AlabamaSpothunter

Makes me crazy jelly knowing that highschools and colleges have Bass fishing teams, and you can even get a scholarship to my Alma Matta Auburn for Bass fishing. Great job, beautiful fish, and never forget to stop and enjoy this period of your life. I guess now I've got to begrudgingly pull for the Boilermakers unless they play my Tigers in March next year. Like you said, if your losing fish, the most important thing is that you can find them. You'll refine your techniques and equipment in due time and those fish will be boated. My Chatterbait journey was exactly like this. I could find the fish with chatterbaits, but just lost way too many. Then I got a dedicated setup for them, and everything changed.

What a dream that boat would be for my home lake......I've been shopping on FB marketplace for something similar, obviously not nearly as nice as that one. That thing is money.

Dang Scott, so sorry to hear that. Such a cute, and beautiful pupper. Few things are as painful as losing a good animal. I still think daily about a cat I lost 5 years ago. Try to have a good time and enjoy that awesome new trailer.

One thing that never gets talked in regard to the Covid pandemic, it put tremendous pressure on fisheries, and it all but killed the only public stocked trout stream in Alabama. To this point, and gimruis's point about pressure......my mentality towards Bass behavior and my lure selection is heavily predicated on pressure. I will start throwing a new bait simply because I think the fish in a body of water haven't seen it. Some baits will always work like T-rig bottom contact stuff, but I've found other baits become less appealing to fish over time if I throw them enough. I got into big swimbaits recently because I know nobody is throwing these things on my homelake, and the big fish haven't seen them. It's a lot of work and requires special tackle and expensive baits. I view this the same way I like to fish in bad weather, I'm putting myself in a position to catch fish that the majority of anglers on said body of water aren't having. My goal is to catch big Bass, not trick the smartest Bass on the lake into biting lol.

The deeper I go, the more the golden rule seems to be the only one that matters and is set in stone. TIME. ON. WATER. Doesn't matter what time of year, if you are fishing all the time.....you're gonna run into active fish. Fish feed all year long, sure they are like piranhas in the Fall, but then in the winter you get them where they are the biggest all year, and then in the summer I have my best chances to get huge "bags" in a single night.... meaning lots of big fish bunches together. Just keep going fishing, that's what I tell myself every time my confidence wains, or I get negative.

I always wear a hat fishing, so in all seriousness at night I find turning the hate backwards still allows me to use the headlamp with straps over the hat.

If I'm hardcore Bassin at 83, I must have done something correctly in this life. Kudos to you, and here's too many more memories for the both of you.

Sadly the P-63 was carrying too much speed and bank angle to ever even see the B17. The P-63 pilot was a current American Airlines pilot so he was experienced. Going further they need to better define and maintain distances, obviously this could have been avoided. RIP to all those who were lost, at least they went very quick.

Man those are two truly spectacular fish! What a kitty too. Sounds like fun!

My DD/PB fish came off a black 8" mag lizard about 18 years ago.....stopped fishing not long after sadly. Started back this summer fishing almost every night......guess what didn't change, big fish love 8" mag lizards still. My best since starting back a 7.8 came off a 3/8th chatterbait. Zoom Mag Lizards Zoom Big Ole Monsters Junebug, black, black w/ red fleck are all great in those Zoom plastics....my favorite is purple black Roboworm 7" Straight tail worms in Midnight, Purple Black, basically anything darker they offer Chatterbaits in 3/8th-1/2oz Jackhammers and Project Weedless with a big profile trailer Spinnerbait (Single big Colorado bladed)/Buzzbait......both in either black/black.....or pink/black blade A frog of your choice. That's all I carry with the obvious terminal tackle needed for certain baits. Everything is T Rigged with 1/8th tungsten bullet weights if it's a worm, or lizard.

I know they work after seeing a thousand fish caught by you on them ? Thanks for the great advice, and you know you'll be updated when I catch a fish on it. The color has a great threadfin look to it, there were a number of sizes. I like this company, second "expensive" bait I've bought from them, the other being the S Waver 168s swimbait. Very sharp hooks.

Dude that trailer is killer. Looks great and seems to match your rig. edited.....for the combo, not just the reel.....reading is hard lol.

If Casitas and your other lakes that you pursued the WR at didn't close at dusk, would you have fished for the WR more at night?

