AlabamaSpothunter

This summer was as bad as I can remember in a really long time. The nights during June and July especially make it oppressively hot like heavy snow would make it oppressively cold. Day or night, you simply can't get a respite from it. You're right about the layers thing, but we are just flat out stupid in the South when it comes to cold weather preps, driving, and clothing. I don't even own serious cold weather clothing, and I'm having to buy all new stuff since I'm fishing this winter. You guys are pros at freezing conditions, we'll buy every last loaf of bread for a hundred miles if so much as a snow flurry falls ? We don't have the ability to clear the roads obviously either, but still people act so stupid the news stories keep rolling for weeks after these "snow events". As a boy we did get a 2.5' Blizzard. March of 93 IIrc. It was a historical storm.

I'd be dead, just put a fork in me. Southerners just can't take that level of cold seriously, and likewise Northerners can't take the humid 100+ summers down here. That type of cold makes you tough as nails though, I grew up visiting in the winter my Grandparents in Dayton Ohio, I was either freezing to death, or burning up alive in the back of his Buick or his house ?

The audacity of some in this thread, I fished in 45degree weather today, where's my merit badge Yanks? Seriously though it's gonna be as cold as it likely gets all year on XMAS Eve, and XMAS here. I hear pretty much the entire CONUS will under freezing conditions....South Texas, many parts of Florida, most of all AL, GA, MS etc. But then look at that juicy week of 60 degree weather, that's how I will make it through the incredible difficult times to come ?

Those Bitsy Bugs produce awesome fish, especially if you live near Spots. Big Spots just seem to love finesse jigs.

Man I'd break every rod I own if I Kayak fished. Lots of respect for you folks who fish Kayaks and Canoes. Just another layer of difficulty while trying to catch some of the most difficult fish to catch ?

I tried to read all of that because you are basically going through what I went through a couple months back. I did lots of research and a big criterion for me was not buying too much reel than I actually needed, same goes for rod. As you mention, weight is paramount with these setups given they already are going to be heavy in a perfect setup. I narrowed it down to two reels, the JDM Tatula 300 and the JDM Zillion TW HD. There is huge difference in size and line cap b/t the two, however I opted for the Zillion TW HD which has brass gears, holds plenty of 17lb Flourocarbon which is what I'm using, and is dynamite with its oversized handle and knobs for wenching in toads the way Tactical Bassin teaches and how you mentioned above. 7.1 ratio, but you can always slow down if need be. I still think I'm going to grab the Tatula 300 so I can use this reel for Jig fishing, but it works perfect for mid range big Swimbait fishing. I opted for the smaller yet still robust Zillion because I'm not launching 8-10" Glidebaits across long open points for example, I use mine Swimbait setup for more cover and dock fishing. In the beginning I was launching A Rigs and 3oz Swimbaits, then my shoulder said that's enough. Rod matters way more than the reel ultimately. You might be over thinking this aspect a bit.

Real men use Pine Tar, just don't go past the handle section or it's cheating ?

Excellent news, and here's to a quick and successful surgery! Picked a good time to do it, apparently all the fish are having hand surgeries in our area too ?

I'd be jumping in .3 seconds right behind that rod ? I take losing tackle like a baby losing a passy

That 3.4 on the Rebellion is very impressive. To me it didn't translate in the hand as well as the Levante, but the Levante weighs an ounce more. The reality is that the Levante was the most beautiful spinning rod I've ever seen, I had to own it....I became biased after that. The Zodius is a very close second in terms of being beautiful to look at. I'm not afraid to admit, I want something nice to look at that is in my hands for hours at a time. All three rods are beautiful, just hate that all three are made in China or Vietnam.

The main things to consider is 1. you want that bait to perfectly suspend.....the 110, and WM have a great track record of doing that out of the box. 2. Depth that you think the fish are located at. Shallow.....110 Mid....110+1 Deep.....110+2 3. Size of the bait, I learned this big time last week. 110 Regular Vs. 110 Jr. The guys on Tactical Bassin like the Jr. models more than the fullsize models. I'm inclined to go with that as well in my early foray into high dollar tuned Jerkbaits. The 110s might catch bigger fish, but the Jr models seem to get bit by everything including Crappie which ends up giving me confidence to keep throwing them. I just bought my first during the PF sale, it's a great looking bait, but they are slow sink not true suspending jerkbaits

In the Shimano WM I really like the Silver/Blue.....if the fish are active I really this one because it throws off more flash than the MegaBass. Right now I only have two colors in the three 110s I own, but both seem equally good. The first is the GG Threadfin Shad, and the other is Sexy Shad. The GG Threadfin is like the Shimano WM in that I throw it when I need more flash in dirtier water and go with that Sexy Shad any other time when water clarity is 2ft+. They make silent versions of these baits, however I've found I throw them so often among pods of Shad that I need the rattle models to create space around the lure and the actual baitfish in order for the Bass to zero in on it. Just another thing to consider in regard to silent vs. rattle.

