Fishlegs

Fantastic news @AlabamaSpothunter! I'm glad you were able to recover it, but you didn't need that to validate yourself here. You are fully validated already! We know you've unlocked the secrets of your lake, and are a high level angler. Congrats on landing her.

Color for lizards has never mattered much for me. They’re either biting any color lizard, or not biting lizards at all. Time of year matters more than color for me. I catch most of my lizard fish in late spring/early summer. Not much luck the rest of the year.

I shop at Academy a lot, but if they do a "spring classic" type of sale like BPS I've never noticed it. They have something on sale almost all the time though. You can sign up for email notifications with them like most places to get some notice on sales.

What do I do during these cold days down south? Consider moving to Florida. 🤣

We’ve seen pictures of your tackle shop, so we believe you’re named after the ape. 😉 All kidding aside, stay strong for your family, and know the BR community will be thinking of/praying for you.

That's pretty much what I did @Swamp Girl. I laid on the ground beside the water in disbelief for a few minutes, picked up my stuff, and went home. I was utterly defeated in that moment, but 30 years later I still haven't given up. I'm still fishing.

For the most part I'm where you are, but there are a couple that will always haunt me. One in particular. It was a DD that I lost right at the bank. I'll never forget the heartbreak of that morning, but it's also part of what drives my desire to fish. I want to win a battle against a beast like that.

...and @Bluebasser86 is going to find a way to catch it!

So you come home from fishing with no pants on, and your wife isn't surprised? I don't think my wife would let me fish any more. 🤣 Glad you made it back safely, and I hope you've warmed up.

I'm always amazed at the various methods that people use to chase the same fish. TX rig will always be my #1 since it's my #1 confidence bait. I had good success with brush hogs, & the Rage Menace this year. I wanted to try colors other than GP, watermelon, & Junebug this year. The two that stood out were both golden hues. Honey Candy for the menace, and rootbeer pepper green for the brush hog. I plan to continue using those. Lipless crankbaits are #2 for me. A new color that I had success with was, wait for it...gold. Specifically, a gold shad SK RES tungsten 2 tap. Another lure I plan to use more often. The "best of the rest" for me are spinnerbaits, underspins, swim jigs, drop shot, and ned rigs.

Wow! Very impressive catches. Congrats on an incredible year!

You're a celebrity to the BR family @Glenn. 😊

I would throw them in the river. If they came back with a fish attached, I'd probably throw it right back in the same spot. If there's not a fish attached, I'd try a different spot...but not in California. 😉

These guys are crazy. You don't want Academy stuff. You should package it all up, and send it to me for proper disposal. 🤣 Just kidding. Their stuff is very good. I use their hard baits, soft plastics, hooks, weights, rods, and it has been good. Not just good for the price...good. The only thing I didn't like enough to buy again are their spinnerbaits. I had to spend too much time trying to get them to run true so I gave up on them. Otherwise, I am a big fan of their brand.

I agree. That’s a beautiful smallmouth!

Excellent fish @Pat Brown!

Prayers for a successful surgery, and full recovery.

Got to fish below Pickwick dam the other day. The temp was in the 20s the previous night. It had probably warmed into the upper 30s by the time we started fishing. The sun was supposed to come out, but it never happened. It was tolerable, but didn't warm up liked we hoped. The fishing started out as cool as the temps. We had good current. We were drifting 3 mph without the trolling motor. We did a 2 1/2 mile drift and caught nothing. We tried the other side, and only caught one. We went back to the other side again, but all we caught were drum. Hopefully @roadwarrior won't be too disappointed that we don't have pics of those. 🤣 Since we were having no luck on the bank, we decided to try fishing along the channel. Turns out that the fish were in the middle of the river. We only caught 3 in the first 5 hours along the banks, but got 6 in the last 2 hours in the middle of the river. Nothing too big, but one solid 3 lb 6 oz smallmouth. The most interesting part of the day came as I caught the first fish along the channel. We noticed a boat speeding toward us. While I was reeling I said, "He sees us, right?" He sped right up to us, and turns away at the last second. When he turned we see "Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency" on the side of the boat. I pulled the fish out of the net as he pulled up beside us. I said, "I'll get my license out in just a second." He said, "I don't want to see your license. I want to see the fish." I was confused since it was just a dink smallmouth. I held it up for him, and he said, "No, I want the fish." So I gave it to him. He measured it, and asked me if I wanted it back. I said, "no" so he released it. I thought we were about to get checked by the game warden. Turns out that he was with the TWRA Angler Survey. He asked us several questions about our fishing experience. He wanted to know where we were from, how much our trip cost us (counting gas, meals, etc.), how satisfied we were with our experience, if we'd fished there before, and if we planned to fish there again. It was actually a fun, and interesting experience. We had a nice chat. He seemed like a good guy. He went on his way, and we started catching fish. Too bad he didn't see us when we caught a bigger fish. 🤣

That is awesome @Aaron_H!

Zoom trailer sounds ideal. I also use the 3.5 in Yum Pulse swimbait as a trailer when I want a small profile paddle tail trailer. You could probably cut it shorter if you wanted to.

Congrats on such a day! Hopefully, you will get to fish with the little ones one day. Helping your kid catch a fish is another great feeling.

100%, but so does every other team in the country. This has been one of the most unpredictable college football seasons I can remember.

Y'all remember when @Swamp Girl caught 2044 bass in one year? Thank you for taking us along, and letting us share your awesome trips.

In my waters the fish prefer green pumpkin, watermelon, watermelon red, watermelon candy, cotton candy, honey candy, hard candy, candy craw, Falcon Lake craw, Bama craw, Okeechobee craw, crawdad, ghost shad, sexy shad, gizzard shad, electric shad, Tennessee shad, California 420, Bama bug, red bug, junebug, pumpkin, purple pumpkin, PB&J, huckleberry, plum apple, plum, bubble gum, black, black & blue, black & red, white, pearl, tinfoil, motor oil, merthiolate, disco violet, glimmer blue, chartreuse, moon juice, rootbeer pepper, bourbon blaze, tequila sunrise, sprayed grass, baby bass, sungill, baitfish, tilapia, and KVD magic...not necessarily in that order. I talked to the bait monkey, and he approves this message. 🤣 Seriously, I classify my colors into four categories: 1. green 2. white/grey/yellow 3. red/orange 4. black/blue/purple The conditions (sunny vs cloudy, water color, time of day, season, etc.) determine what variations of these colors I use. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't.

@Dwight Hottle Calling that a “nice one” might be the understatement of the year. What a fish! @AlabamaSpothunter Big beast on a mini lure. Well done! @Aaron_H Gold is the only H2O lipless I don’t have. Now I need one. Thanks a lot! 😂