AlabamaSpothunter

My guess is the Zillion HD given his reference to knobs. I've yet to get a new Steez SV TW, but until then I'm done looking at reels besides the Zillion SV TW and Zillion TW HD for primary roles. I'd like to see Shimano's updated option of whatever the Calais 100a I currently have is. That's the only other general purpose/do everything great reel I'd buy, and they haven't made those for a decade plus I'd imagine. That reel is more bombproof than any other reel I've owned by a huge margin including the new Zillions. I have the JDM versions of both, outside of spinning reel applications, I'd throw literally everything in my tacklebox on one or the other. Buzzbaits, Jerkbaits, T-Rigs, Jigs, Chatterbaits, big Swimbaits, A-Rigs, Squarebills, DD cranks, and I might be leaving out a couple of baits I've personally tried on one or the other. After fishing both extensively, I've yet to have a casting backlash with either one.....the only way I can get them to backlash is without a bait on them and the line somehow gets pulled. Those are the only two reels I've ever owned I could make that claim about. The fact I never adjust a thing on either is another thing I've never had in other reels. The SV TW is my Chatterbait reel, the HD TW is my heavier bait reel until I get a Tat 300. I hope to get one or two more of them.

Those are some beautiful fish and baits...that jerkbait looks almost to pretty to fish with it. I got that Armor Shad sample pack mailed today, wonder how fast it will be given I could have potentially used a carrier Pigeon for the job ? I think it's gonna hammer them on a Pond setting! One the biggest things I love about the Flashback Mini/Armor Shad is how non-invasively it hooks fish, and particularly the smaller fish that get mangled in multi treble baits/a rigs/or any heavy wire single hooked bait. Never hooked a fish badly on this bait after several hundred fish. It's a moving bait, with a tiny wire single hook, about the best way you can ethically hook these fish imho. I only bring this up because those fish I'm sure are a little more personal to you than those at Neely Henry for example. I know the fish on my homelake are more special to me than ones at Lay Lake. eta: knock on wood on the not hurting a fish on the flashback mini lol

That trick works about 90% of the time. I've done a lot of work to fish people's lakes.

RIP George Perry, amazing how a fish can etch a man's name in history forever.

My Academy had a huge section of clearance tackle. Nothing crazy, most stuff was 20-25% off. They've had those Yum Flash Mob Jr. kits for $12.97 which is a crazy good deal.

Way to go Bob, sounds like an awesome trip. Beautiful smallies. Hate to hear about the rod, stuff happens though as they say.

Pro Blue or whatever MB calls that color is a fantastic color down here. I like the medium runner on the top right. Seems like a nice little lure.

Dang man, glad you are alive! Cool tech, and good luck in the upcoming tourney!

I really appreciate that Brian!

Agree, and while I can't prove it yet with enough data my suspicion is the less viz of the water, the more fish simply charge into the "bait ball" and see what lands in their mouths. I've been catching fish recently in skinny less viz water, and have tail hooked and back hooked a fish. Caught another fish outside the mouth. Then yesterday I catch a big girl in less than 3fow that had two baits perfectly hooked in the back of her mouth, and a third in her lip. It was the Picasso finesse bait ball rig, and I think she basically inhaled the whole rig. I was watching some professional who has thrown big swimbaits for his entire life, and he said that he has learned more from big swimbaits about Bass behavior than any other lure. I starting to feel this way about the A-Rig. I'm learning things that I never would have without it like the fact that a Spotted Bass and LGM will hunt side by side so closely that they'll bite the same bait. One of the first things I can remember learning about the A-Rig, is that it triggers a unique "feed response" through the multiple bait presentation. It's a ridiculously addictive bait to fish, between the bone jarring strikes, the quality of fish, the double up potential, and lastly the ability to cover a ton of water seeking active fish. My shoulder and back hate the darn thing though. ?

I'd be happy if I had your project Jon boat that turned out so awesome ?

My technology already exists......I just want a front casting deck, Target Lock and FFS, is that really too much to ask for ?

So true, and what's funny about that is that I've always been a big hand washer after going to grocery store, or being out in public. On the water, I'll eat a Clif Bar after handling tackle and fish all day. To me the sterile environment is in that little aluminum boat. P65 Warnings are gonna get us all anyways ?

