AlabamaSpothunter

Yeah I'm not a big MLF guy so I don't know all the differences and rules, but I seem to remember different lakes having different min. scorable sizes. I seem to recall some events where the min. was 2lbs. I don't mind having the min. being a pound, but I think it makes for better viewing if it's at least 2lbs. MLF BPT has always been a very confusing product imho.

I wanna see Poche win this one after the Heavy Hitters he got so close to winning last year. His camera man is terrible, how can he not know there is a huge smudge on the lens. ETA: I love how even the pros big eye fish......Poche losing his mind over a 6 just now.

Absolutely they do, however the magic/cost of the Vision 110 is kind of wasted when you fish it fast. It becomes just another jerkbait at that point. Where it shines is when you need its less erratic action combined with excellent suspension. Even Vision 110s require tuning for perfect suspension though.

Appreciate it Clayton! Just got home from the tackle store, being a dummy, I thought Rapala made the flicker shad and now I know why I couldn't find it. Turns out the one I was throwing yesterday was the Shad Rap 7 and not the 6. @Fishlegs Thanks friend! @Rocky998 Lots of good threads on that exact subject, but yes the Vision 110, and 110Jr are the gold standard for shallow running colder water jerkbaits. Shimano jerkbaits are right up there as well. Lot of good jerkbaits, but those are the easy button.

Completely agree Katie. Seems all the best big Bass hunters are obsessive about being on the water, and especially when others are least likely to be out there. I think about true legends like Pat Cullin and LJ Brasher. Brasher would spend multiple days straight on the water, as he believed at some point during that time the big fish bite window would be open. Pat Cullin worked a full time job, ate dinner and did homework with family, and then fished through the night. The man hardly slept but caught over 1000 DD fish.

I surely appreciate it Eric! Seems we have the same type......fat bottomed girls 🤣

We've been talking a lot about Crawfish, but the most fascinating forage to look at in my view is Blue Back Herring. Once a Bass gets a taste of Herrings, they will change their entire behaviors in order to exclusively target them. I haven't seen a study yet, but I'd bet a Bass prefers a Blue Back Herring to all other forage species. Lake Murray is a great big Bass case study on this subject.

To many great posts to like, but the big Bass threads are always enjoyable and informative because of the members here. Few thought exercises are as fun as thinking about how Bass get big, and where they live. @Swamp Girl You're crazy if you don't think you're in the big Bass club. Hard to imagine anybody catching more big fish in Maine than you! @Catt posting these points from the book Big Bass Magic really sticks out to me, I hadn't thought about those things, but the more I do, the more they make sense. The true outlier fish have figured out something that 99% of other fish are unable to. Biologists say that if a Bass has one poor growing season, they usually can't recover the trajectory that it takes to become a true giant Bass. My understanding is that trophy caliber fish never have a bad growing season.

Thanks a bunch guys!!! Clayton, I loved reading that you had a similar experience as me on the Shad Raps growing up. LOL at the potato chip part. I think you're being too generous, it cast more life a leaf 🤣 I'll check out that Flicker Shad later today at the monkey shop. I was looking at TW last night and was surprised at all the new Shad Rap type baits. The finishes are so much better. Growing up it was one of the go to cold water finesse cranks. @TnRiver46 brings up Ott Defoe, and I think some of his designs have become Rapala's new cold water finesse cranks like the OG Tiny 4 and 7. I caught a couple on the Tiny 4, but the Shad Rap seemed to produce much better.

I think you've seen my setup, it stays tied up to a dock with the trolling motor always on it.....had some racoon tracks in the boat before. Sure other critters can get in as well. Nothing has ever been damaged by critters. On the other hand, weather and wear and tear breaks it all the time. I've found the motors are pretty impervious to rain when stored outdoors, but I've ruined one motor when it got submerged. 100d summers and below freezing winters don't seem to harm mine. Batteries can be a real pain if using lead acid. Lithiums make life much easier if you have to transport and charge a battery every time out fishing. I'd go with the biggest jon boat you can get away with. Maybe store it close to waters edge. It's hard to have leg room and comfort or even fish two people comfortably with a small enough boat to be man portable and not trailered or left in the water. Maybe a 1452. Put some decks on it. Tinyboatnation has some nice looking kits and @MN Fisher is a great person to talk with who has built a similar setup.

