Fishlegs

Congrats!

Hopefully she’ll let you borrow her good spinning combo from time to time @galyonj. Lol

I agree that those are some cool looking fish. Very nice patterns on them.

I’m pretty sure he is Tennessee’s all time leader in TD passes...to the opposing team.

I'd call that a little bit of bacon with a bunch of other stuff to throw away. ?

Hopefully he’ll land the next one. Keep on trying.

That looks like a winning ratio to me! Haha

Nice! That’s a good looking jig, and a good looking fish.

I don't have that particular rod, but I have several H2O rods and I think they're all very good for the price. I have an H2O xpress tac-40 rod that I prefer over my Dobyns, Fenwick, and Daiwa rods. That's not a knock on Dobyns, Fenwick, or Daiwa. They're great rods. I just prefer the tac-40. I agree with the above posters that the aird-x is hard to beat for $50, but I am not hesitant about buying H2O xpress rods. They sometimes ring up cheaper than the listed price too.

I’m pretty sure that every BR member has lost their head over a fish at some point in their life. ?

@Glenn usually has a video on how to improve just about any technique, but I bet he hasn’t ever done one for that. ?

That’s a beautifully colored fish.

I have both. I really like both, but I prefer the 6:1 for almost everything except t-rigs. The 8:1 seems way, way faster. So fast that I have a hard time keeping moving baits off the surface with it. YMMV, but I'd go with the 6:1 for all around use, and an 8:1 specifically if you need to take slack up quickly. You'll have a nice reel either way though.

T-rig has always been a confidence lure for me, but I intend to use a jig more in the future. I want to get better fishing with a jig.

Jimmy's show & career has been enjoyed by countless anglers. His family is in my prayers.

It can be hard to resist doing a big hookset, but do it exactly like @roadwarrior said, and the hook will do its job. He knows what he's talking about.

Nice fish! I bet that one pulled a kayak around a little.

I could listen to Chris Cornell sing pretty much anything. The Cornell wail was special.

The fish are dinks, but my fortune cookie from lunch was nice.

You’re on a trend of finding fish with old lures in them @BrianMDTX.

You may have a marlin, sail, and snapper, but where's your white bass? ?

I like the attitude. Fishing can be a great experience every time if you understand that it is not all about catching. I like to fish with people who know more than I do (which includes almost anyone). ? I try to learn something from them, and look for small ways I can improve each time I go out. This is a good site to read about the things you'd like to learn about as well. There are some good folks who like helping people improve their skills here too.

Thanks for the detailed response @Team9nine. That makes a lot of sense. It's hard to imagine leaving a hook in is a good idea. I guess it's not a "feel good" thing. We all want to give the fish the best chance to survive when we release it. I only remember throat hooking a couple of fish last year. I did a terrible job of removing the hook on one, and I felt bad watching it suffer. I know it died. On the other one the hook seemed to come out clean, and it swam away immediately. I'll never know whether it lived or not, but I'm hopeful that it did.

That is good info. Did they give any thoughts on why they think the fish died after removing the hooks? It seems like they would occasionally get cut in that area when swallowing prey that doesn't want to cooperate with being eaten. I wonder if that causes them to die, or if it has more to do with the metal hooks?

He must be well liked. It seemed like everyone (including his competition) was genuinely happy to see him hold on to win.