evidence that it matters.

Wow! I haven’t seen one of those in ages. A paper magazine that is. 😆

The first really cold morning in the fall is when I find out if I need a new battery.

I think they mean directly above the batteries. Lead acid batteries can emit gases like hydrogen and others that are flammable and can cause corrosion. Just be aware of this when you mount it and make sure the compartment is well ventilated. I leave my battery compartment open slightly when I'm charging the batteries.

Another vote for Mustang.

I don't drink but I've toured several distilleries and my favorite is Jack Daniels. 😆 My cousin had a nice one also. It was a much smaller operation in a holler behind his house.