I disagree Katie, your PB fish last year was ridiculously fat. The reason why I estimated her to be 8+ was the girth. You're the queen of fat Bass.........and yes I added a B in there 🤣 @N Florida Mike Appreciate it brother!

Lol Katie, great minds think alike, I remember holding that fish and thinking this reminds me of Clayton's recent fish, albeit not as fat. I can't wait to see what an 8lb fish from his lake looks like, just a matter of time until he posts one. As you know I'm an OCD numbers nerd, and I'd love to have all the lengths and girths to go with 7lb+ fish. Aesthetically speaking, I'd have to agree with you. I had trouble letting her go, I just kept wanting to admire her. @N Florida Mike Nice one brother! Hopefully a big ole' DD rolls up on that bed 😎

It's always a good day when thread regulars like @Greenpig are posting fish pics! Found a separate group of schoolers yesterday and tried some of the things suggested like the Spoon and Fluke. Couldn't get any bites but then again, I'm not a spoon or fluke guy. Fish in this school were bigger on average and a little more aggressive than first school but still couldn't catch any fish bigger than about 3.5-4lbs. I did however find a bait that the fish seemed to be totally uneducated on, a bait just the night before I remembered to grab out of my childhood tackle box because of its legendary wintertime prowess. The bait I grabbed was a Made in Ireland Shad Rap 6 in Crawdad. If you Bass fished in the 90s, you almost certainly owned this bait. The Crawfish colored Shad patterned bait is one of the most iconic lures of all time imho. So, at dawn I'm back at the location of the first group of schooling fish that frustrated me so much armed with a 30+ year old Rapala with OEM hardware taken straight out of the tackle box I fished with as a kid. I spent the first 6 hours stripping my thumb of all the skin with 1-3lb class fish. At least they're biting more consistently on the new bait, but at that point after 3 days on heavily schooling fish and not catching a single fish over 5lbs.......I'm starting to question the nature of the universe. Long story short, this majestic creature gave me a memory that will last forever. She was 8.7lbs, and about as short and fat as they come around here.

Heak yeah Clayton, that place is the stuff of big Bass dreams. The WR Striped Bass was caught not too far from me, and it was using a cheat code where warm water flows out of steam plant IIrc. I fished a hot water discharge area on Lay Lake which was good fishing in the winter but never seen fat fish like your lake. Those fish are crazy. eta: You'll get an 8 before summer if you get to fish it some more

Excellent stuff Catt, and #2 is at the heart of what I was talking about with regards to Crawfish. This was what I said to WRB: "I totally agree with you about big Bass loving Crawfish, but one thing to note that's super interesting is that out of all the forage items Bass predate on, the Crawfish ranks near the bottom in terms of protein. The current thought among biologists is that Bass predate on Crawfish less about hunger and more about anger." Both things can be true.....Crawfish can be high in protein, but rank way down the list when it comes to the amount of total protein ingested vs many other common forage items.

@Bluebasser86 Mother of Pearl!!!!!!!! Some of the fattest Bass I've seen! Man that's awesome. What's the lake record in that place? I'd fish that place 24/7 😎 @TnRiver46 Fantastic report and what a fun day! Those bream are beautiful too. I can only imagine how happy that drum makes Roadwarrior wherever he may be 🤣

Steven Bardin and Bob Lusk along with a host of other state fishery biologist that do lots of podcasts and put lots of info on the web. They all agree that Rainbow Trout are the highest protein meal a Bass can eat, and a Crawfish is near the bottom. Gizzard Shad are near the top as well. I doubt you'd agree that 1 adult Crawfish contains more protein than 1 adult Rainbow Trout or Gizzard Shad? Bass prefer Crawfish over Bluegill 9-1 according to Steven Bardin. The point I was trying to make is that Bass especially target Crawfish and I opined that's it's not because it's a great meal source, rather it's anger or "territorial" as you said. I'm not going to debate somebody who was there in regard to what the majority of big SoCal fish were taken on back in the day. I can however say that I've listened to a ton of Butch Brown's interviews along with many other guys who were there on the Big Bass Podcast, and they all say trout chunkers accounted for many of those high teen class fish. Butch said he would watch guys catch Trout in the lagoon and put them in livewells.