Coast makes a great light no doubt, and they're offered at your local Lowes. Had several, and never had a single problem. Durable, bright lights. I bought a couple new lights this summer.....one at Lowes, the other at Harbor Freight. No single light offered all the features I needed when at a store, so I ended up buying two, and using them for different things. The first one is Luxepro....very affordable, runs off 3 AAAs, and has Red, Green, Hi, and Low White features. $17 at lowes. Great, bright light, but it drains batteries like any light does, and if you find yourself using it for stretches of banks with lots of overhanging trees like myself, you'll find it gets tiresome and costly changing batteries every few nights. Lux-Pro 303-Lumen LED Headlamp (Battery Included) in the Headlamps department at Lowes.com This led me to buying a rechargeable light. I found a light that has the similar quality and robust feel that Coast lights do, but even cheaper, and at your local Harbor Freight. This light is industrial strength constructed, has adjustable beam focus, Hi, Lo, and Strobe white....but atlas no Red or Green. Most importantly though this has a built in USB port and includes a Li Ion battery. This is a fantastic option if you intend to use the light to illuminate areas for any length of time. $25 so it's budget friendly as well. 500 Lumen Adjustable Rechargeable LED Headlamp (harborfreight.com)

A couple months ago it was b/t this rod and the Alpha Angler Chatterbound. Always been almost exclusive Loomis man sans Steez AGS rods. I handled the IMX Pro Bladed Jig rod at a local store, and it was typical of Loomis extreme quality and craftsmanship. I never fished it though. I did put a Zillion SV TW on it in order to evaluate the balance, and it balanced nicely with that reel. That said I took a gamble and went with the AA Chatterbound, and it's easily the greatest technique specific rod I've own. Loomis is the prettier rod, but I have no doubt that the Chatterbound will boat more fish and impart better action ("hunting") on Chatterbaits than anything out there simply based on its highly unique construction and materials. The Loomis models in the NRX+ and IMX Pro are graphite rods. The Alpha Angler is a S-Glass composite rod with a glass tip/top section, then a graphite stout mid and bottom section. Ultimately this yields a rod that perfectly allows the needed forgiveness in the tip to let fish fully get these baits in their mouths, and also allow the bait to properly "hunt" and deflect off of cover or structure. You can feel every blade beat even with a 1/4th minimax, very sensitive rod. The bottom half allows you to really drive a single hook bait home, and then the top half comes back into play especially on pigs given its awesome parabolic nature. It's the parabolic action along with it's forgiving tip that yield dramatic increases in hookup %, and land %. I spent months going down this specific rabbit hole because I fell in love so much with the chatterbait this year, but missed or lost half the fish that hit them on existing rods including Loomis GLX Mag Bass models. First day with the AA rod, almost every fish that hit started coming into the boat, including most importantly, the bigger fish I'm trying to catch on chatterbaits. Their QC has been terrible though, but they make it right.

Awesome Scott, catching a fish on a day like today is no easy feat......I've been watching this particular day for about 10days knowing the fish were going to shut down for 24hrs. I'm proud of my latest catch today, but I only got about 10-20% of the lake's bank area. Makes you realize how many humans have zero respect for our beautiful lakes and natural places.

Dang my local fun store is running "Daiwa Days".....on the reels obviously it just makes it clear again how amazing the deals are from JDM. However they have the Tatula Elite rods for 179......Rebellion rods for 169, and Steez AGS rods for 450.....that's 100 off what they normally cost. Plus you get a free hoodie. I was stunned to read "made in China" on the Steez rods. My older Steez rod is JDM. Monkey still got me for almost 60 bones. @ol'crickety how did I do on the Whopper Plopper? Do I just straight retreive this thing like a buzzbait? If I catch a 7lb+ fish on it, I'll send you a few for free This makes my fourth color in the 3" Armor Shad......every single color works as well as the last. Got the MegaBass Secret Jigheads after watching a Tactical Bassin video last night lol. And finally I bought another BD Shad because they are dynamite.

Wow that's really cool, and thanks for the reply. Caught more fish on Loomis rods than any other. He sounds like a guy I know who started a gun company in his basement and is now winning major weapons contracts from the DoD, and is considered like a "G Loomis" in the industry. The man is incredibly humble, and hard working. He's a brilliant engineer as well, and I suspect Gary Loomis is as well.

If you plan to fish a lot at night, do yourself a big favor and buy a rechargeable model.

