AlabamaSpothunter

He was quite the character, I fished down in the Keys a good bit and have been to his home and seen the cats that still roam around with links to his own. Half the stuff I learn about the man, I absolutely love, the other half I absolutely hate. Very complicated man. The Old Man and the Sea is certainly the best long form story I've read, and To Build a Fire by Jack London is the best short story I've read. Both are so vivid you really do feel like you are there. Gotta throw Moby Dick and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in there as well ? Luckeeeeee ? This post was here for 16 hours without me seeing it, shame on me. Beautiful fat fish! Love seeing that. That Channel is really cool, can't remember seeing red on the ones I catch.

You'll find a rod for that Zillion reel quick the second you turn the handle on it ?

DANG IT Katie, I read the first part screaming in my head......"She's the old Woman and the River" ? Sturgeon and Musky are the two oldest bucket list fish I can remember as a kid. Those were the epic fish on saturday mornings I would watch being caught in distant lands from Alabama.

That's fantastic, and a great reply, thanks! Sounds like playing the best video game while also fishing. Not sure when it will happen, but FFS is at the very top of my list. Just the amount of knowledge one can learn about fish's behavior is incredible. To be able to guide my baits just above cover, and to be able to evaluate a fish's reaction to a bait seems priceless, the first part might save me in cost baits alone to justify the cost. Making it work on a river is even more impressive to be sure.

Sure you are Bob, thanks for the very kind words but this place is so exceptional because everybody brings something different to the table. You bring a lot to the table here Bob, both fishing knowledge and comradery. The day I stop listening to tips from other great anglers, is the day I should probably stop fishing. You never know what sticks once you get on the water, best to take everyone's advice. That was the first time I got em like that, if I can repeat it I feel like it wasn't luck ?

That's awesome Bob, love the umbrella too ?

Nice fish, it's fun catching a fat Bass in front of spectators, really fish in general. Non fisherman I've found love watching fisherman catch fish. Fascinates them the same way it did us in the beginning, the separator is patience.....the vast majority of humans don't have the patience capacity to be anglers.

edit...midread the thread. No there are not too many options.......how dare you question the monkey ?

Awesome fish brother, that fish your pops has looks the biggest.

had to clean this one up but made me laugh hard enough to still post

Have to agree wholeheartedly. Those on an A-Rig have just been electric over the last month for me. Until yesterday, haven't even had a swimbody need replacing, and even yesterday I didn't replace, just reset hook. I lose the dang A-Rig after 25-30 fish twice now before the swimbaits need replacing ?

Tis true, it's a well earned nickname....it comes from a place of extreme jealously and humor ?

Well I called her the Whopper Plopper Queen this one time.........Plopper Princess is downright brutal ? Bless your heart Katie, it's a bad bunch in this thread ?

You're going to get more experienced and better replies, but with that budget I'd grab a new Garmin ECHOMAP UHD29. Big 9" screen, maps and excellent downscan and sidescan, and perhaps most importantly down the road you can buy Garmin Livescope and use the same unit. Garmin ECHOMAP™ UHD2 9" Chartplotters | Marine Just add another transducer to the cost and you are at your budget.

You and your wife have worked an honest, clean, and noble life from all I know about you guys, both of you guys deserve to enjoy the things in life that truly make you happy and allow you to pursue the things that you are passionate and great at in life. That's the whole point of working hard, and honestly there should a reward for all the hard work and missed opportunities to pursue those things while earning a living. At some point you got to live your best life, you got to do the thing that you believe God put you on earth to do. Some people were put on this earth to catch big brown Bass ? Not to mention the fiscal argument is pretty easy to make when someone already owns a super nice modern Bass rig. FFS is peanuts in the grand scheme of the cost for that caliber of boat, and the associated costs with keeping it in tip top condition. If I had a front trolling motor, I'd have FFS tomorrow on a $500 Jon boat, maybe I'm not the best person to listen to ?

Heck yeah brother, I'm pumped to see your results for sure!

You're too kind, the blind squirrel just found a bounty of acorns ? Nothing makes me happier than seeing shad on the surface and fish blowing them up, I get so excited every time I cast straight into the water, backlash, hook rods, anything but make a good cast on the fish.

Awesome reels! I like this era of Shimano reels the best, before they were a bit archaic, after they are a bit fussy. The early 2000s was the sweet spot for Shimano imho. Obviously others won't agree, but I think they started building their baitcasters a bit to complicated afterwards with DC and various other things.

Baitfish on downscan or sidescan. Then stop and scope. If I had a scope, I'd do exactly what I currently do and motor around with down and sidescan sonar trying to find bait with active predator returns mixed in. This is as far as I can go without FFS, but if I had it, I would scope the bait, predators, and my presentation and then start dialing in it based on the real time activity and response of the predators on the scope.

Looks like Jar's "safe space" ? Great looking pupper!

Thanks again Rich, got my order yesterday. Got a Arashi 18 for $15, 50% on Live Magic Shads and Scottsboro swimbaits was a steal as well.

Thanks Katie! On the good days I rarely need the sonar, but as time goes on and I improve with it, there are days now where it's the only reason I catch them. You put in a ton of effort on the front end before ever getting in the kayak. Your sonar is your ability to find tucked away pieces of water, and truck back into places where fish aren't nearly as likely to be pressured. I think the people who are doing the best with electronics in the fishing world are using them to target un pressured fish on otherwise pressured bodies of water. Being a topwater queen, and heavy cover angler such as you are, I'm not sure it would make a huge difference anyway.

For the most part I've been having the majority of my success this last month at the furthest north end of the lake. I started there for the third day in a row with the same results, got blanked sans an aquarium sized fish. Promised myself if that happened, I would motor to the exact opposite part of the lake a couple of miles away, the most southern portion, the dam, and lots of deep water from 28ft- 34ft. My nemesis outside of summer, and heavy cover in deeper water on key structure elements....which tends to cost more money in baits than when I can't reach the baits with the pole. My first hint that the fish might be active "offshore" was the flashback mini being trolled, I can't stress enough how much I learn from this bait, and then how many times I stop because of it, look around with sonar and start casting and bam, next thing I know I'm on a pattern. The flashback mini just opens that door so many days it seems. More of a tool than a lure at this point. I've tried to catch the fish in the deep 20ft+ water all over this lake since mid-August, and never had any success. Josh Jones is the whole reason I haven't given up, I can see the fish he can catch perfectly fine on quality downscan, but never could get them to bite anything. Obviously I'm not catching JJ fish, but I scratched the surface today, and I'm even more convinced giants are down there. All the quality fish came 100% because of downscan and strolling an A-Rig in an avg. of 30fow along a carpet of bait. I would just countdown to where I saw the Bass diving down into them, many times 15-20ft over bait in 20-34ft. I think somebody with FFS would have absolutely destroyed it today in my situation. Something that was again inspired from bits and pieces of Josh Jones's interview and what he's disclosed thus far. Two 5lb class fish, a 4lb class fish, and several other smaller quality fish including a solid Spot. These fish were absolutely fat to the max, and their colors were just something else. Every time I hooked up in that deep water, I thought it was my white whale lol. It was like I tapped into a secret source of fish on the lake. Got two double ups on the A-Rig as well and caught another nice fat fish on the 110jr +1. Total was around 15 fish in about 6 hours so it wasn't hot fishing for sure. About 10 came from the deep water, the others came in 10-15fow. A week ago I was catching them in less than 2fow, it's a defective puzzle I want my money back ?