We've discussed this before, but I'm in total agreement with you on moving baits vs. realistic slow-moving baits. I consider an outlier fish to be greater than 8lbs. The vast majority of fish I've caught over 8lbs have been caught on reaction baits where I don't give that big, old, smart fish a chance to examine the bait. She's put into a position of either eating it, or letting it fly past her face. Going back to the live bait thing I mentioned in my first post, I just think big LMB have too big of eyes and have likely seen to many artificial baits to be tricked into eating a slow-moving bait during the daylight or at depths where plenty of light penetrates to. Night fishing is different, but even then, I still catch 90% of all my outlier fish during the day, and many when the sun is at the highest from about 10am-2pm. The bait most responsible for the highest numbers of trophy catches (8lb+) recorded in FL's program are from soft plastics like a big worm........so as usual there is always a counter example to any theory you hold in Bass fishing.

Great information Bob, and your thread serves as a testament to just how complex and difficult it is to manage a pond. The fact people try and can't grow a WR Bass in a managed pond or small lake with unlimited resources and funds reminds me once again that God is the grand architect. Only God and Mother Nature can grow a WR Bass it seems.

Haha, I fix that stupid motor seemingly weekly. Yesterday I broke a blade off a prop, and the day before the tilting mechanism broke. The term b.o.a.t. still applies to the S.S. Minnow too.....it's just b.o.a.d......bust out another dollar instead of thousand 🤣

Totally agree with the others, you can't catch big fish if they don't live in your waters. It's that simple and stupid. I also agree with @Jar11591 about depth. I'm a big believer in that big Bass spend most of their lives in or near deep water which is relative for different bodies of water. I think at some point Bass get so big and wise that it's almost impossible to catch them on anything but live bait. The trout chunkers of SoCal back in the day, along with modern big Shiner and Gizzard guides have proven this to me over time. Lastly, I think FFS is the ultimate big Bass tool. For the first time in Bass fishing history anglers can target these big fish in their proverbial beds. It's hard for me to view a DD caught using FFS the same as one without FFS. Nobody would know about O.H Ivie and JB Thomas without FFS. @WRB I totally agree with you about big Bass loving Crawfish, but one thing to note that's super interesting is that out of all the forage items Bass predate on, the Crawfish ranks near the bottom in terms of protein. The current thought among biologists is that Bass predate on Crawfish less about hunger and more about anger.

Those Leopard Sharks are awesome! My buddy who did saltwater aquariums for businesses back in the early 2000s put those Leopard Sharks in the big money tanks. Back then I think I remember him paying $5k for a pair of them. Now I don't really agree with the practice, but it was really cool watching those Sharks in the tank.

That's really cool info Bob! One thing I thought about reading that is the clarity of the pond. It might be worth checking the clarity with a Secchi Disc. Might be able to protect those fish and also train them easier if you add a little less clarity to water. Biologists that manage ponds will use a Secchi Disc religiously. This time of year can be tougher to achieve that, but in the warm water months a little fertilizing can really help, not to mention grow those Shad.

@TnRiver46, thanks for the tip on the fluke buddy! I'll hit them with that next time out. I give the spinnerbait a hard time like you, but occasionally a blind squirrel finds a nut 😁 @thediscochef Nice one buddy! Those power plant fish are interesting especially in regards to spawning

Thanks Scott, and that funny you bring those up because I remember asking you about them earlier and thinking I'd like to get some. I was actually going the opposite direction, trying to go slower and more dead action. The blade bait usually gets them when they won't eat the normal schooling lures, but I think I only caught a couple on the Dyna Response. I've got some spoons I'll try next time and report back, thanks again!