You truly are the best in all of us who post in this beyond wonderful thread, you are the beacon of positivity and support that makes everybody feel appreciated and more importantly and uniquely, you make your fellow angler feel understood. While that sounds simple, to be understood in this world by people you respect and admire is a price less gift and blessing. You guys are the only ones who I can share such moments of elation, and euphoria with, you especially get what I'm after in this pursuit and perhaps life in general. I think you coined the term "Joy fisherman" many pages back, and since then I've realized these incredible fish are simply a means to an end for me......they are one of the few very pure sources of joy in my life. One of the few things that makes me feel like a boy again full of wonderment, mystery, and most importantly, joy. I have this community to thank for re-igniting a passion of mine, and so much of the joy that has come with it. I have no idea why I stopped Bass fishing for so long, but I'll never make that mistake again, and I'm making up for lost time. Thank you Katie for always being you!

I got aways to go until I reach yours and BlueBasser's level of big Swimbait catches in this thread, but you guys inspired me to go down the rabbit hole with all your successes on them, and I'm glad I did. Totally unique form of fishing, and extremely addictive given the way the fish either follow, or eat these baits. I'd be remise if I didn't include Greenpig in this as well. You post a ton of quality fish on big swimbaits. I know everybody in this thread for a "thing"......for you it's "spot hunter" top water" " big swimbait" ? Gonna get one of those Evergreen Showerblows because of you, and one of the Whopper Ploppers because of Katie. This forum is a blackhole for my wallet.

What's the deal with these rods, the pricing looks excellent, and I'm a sucker for carbon fiber. You talked to Gary Loomis in person? What's the connection between G.Loomis and Edge Rods? Sorry for all the questions....need a few more rods. FWIW.....Alpha Angler is having an excellent sale currently, their rods are amazing sans one major thing.....their QC sucks! That said, they'll send a new one out immediately and they are a stand up company.

That's interesting and a great data point because my state has a program called B.A.I.T. where they calculate total hours fished per 5lb Bass on public lakes in Alabama. Pickwick, Wheeler, Guntersville are all less than 100hrs fished......Pickwick and Wheeler IIrc are in the 50s. So basically catching a Muskie requires the same amount of commitment, luck, or combo of both as a 5lb Bass in as good of Bass fishery as you can have on a public lake. That's really cool, I always knew Muskie were hard to catch, and now this finally puts it perfectly into perspective when combined with the B.A.I.T. numbers.

6lbs on the dot.....and one of the most amazing strikes I've witnessed. Watched her come from under the dock, I made one or two twitches and watched the entire whiteness of my bait go dark......the new big swimbait rod immediately doubled over, and next thing I know I see her gaping huge mouth breaking the surface as she tries her best to break my heart. @Bluebasser86 I'd really like to thank you, it was in one of your videos that you posted in my big Swimbait investment thread or here that I came back to recently when reanalyzing how best to utilize these big baits. In a video you were making much shorter casts, much quieter casts, and I think you even mentioned to me how you don't always have to chunk the things 50 yds across a point. Creeping up to docks, and then either flipping these things 10yds, or gently under handing them in.....and then working them visually almost like a topwater combined with a shallow jerkbait seems deadly effective. The glass composite rod's parabolic action, along with Tactical Bassin's method of reeling these big Swimbait fish in seemed to help me survive her couple of attempts of shaking the bait. By the time she was in the net, only one barb of one treble was in her front lip. Best Bass I've managed to get on film......so it's a PB for the vidya camera ? (pardon my schoolgirl excitement, but watching her come out and eat it was just incredible) Wouldn't be a complete great day without a few quality Spots as well.

I fish 45-60 nights a year I'd say if I'm heavy into the sport, and being from AL, you basically have to during June, July, and August. I agree with my good friend here for the most part. Beyond letting your natural night vision take the wheel after an adjustment period that starts over each time you use a non red light source, the Mosquito beacon on your forehead will ensure that you don't keep it lit often. That said, on certain stretches of bank with certain lures, I'll use the full 500 lumans of light to fish a 50-100yd section. For the most part I'm fishing with natural night vision 95% of the time though. Lights don't negatively effect Bass, and if anything they are advantageous...i.e. think Crappie or Dock lights. Night fishing is just one of those things that you have to do in order to learn. Use a red light as much as you can. Use T Rigs and cheap stuff in the beginning. Be prepared to get a backlash no matter how good at casting you are. Be prepared to catch the biggest Bass you're gonna catch as well.