My bad, I thought I had read spinning rod. Read the weight baits and saw those three rods, and just ran my mouth lol. Disregard the poor advice.

I'm gonna let more knowledgeable folks weigh in about the river/current question, as that's a good question and I haven't fished them in moving current. That said, I catch fish on Jerkbaits all year round, but the suspended ones shine right now in cold water where you can just let that bait hover perfectly still for more lethargic Bass. Jerks work great in both deep and shallow water. My two favorites are the Shimano World Minnow Flash Boost, and the MegaBass 110 series. I'm liking the Jr models a lot right now. MegaBass has a great lineup and makes it easy. 110 is the fullsize, 110 JR is small size. Then both of those models come in a +1 and +2 deeper diving model. The +1s run about 7ft deep, don't own the +2s yet. Jerkbaits are one of the most fun ways to catch them I've found, when they work, they work REALLY good.

I looked heavily at those two rods along with the 7' MegaBass Levante Shakeyhead. The MegaBass won out. The Rebellion was heavy and didn't have a hook keeper, the Shimano was nice just not as nice as the MegaBass. The Levante is the best $200-250 rod I've ever owned.

The Game Cameras fit right along with this conversation but are arguably way more controversial and now in certain places not only banned, but illegal to use. They made them illegal to use for hunting in Arizona recently IIrc, and perhaps other states have as well. Cellular trail cams have affected Deer hunting way more than FFS has Bass fishing. This would be like having a series of underwater cameras placed at your honeyholes that send you cell pics when the fish trigger them.....I want that so badly now that I typed it lol.

Amen, and to that point, Spot Lock would be vastly more advantageous to me than FFS with my current boating setup......it's impossible to overstate the importance of boat positioning especially if you are bottom contact fishing. Until I get a new boat setup, I'm really limited to when and where I can effectively fish any slow moving bottom contact bait. I could care less about seeing them react to my baits, I've got good down and side scan, I just can't keep the darn boat where I need it before it pulls or creates slack on my slow-moving bait with any real amount of wind. All these things make a HUGE difference, none of them are unfair as last time I checked the fish are still winning bigly. Combine Spot Lock and FFS is peak advantage in Bass fishing imho. I hope to have both someday, I'd be a hypocrite if I called it out now.

Bawahhahaaaha....."I work for surface lures" That should be your sig line Katie ?

Sorry to hear about your brother Catt, may he rest in peace, and thanks for his service in Vietnam. There was a huge fire in the 70s that destroyed a ton of .mil records National Personnel Records Center fire - Wikipedia

Here's to good news about the hands Scott, we can't afford to lose a member of the starting line up in this thread ?

Must be the PB day that someone forget to send the memo to me about, congrats brother, what a fantastic specimen! I've found that if I catch one big Spot, the chances of catching others in that same area are quite high. Based on my observations, Spots aren't like big LGMs in regard to being solitary by in large, I think they pack hunt many times, with some outliers that are like LGMs. Best fishing day of my life involved packs of 4-6lb Spotted Bass and Lay Lake. A big Spotted Bass is exceptional in every way, you never catch one that big and not know immediately you are hooked into a big Spot. The most impressive thing is that he didn't round it up......I mean that's a 5lb Spot to 90% of us at least, he just spit up a Shad while reeling him in ?

Awesome job! MegaBass's 110 series is one of the few baits that is worth the hype and money. Lot of great jerkbaits, but there just isn't another 110. I'm loving the Jr models right now.

Yeah I tried that, but the line is tangled in a smaller tree/bush on the bank. Whoever lost it literally cut the braid at the reel and now there is 10-20yds of line that is tangled below the lure in that said smaller tree. I'm giving it ago tom., perhaps she'll be mine ?

FFS is nothing but the latest generation of sonar available to anglers. In 10 years the technology might warrant a fairness conversation, but FFS is relatively archaic when you track the evolution of Bass fishing sonar. It's at the Flasher stage of traditional sonar, in 10 years the data and computer-generated recognition and display of such data will be much closer to a "video game". Video game graphics are a really good analogy for this tech progression. 8bits to 16bit to 32 to 64 to 128 etc. If you really want to think about something as cheating in this regard, bed fishing where you literally watch the fish with your eyes respond to your baits which has been a part of the sport since the beginning is more in line with an unfair advantage imho. Dottie was caught like this. World Record Chasers | The Story of “Dottie” the 25 pound Largemouth Bass – Bass Fishing Facts

I'm pretty sure I looked at the 110s at my local store to see if they had outbarbs, and they didn't. All the 110Jrs and 110Jr +1s had regular trebles. I'll look at them at the local store and confirm if my memory is correct.