Tennessee Boy

I remember when you had to wait months to watch a 30 minute summary of a BASS tournament on the Bassmaster TV show. Now we can watch them live and discuss them online with friends. It's all good.

It seems Alex has generated a lot of interest in fishing robes. Here are two you might want to consider. Zebco Fishing Robe $19.95 Megabass Fishing Robe $379

I don't get as fidgety since I retired. There's always a reels of some sort on my desk. I used to keep a yoyo on my desk when I worked in the office. It was great for clearing brain fog. 😆

Congratulations. I hope the new gig works out well for you.

Welcome. I’ve always wondered about those lakes at Fairfield Glade.

Hopefully I can top this one I caught on vacation last year in Connecticut. FYI, the sunglasses make me look older, I'm only 62.

Your earlier statement that they run up the numbers with dinks using finesse techniques was a problem in the first MLF season when the minimum was 1 pound. Edwin Evers won the first Redcrest with 63 fish and 59 of them weighted less than 2 pounds. Most were caught on a finesse worm. Since they raised the size limit you don't see this as much. I would prefer to see the minimum be 2 pounds and I prefer a five fish limit but that's just me. We debated all this on this forum after the first season and many people preferred the 1 pound limit saying they liked to watch them catch fish. Bobby Lane had a good day by any standard.

Bobby Lane's Biggest 5 fish on the final day. 5-10 5-8 5-8 4-9 4-8 Total: 25-11

After Stage 2 here are the updated numbers according to my calculations in the great experiment. In Stage 1 the FFS periods produced 11.26 lbs more on average than the non FFS periods. In Stage 2 that advantage disappeared and FFS periods on average produced about 1 ounce more than non FFS periods. For the season the average FFS advantage per period dropped to 6.67 lbs or 84% more than non FFS periods. It will be interesting to see how the numbers change going forward. Stage 2 Numbers Total Weight: 3849.8 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 8.01 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 7.96 lbs Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period:0.06 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 1% Total Weight with FFS: 873.63 lbs Total Weight without FFS: 2976.13 lbs Total number of fish caught: 1589 Average Fish Size: 2.42 lbs Average Fish Size with FFS: 2.32 lbs Average Fish Size without FFS: 2.46 lbs Percentage Increase in Fish Size with FFS: -5.6% Number for the Season Total Weight: 9468.0 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 14.64 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 7.96 lbs Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period: 6.67 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 84% Total Weight with FFS: 3893.25 lbs Total Weight without FFS: 5574.75 lbs Total number of fish caught: 3978 Average Fish Size: 2.38 lbs Average Fish Size with FFS: 2.35 lbs Average Fish Size without FFS: 2.40 lbs Percentage Increase in Fish Size with FFS: -2.2%

Last time we saw Keith Poche he was squeezing under a bridge and heading off the grid. I hope MLF can get their official and camera man back.😆

I like the Gator Trax but it’s a real disadvantage in this tournament. He’s making long runs and there’s a lot of wind.

I was cheering for Gary Klein. He was one fish out and didn't really seem to care. I guess he has something else to do tomorrow.

The guys on camera are making it look easy. Makes me want to head down to Florida and yank a few out of the bushes. Then you look at the rest of the field and realize most of them are struggling.

Did anyone else see that tagged fish that Tak just caught? Was that a transmitter that he just cut off?

That's a different argument. Everyone has an opinion on what the minimum should be. I think it should be 2 lbs. I don't think the local size limit is relevant to the issue. FYI - Not counting today, there have been 3101 fish caught in the 2025 MLF season. 79 were caught on a drop shot. I'm sure the number would be much higher if @gim was on the tour. 😊

According to Scoretracker Michael Neal caught a fish at 2:58PM. According to my calculations it’s now 2:02PM Eastern Time. How does that work?

I’m I reading the ScoreTracker correctly? 3 of the top 10 including the leader Jacob Wheeler are not even using their FFS period today. Don’t they know it’s impossible to win without it? 😄

Wheeler made a long run, giving everyone else a 2-hour head start. Now, after 30 minutes of fishing, he's leading the tournament. The guy is unreal. Oh, and he's not using FFS.

I agree. Still you have to admit that there is a huge difference between a gadget that increases your catch 5% and a gadget that doubles your catch.

I certainly expected it to help. I wouldn't have spent all of the money on electronics if I didn't think it would help me catch fish. That said, how much it helps matters. There has been speculation that FFS would increase fishing success so much that it impacts fish populations. People say it's cheating. People say it's ruining professional fishing. In this tournament it increased the catch by 141%. If the numbers are similar at the end of the season then I will admit that the anti-FFS crowd have a valid argument. A technology that more than doubles your catch is a very big deal. We'll see where the numbers go from here. I saw that. He complains a lot. I personally don't see the point in comparing a fish that's legal to take home and a fish that's legal to weight in a tournament.

Round 2 of the experiment starts tomorrow. As a data loving geek my excitement continues. In 2022 a study was published on the effects that FFS on crappie catch rates on a lake in Kansas. 448 hours of fishing by 32 anglers on 1 lake was studied. This MLF season will provide over 8000 hours of fishing data by 66 angler on 7 bodies of water. It should tell us a lot about the effects that FFS is having on the sport at the highest level. I've been running some numbers and it's a work in progress but here is what I have for the season so far. Total Weight this Season: 5618 lbs Total Angler Periods: 483 Average Weight per Angler Period: 11.6 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 19.2 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 8.0 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Weight Rate with FFS: 141% Average Fish Size this Season: 2.35 lbs Average Fish Size with FFS: 2.36 lbs Average Fish Size without FFS: 2.34 lbs Percentage Increase in Fish Size with FFS: 0.7% * I've been unable to get a complete list of the FFS periods on day one of the first tournament so these number are off slightly as a result. I'm hoping I can find this information and update the results in the future.

Knowledge - Knowing what lakes hold big bass, knowing where the big bass are in the lake and knowing how big bass are different. Skill - Being able to do what needs to be done when the fishing rod is in your hand. Luck- The unpredictable and uncontrollable factors that influence success. These are all necessary to catch big bass Luck will sometimes overcome weakness in the other two. I would say luck is the most important but it is the only one we can't control and can't improve. Work on your skill, expand your knowledge and wait for luck to come your way.

It all depends on which transducer is in the trolling motor. If it’s the universal transducer it is only 2D sonar and you will need an adapter cable to connect to the fish finder of your choice. Newer Ultrex have different transducer options that include down imaging and side imaging.

I’m right handed and hold the rod in my right hand and reel with my left for slow retrieve technique so I can use my dominant hand to impart action on the lure. For fast constant retrieve techniques I do the opposite so I can crank with my dominant hand. I always cast with my right hand because I would throw the rod in the water if I tried to cast with my left.

Being the home of the BASS parent company probably helps.