AlabamaSpothunter

Man Lowen is putting on a show now......caught like 14-15lbs in 20mins. When it's your time it's your time as the saying goes. Bill seems like one of the really good dudes on the tour. Always giving little kids free BASS memberships. Hopefully he can get it done over the weekend

3.7 that wrapped him in a tree. Spent like 5 minutes trying to get it free, and then the limb just broke and the fish floated up.

Bill Lowen is winning this derby......when you have things like that happen, it's your destiny to win. DOLLAR BILL LOOOOOOOOOWEN 😆

That's true, but if you only caught one fish, and it's was a DD would care if you caught another one.....no need to answer that one 😁 Perhaps the debate needs to be clarified by OP in terms what defines awesome fishing or fishing that merits driving down to the south from somewhere up north. Personally, that means catching your biggest fish of the year. If I was taking a trip from the north to somewhere south to catch my PB, no question about it, I'm booking the trip in January or February. If I wanted to catch tons of fish, with the possibility of catching my biggest fish, I'd book the trip in March in April.

I mean it depends week to week everywhere, but if you asked anglers from those states when the best months are to be fishing, the consensus would land in January and February. You do realize how many actual teener size fish get caught in the south during freezing temps? The reason the world knows about O.H. Ivie is because of Milliken and a week of freezing weather in west Texas. My biggest fish this year came when my reels stopped working because of ice. ETA: FL fish are the only ones who seem to totally lock down during freezing conditions. I'll stick by that comment.

It's just Florida. It's peak fishing in TX, TN, AL, and LA

Ole Jay sure can fish! The old saying rings true......Somebody is always going to catch them on the Elite Series. What an amazing bag considering the field.

Coverage has been fine for me all day long using a PC.

Embarrassed???? You sir are living the dream! 😎 Ken Duke always wears a smoking jacket/robe on his podcasts. I think you and Ken Duke are just ahead of this future Bass fishing fashion trend. Imagine when all the Elite Series guys have robes on full of sponsors 😁

Sharelunker program might be the coolest thing in Bass fishing. Every time I think about how awesome the ShareLunker program is, I get a little depressed thinking about my own state's stance and programs to help grow more and bigger Bass. Meanwhile Alabama is dumping Stripers into the lakes and spraying the vegetation year after year. Imagine not only catching a teener, but getting it mounted for free, contributing to enhancing the future of trophy Bass fishing in Texas, and then going to an awards banquet to celebrate you and your catch. Hard to argue that Texas isn't the capital of LMB fishing in the world.

Nothing wrong with St. John's River. One of the best fisheries in the country. I have a problem with scheduling any FL derby early in the year. You always run such a high risk of a cold front which will lock down the bite.

It's really night and day watching MLF coverage vs. the garbage that BASS puts out. We haven't gotten to the weigh in yet where it's always an adventure if they can get it working right. BASS is getting hammered in their comment section.

And the anglers and fans complemented BASS on doing so. Milliken is right about pro Bass fishing, and especially BASS. Until there's enough profit in the product itself, the viewing experience will always be lacking. BASS has to worry about making money from venues as much as the spectators, that's never going to be a winning formula. When they figure out how to make money by going to the lakes that are the most exciting, at the most exciting times of year, they'll have a winning formula. Until then we're at the mercy of Chambers of Commerce. The product is so dull they haven't shown live fishing in about an hour........we've been watching thrilling content of WWE wrestlers flip a casting plug 5 feet.

Tomorrow will be even colder there.

It's 17d here, and I bet the weights would be higher on Lay Lake than St Johns right now. Pure FLMB in Florida just don't like cold fronts. These guys would be catching 25-30lb bags on Pickwick or Guntersville today.

BASS will never learn to stop scheduling these early derbies in FL. Ever since I've been following BASS events, this has always been a huge complaint. Meanwhile they could be having a smash fest in TX, LA, AL, or TN. Casting competitions by WWE wrestlers......yeah come on NPFL 😆

These are the stories that will make diehard Bass anglers stop going lol. The lottery odds of that happening the first time were astronomical, it happening the second time in the same manner almost defies belief. Imagine how hard you fish for a DD, then some guy just Crappie fishes off the same dock with the same micro lure and catches two teeners. I QUIT 🤣

To start with, and while it's not against the rules, the Johnston brothers are essentially just one angler. While there are other teams, none of them share a bank account where all tournament winnings goes in it. It's the insidious way they work together to screw over other anglers event after event. One will see a 7lb fish on the bed, not catch it, call the other brother over while guarding from other anglers, and then he catches it. What they did at the SLR event last year not only made me dislike them forever, but because BASS allowed it, I lost all respect for them as well. Robert Gee was the rightful winner of the SLR event, and Justin Hamner was the rightful AOY winner. They had to pull out every single dirty trick to include threatening to beat up Robert Gee in order to secure the win for Cory, and then for Chris to finish high enough to get AOY. TL/DR: They're scumbags

Like @softwateronly said, the Damiki 3" Armor Shad is an amazing micro bladed jig trailer. I've caught hundreds and hundreds of fish on them attached to Flashback Minis and Mini Max chatterbaits. The 3.5 Spunk Shad is another good one.

It's never a good strategy when you refuse to pick certain anglers because of how much you dislike them, but I'll never pick another Johnston brother as long as I live after last year. Ironically, I had a very solid last year by picking them a bunch. Sad thing is he's the no brainer pick this week. Might regret not going with Mckinney as he was a horse I planned on riding all year long. Not sure why they had Fothergill in bucket one. Covering my bases in case this is a sight fishing derby with Benton. Nothing more I want to see than a John Cox win, please let it happen this week! Good luck to everybody!

Most private HOA type lakes aren't actually owned by the HOA or home owners at least around me. These types of lakes are managed by an independent trust or company where the homeowner's property ends at the water's edge. They have boards where the members are drawn from the surrounding homes/properties. FWIW the typical 50lb thrust trolling motor is roughly 2.5HP. Plenty of off the shelf 5HP trolling motors are available. Over the next few years, smaller lakes are going to have to wrestle with the incredible leaps in battery and electric motor tech.

Most small lakes that even allow outboard motors have serious HP restrictions. On a 50 acre lake, I wouldn't even expect gas motors to be allowed. A trolling motor and battery is more than enough for that size lake. I've fished a bunch of 100+ acre lakes that were electric only. If they did allow gas motors, HP was usually capped at 10HP.

Seems to be the same bait as the Wakasagi just with a different tail. "Crafted in Japan and delivering the quality and performance that Deps lures are known for, the Deps Wakasagi Bait Finesse Lipless Minnow is an ultra compact baitfish imitation that perfectly mimics an escaping baitfish near the surface. Featuring a slender body that is squared on the sides and bottom, the Deps Wakasagi Bait Finesse Lipless Minnow is made to reduce water flow, which creates a sharp and unpredictable darting and skating action just like a live minnow running from predators." "Deadly on multiple retrieves, the Deps Wakasagi Bait Finesse Lipless Minnow produces a wake when using a steady retrieve and an erratic action when quickly twitched with the rod tip. It can also be dead-sticked and the subtle movements of the water will produce a dying or wounded baitfish action."

Great, now I need a fishing robe 😁 Pretty healthy fish, place looks fishy too

The thing is people just dismiss live bait fishing as skill less, the above is proof it's just the opposite. Does it require the mastery like artificials, not in my opinion. It does however require a dedicated knowledge base, and more importantly enough experience doing it. The WR Bass was taken on a live BG after all. If there's one thing I believe more about catching big Bass than anything, its live bait is vastly superior if results are all that matters. Surprised nobody has mentioned the ultimate big Bass weapon......FFS