Haha, the big girl chewed my other hand good.....I always get so excited in the moment on bigger fish and reach down in there to get the hook....CHOMP ? The alone part is one of my favorite aspects to your fishing style, you experience a level of quiet and serenity that few get. I can still hear jets, leaf blowers, ambulance, etc., but at night this lake goes as quiet as a mouse. I'd think the reason you get such epic places to yourself is that these places are extremely uncomfortable for "normal" people to be including most anglers. I mean not a lot of people will truck a canoe back into mosquito/tick filled woods in the dark....but you've shown us the reward time after time. You put in a lot of work to get to those places that offer pin drop quiet settings. It's easy to forget all the work that goes behind the fish people post. Some worked all week to afford a payment on a sweet Bass rig they use on the weekends, some hike a mile into dark woods with a canoe and tackle, either way it takes a special fish to drive people to work so hard to pursue it. To my last reply to Katie, one of the reasons I love this thread is I've now been in it long enough to learn all the frequent poster's unique fishing style. You could simply post pics of the lures and your fish, no name or avatar, and I'd know they were yours. Same goes for a dozen+ others at least. Every frequent poster in this thread has their own unique fishing style. We all share a general love for these fish, but we go about catching them vastly different. This thread and forum made me realize how big the Bass universe is, we got posters from around the world. Makes for a great thread beyond the other obvious reasons.

Exactly where I learned it from. I deck handed down in Orange Beach during the summers when in school.

Side scan sonar is a great tool for covering larger areas to find the schools, and then I'll drive over them to get a better idea of what's actually happening on those schools with down scan sonar. When I drive over them with down scan I can get a pretty good idea of if active fish are them. I've started to use binoculars, and Blue Herons as much as anything, sounds crazy but I've found it to be almost like a cheat code when bait gets pushed shallow like it does so often I'm finding on warming trends in the winter.

When you figure out how to catch those big deep fish a few feet off the bottom please let me know ? I listened to all these guys talk about deep and winter, tried to catch them for a month+, then decided to chase Shad like it was any other time of year, and everything changed. If you stay with the bait, you'll stay with the fish all year......I'm a simpleton but I've already figured that much out. It might be in 20fow, but it could also be in 2ft fow like I was in yesterday.

Just a point on the 3 vs 5 hooks if allowed by your state. 2/3 of my double ups including my newest on Friday came because a fish ate one of the top two baits. Until this happened, I was going to go with 3 hooks, but I've also caught several single fish on those top ones, but not nearly the amount as the bottom and the middle ones. Largie took the top bait, Spot took the bottom bait Big girl ate the bottom, smaller one ate the top.

You da Man, Live Magic Shads for 50% off, yeah sign me up

Hottest day I've ever had on the water in terms of Bass aggression. I'm going to try and make a video just showing the indescribable Bass and Shad activity on this same 2acres of water at the mouth of the northern most creek as the last few days. I've never seen so many Bass of all sizes feeding for hours on end like this. One Bass will erupt, and then 20sq feet will erupt nano seconds later with sometimes a dozen fish clearing the air. This scene repeats itself every minute for every hour I'm out there in every part of about 2acres of water, there is no end to the feeding window......that I can't stress enough. 50+ fish caught today(most fish I've caught fishing this lake my entire life), maybe 5-10 were less than a pound. Big fish was a 7.1lb old girl taken on the Picasso finesse bait ball A-Rig. This big girl was clearly on the downside of her life, she didn't look sick or emaciated, but her mouth and head were the size of a fish I've never seen before, bigger than my PB. Hoping she's just lived a nice long life. For a brief moment I thought I got my White Whale. Watched a Red Fox for a few minutes as well, very cool animal. Someone should have told me Winter fishing was like this ?

Haha, just bought that Duo a few weeks back. That popper is really cool with the honeycomb pattern.

I hate how it's taking write ins to get this absolutely hero the MoH. I hate how the Russian Government told the world about this incident before our own Government. I hate how they gave credit to his wingman for kills who were cowards and ran from the fight. I hate how they made one of these men shoot his gun once on the carrier to assist the coverup. I hate how the NSA/DIA vectored him towards a fight with overwhelming odds stacked against him. I love how despite all that he toasted 4 Migs, returned to see his family, and somehow managed to not talk about it for 50years.

Calais 100a Greatest reel Shimano ever produced, prove me wrong ?

Both mine over 2lbs were caught Bass fishing.....the one time I went Crappie fishing I hammered the Bass and caught zero Crappie ? My SR is 4.4lb IIrc......to me catching a 2.5lb Crappie must be akin to catching a DD LGM.